Roundhay Garden Scene

Overview

According to Le Prince's son, Adolphe, the film was made at Oakwood Grange, the home of Joseph and Sarah Whitley, in Roundhay, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England on 14 October 1888.

It features Adolphe Le Prince, Sarah Whitley (née Robinson, 1816 – 24 October 1888), Joseph Whitley (1817 – 12 January 1891) and Annie Hartley in the garden, walking around. Sarah is walking backwards as she turns around, and Joseph's coat tails are flying as he also is turning. Joseph and Sarah Whitley were Louis Le Prince's parents-in-law, being the parents of his wife Elizabeth, and Annie Hartley is believed to be a friend of Le Prince and his wife. Sarah Whitley died ten days after the scene was filmed.

Remastered footage

In 1930 the National Science Museum (NSM) in London produced photographic copies of surviving parts from the 1888 filmstrip. This sequence was recorded on an 1885 Eastman Kodak paper base photographic film through Louis Le Prince's single-lens combi camera-projector. Adolphe Le Prince stated that the Roundhay Garden movie was shot at 12 frames/s (and a second movie, Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge, at 20 frames/s); however, the later digital remastered version of Roundhay Garden produced by the National Media Museum in Bradford, which contains 52 frames, runs at 24.64 frames/s, a modern cinematographic frame rate, so it plays in only 2.11 seconds. The NSM copy has 20 frames; at 12 frames/s, this produces a run time of 1.66 seconds.