Aeronautic Primates and Other Delights

Download the 58MB MP4 (right/ctrl-click and "Save file as...")

Notes: George Méliès was a pioneer in the realm of movie magic, operating from the earliest days of cinema in 1896 until 1913. He started his career in stage magic and many of his earliest shorts were filmed and shown at the Théâtre Robert-Houdin where he was the director.

Most of Méliès’ cinematic work dealt with, at one level or another, movie magic. His favorite trick was stopping the camera, removing or replacing a prop or person, then restarting the camera, giving the illusion of a transformation. He also did a lot of work in overlaying separate filmed sequences into one shot. While many of his films can be distilled down to the genre of “trick” film, his interest in narrative grew over the course of his career. His most famous work is certainly A Trip to the Moon (1902) with its famous shot of a spaceship hitting the face of the moon in the eye.

As for myself, I’ve owned a box set of most of Méliès’ surviving films for quite some time and never thought to crack it open. I’ve been struggling lately with a shortage of my ADHD medication and I thought that, given that the majority of the Méliès oeuvre runs under five minutes, it might be a good distraction, especially before work. I was absolutely charmed and a vid idea started to form. So that’s this. Enjoy!

Thanks for se42 and thirdblindmouse for encouragement.