Trick film

Technopedia Center

Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science
S1 Informatics S1 Information Systems S1 Information Technology S1 Computer Engineering S1 Electrical Engineering S1 Civil Engineering

faculty of Economics and Business
S1 Management S1 Accountancy

Faculty of Letters and Educational Sciences
S1 English literature S1 English language education S1 Mathematics education S1 Sports Education

Trick film

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Trick films)

Georges Méliès' The Infernal Cauldron, 1903

In the early history of cinema, trick films were short silent films designed to feature innovative special effects.^[1]

History

[edit]

The trick film genre was developed by Georges Méliès in some of his first cinematic experiments,^[2] and his works remain the most classic examples of the genre.^[3] Other early experimenters included the French showmen Émile and Vincent Isola, the British magicians David Devant and John Nevil Maskelyne, and the American cinematographers Billy Bitzer, James Stuart Blackton and Edwin S. Porter.^[4]

In the first years of film, especially between 1898 and 1908, the trick film was one of the world's most popular film genres.^[1] Before 1906, it was likely the second most prevalent genre in film, surpassed only by nonfiction actuality films.^[5] Techniques explored in these trick films included slow motion and fast motion created by varying the camera cranking speed; the editing device called the substitution splice; and various in-camera effects, such as multiple exposure.^[4]

"Trick novelties," as the British often called trick films, received a wide vogue in the United Kingdom, with Robert W. Paul and Cecil Hepworth among their practitioners. John Howard Martin, of the Cricks and Martin filmmaking duo, produced popular trick films as late as 1913, when he began doing solo work. However, British interest in trick films was generally on the wane by 1912, with even an elaborate production like Méliès's The Conquest of the Pole received relatively coolly.^[6]

Elements of the trick film style survived in the sight gags of silent comedy films, such as Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr.^[7] The spectacular nature of trick films also lived on in other genres, including musical films, science fiction films, horror films, and swashbuckler films.^[4]

Style

[edit]

Trick films should not be confused with short silent films that feature conventional stage magic acts ("films of tricks," in the words of the film historian Matthew Solomon). Instead, trick films create illusions using film techniques.^[8]

Trick films generally convey a sprightly humor, created not so much by jokes or comedic situations as by the energetic whimsy inherent in making impossible events seem to occur.^[2] As the philosopher Noël Carroll has pointed out, the comedy in Méliès's trick film style is "a matter of joy borne of marvelous transformations and physically impossible events," "a comedy of metaphysical release that celebrates the possibility of substituting the laws of physics with the laws of the imagination."^[2]

Examples

[edit]

The Execution of Mary Stuart (1895, Clark)
The Vanishing Lady (1896, Méliès)
The Astronomer's Dream (1898, Méliès)
The Famous Box Trick (1898, Méliès)
The Four Troublesome Heads (1898, Méliès)
Cinderella (1899, Méliès)
The Enchanted Drawing (1900, Blackton)
The Christmas Dream (1900, Méliès)
How It Feels to Be Run Over (1900, Hepworth)
The One-Man Band (1900, Méliès)
The Man with the Rubber Head (1901, Méliès)
A Trip to the Moon (1902, Méliès)
Jack and the Beanstalk (1902, Porter)
The Kingdom of the Fairies (1903, Méliès)
Ten Ladies in One Umbrella (1903, Méliès)
The Impossible Voyage (1904, Méliès)
Aladdin and His Wonder Lamp (1906, Capellani)
Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906, Porter)
The Haunted Hotel (1907, Blackton)
Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy (1909, Blackton)

References

[edit]

^ ^a ^b Solomon 2006, p. 596
^ ^a ^b ^c Carroll 1996, p. 146
^ Kirby, Lynne (1997), Parallel Tracks: The Railroad and Silent Cinema, Durham: Duke University Press, ISBN 0822318393
^ ^a ^b ^c Parkinson, David (2012), 100 Ideas That Changed Film, London: Laurence King Publishing, p. 19
^ Gunning, Tom (2005), "The Cinema of Attractions: Early Film, Its Spectator, and the Avant-Garde", in Knopf, Robert (ed.), Theater and Film: A Comparative Anthology, New Haven: Yale University Press, p. 39, ISBN 0300128703
^ Low, Rachael (1997), History of British Film, vol. 2, London: Routledge, p. 180, ISBN 9780415156479
^ Carroll 1996, p. 156
^ Solomon 2006, pp. 602–3

Citations

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Trick films videos.

Carroll, Noël (1996), Theorizing the Moving Image, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Solomon, Matthew (December 2006), "Up-to-Date Magic: Theatrical Conjuring and the Trick Film", Theatre Journal, 58 (4): 595–615, doi:10.1353/tj.2007.0032, JSTOR 25069917, S2CID 194080442

