Grandma's Reading Glass (1900)

Directed by

George Albert Smith

Genre

silent film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

2 min

Rating

6.2 of 10 from 85 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A young boy picks up a large magnifying glass and uses it to look closely at small objects. The film shows what the boy sees through the lens in a series of circular close-up shots.

whimsicalcuriousplayfulnovelsimplequietobservational

What happens

Grandma's Reading Glass is a 1900 British silent trick film, directed by George Albert Smith, featuring a young boy who borrows a huge magnifying glass to focus on various objects. The film was shot to demonstrate the new technique of close-up. According to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, it "was one of the first films to cut between medium shot and point-of-view close-up." It was destroyed in a fire at Warwick Trading Company's studio facility in 1912 and was long thought lost. The film was discovered in 1960 in the collection of Danish court photographer and film pioneer Peter Elfelt. "The close-ups themselves were simulated by photographing the relevant objects inside a black circular mask fixed in front of the camera lens," according to Brooke, "which also had the effect of creating a circular image that helped them stand out from the rest of the film... Smith would develop these techniques in the more narrative-based As Seen Through a Telescope (1900), made the same year." Brooke states that, "There is very little narrative to speak of besides the boy looking around for further objects to examine... but at the time it was released, that would in itself have been sufficient novelty to maintain the audience's interest." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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