Alice Guy: Three Extraordinary Shots

Alice Guy tourne une phonoscène sur le théâtre de pose des Buttes-Chaumont, Paris
R: Alice Guy. D: Étienne Arnaud, Alice Guy. P: Société des Etablissements L. Gaumont. Fr 1907

“We see a film studio  from a camera that is set behind the camera which is used to film the actors. The set is brightly lit and includes a variety of actors, apparently preparing to give a large-scale song and dance performance. The crew is visible, but they are mostly silhouettes against the brightly-lit stage. Alice Guy is in the center of the screen, to begin with, but she too is just a silhouette. The camera pans to show all of the equipment. To the left is the movie camera, and on its right is a smaller camera, probably a still camera, the next object is a large table with old-fashioned trumpets (as from a gramophone machine) poking out at the top – presumably this is the sound-recording device. The camera pans past it to show a large reflector, which is at least partly responsible for bouncing all that light onto the performers. It pans back left, but not quite far enough to see the movie camera. The action begins onstage, and during the performance, Guy turns and adjusts some settings on the sound-recorder.”
Century Film Project

Effets de mer

Le ballon dirigeable ‘Le patrie’

“The Lebaudy Patrie was a semi-rigid airship built for the French army in Moisson, France, by sugar producers Lebaudy Frères. Designed by Henri Julliot, Lebaudy’s chief engineer, the ‘Patrie’ was completed in November 1906 and handed over to the military the following month. The ‘Patrie’ bears the distinction of being the first airship ordered for military service by the French army.
In 1907, from her base at Chalais-Meudon near Paris, a successful series of military manoeuvres was conducted with the airship by the military command, which included a visit by France’s President of the Council Georges Clemenceau. Following the successful completion of these operations, in November 1907 the ‘Patrie’ was transferred under her own power to her operational base at Verdun, near the German border.
Due to a mechanical fault, the ‘Patrie’ became stranded away from her base on 29 November 1907 in Souhesmes. During a storm on 30 November she was torn loose from her temporary moorings and, despite the efforts of some 200 soldiers who tried to restrain her, she was carried away by the high winds and lost from sight.”