v t e Film genres
By style	Action Heroic bloodshed Hong Kong action Adventure Art Biographical Christian Comedy Action Black Commedia all'italiana Sexy Dramedy Gross out Horror Parody Mo lei tau Thriller Remarriage Romantic Sex Screwball Silent Slapstick Cyberpunk Japanese Documentary Animated City symphony Docudrama Mockumentary Mondo Pseudo Semi Travel Video essay Drama Calligrafismo Dramedy Historical Legal Melodrama Korean Erotic Commedia sexy all'italiana Pink Sexploitation Thriller Educational Social guidance Epic Sword-and-sandal Experimental Exploitation see Exploitation film template Fantasy Comedy Contemporary Fantastique High Historical Magic realism Science Film noir Neo-noir Pulp noir Tech noir Gothic Romance Southern Space Suburban Urban Horror Arthouse Body Cannibal Chinese horror Christmas horror Comedy Eco Fantastique Found footage German underground Ghost Giallo List of films Holiday Japanese horror Korean horror Lovecraftian Natural New French Extremity Psycho-biddy Psychological Science fiction Slasher Splatter Satanic Maximalist film Minimalist film Mumblecore Musical Arthouse Backstage Jukebox Musicarello Operetta Sceneggiata Mystery Detective Occult detective Whodunit Giallo Crossover Pornographic Hardcore pornography Softcore pornography (Malayalam) Propaganda Reality Romantic Comedy Bromantic Fantasy Gothic Paranormal Thriller Science fiction Art Comedy Fantastique Fantasy Gothic Horror Military New Wave Space opera Steampunk Tokusatsu Western Slice of life Slow cinema Survival Thriller Comedy Erotic Financial Giallo Legal New French Extremity Political Psychological Romantic Techno Transgressive Cinema of Transgression Extreme cinema New French Extremity Trick
By theme	Animals Beach party Body swap Buddy Buddy cop Female Cannibal Chicano Colonial Coming-of-age Concert Crime Detective Gangster Gentleman thief Gokudō Gong'an Heist Heroic bloodshed Hood Mafia Mafia comedy Mumbai underworld Poliziotteschi Yakuza Dance Disaster Apocalyptic Drug Psychedelic Stoner Dystopian Ecchi Economic Ethnographic Exploitation Blaxploitation Mexploitation Turksploitation Extraterrestrial Food and drink Gendai-geki Ghost Goona-goona epic Gothic Romance Space Suburban Girls with guns Harem Hentai Lolicon Shotacon Tentacle erotica Homeland Isekai Jidaigeki Samurai Kaitō LGBTQ Yaoi Yuri Luchador Magical girl Martial arts Bruceploitation Chopsocky Gun fu Kung fu Ninja Wuxia Mecha Anime Monster Giant monster Kaiju Mummy Vampire Zombie Zombie comedy Mountain Mouth of Garbage Muslim social Nature Environmental issues Opera Outlaw biker Ozploitation Partisan film Prison Women Race Rape and revenge Road Rubble Rumberas Sexploitation Bavarian porn Commedia sexy all'italiana Mexican sex comedy Nazi exploitation Pornochanchada Nunsploitation Sex report Shoshimin-eiga Slavery Slice of life Snuff South Seas Sports Spy Eurospy Superhero Surfing Swashbuckler Sword-and-sandal Sword and sorcery Travel imaginary voyage Trial Vigilante War Anti-war Euro War Submarine Western Acid Contemporary Western Dacoit Western Fantasy Florida Horror Meat pie Northern Ostern Revisionist Science fiction Singing cowboy Space Spaghetti Weird Western Zapata Western
By movement or period	Absolute American eccentric cinema New Objectivity Australian New Wave Auteur films Berlin School Bourekas Brighton School British New Wave Kitchen sink realism Budapest school Calligrafismo Cannibal boom Cinéma du look Cinema Novo Cinema of Transgression Cinéma pur Commedia all'italiana Czechoslovak New Wave Documentary Film Movement Dogme 95 Erra Cinema European art cinema Film d'art Film gris Free Cinema French New Wave German Expressionist German underground horror Nigerian Golden Age Grupo Cine Liberación Heimatfilm Hollywood on the Tiber Hong Kong New Wave Indiewood Iranian New Wave Italian futurist Italian neorealist Japanese New Wave Kammerspielfilm L.A. Rebellion Lettrist Modernist film Mumblecore Neorealist New French Extremity New German New generation New Hollywood New Nollywood New Queer No wave Nuevo Cine Mexicano Pan-Indian film Parallel cinema Persian Film Poetic realist Polish Film School Poliziotteschi The Prague film school Prussian film Pure Film Movement Remodernist Romanian New Wave Slow cinema Spaghetti Western Socialist realist Social realist Kitchen sink realism Soviet parallel Structural Surrealist Sword-and-sandal Telefoni Bianchi Third Cinema Toronto New Wave Vulgar auteurism Yugoslav Black Wave
By demographic	Adult Black Children and family Anime Men Seinen Stag Teen Shōnen Shōjo Women Chick flick Josei
By format, technique, approach, or production	3D Actuality Animation Anime Art Cartoon Computer Stop-motion Traditional Anthology Art B movie Behind-the-scenes Black-and-white Blockbuster Cinéma vérité Classical Hollywood cinema Collage Color Compilation Composite Computer screen Cult midnight movie Database cinema Docufiction Ethnofiction Experimental Abstract Feature Featurette Film à clef Film-poem Found footage Hyperlink cinema Independent Guerrilla filmmaking List of American independent films Interstitial art Live action animation Low-budget Major film studios Masala Maximalist film Message picture Meta-film Minimalist film Mockbuster Modernist film Musical short Mythopoeia Neorealist No-budget One-shot Paracinema Participatory Poetry Postmodernist Reverse motion Satire Sceneggiata Semidocumentary Serial Shinpa Short Silent Slow cinema Socialist realist Sound Underground Video nasty Vulgar auteurism Z movie
Category

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Trick_film&oldid=1231913083"

Categories:

Hidden categories: