"Caicedo (with Pole)" is one of two known films shot of the well-known high wire specialist Juan Caicedo and released by the Edison company for the Kinetoscope parlors in 1894. The other, which was also possibly shot outdoors, was "Caicedo (with Spurs)" of the same year. Despite the fact that the latter is supposedly lost, we can assume that both fall into the performance film genre that was popular during Edison first years (1894-1896), and that both were no doubt quite revolutionary because of how strongly they tested the possibilities of the motion picture camera. Caicedo's smooth movements as he relaxingly flips and bounces on the wire are, quite simply put, very demanding of the invention to do its job. Again, the brief footage no doubt comprises only excerpts from the original act performed for the circus.
I think that the most interesting thing to be observed about this particular performance in the end is, outside the talent the act required, the concept of outdoor filming. Up until now, almost all of the Edison company's movies had been shot inside their Black Maria studio, known for its boring black backgrounds and lack of sets. Part of the reason this was was no doubt due to lighting issues; for a motion picture camera to work right in that day, proper lighting had to be created for the filming. Obviously, this had to be the case with Edison's Kinetograph, which was probably even more so that way then future inventions. (Note how the whites in some of the Lumière movies are overexposed; this reason alone was probably the cause of that). I don't know enough about the proper exposures for such filmmaking, so I won't go into detail.
My guess is that since the high wire couldn't be stretched just so in the studio, they were forced into doing it in different conditions, which, in this case, appear to be in someone's backyard. From my own research, "Caicedo (with Pole)" was probably not the first film to do such a different thing, however: "Fred Ott Holding a Bird" from the same year also seems to take place outside a building. Finally, as the latter appears to be a test film like "Fred Ott's Sneeze", it was no doubt filmed earlier the same year, probably beating this film to the title of the first Edison film shot outside by several months.
I think that the most interesting thing to be observed about this particular performance in the end is, outside the talent the act required, the concept of outdoor filming. Up until now, almost all of the Edison company's movies had been shot inside their Black Maria studio, known for its boring black backgrounds and lack of sets. Part of the reason this was was no doubt due to lighting issues; for a motion picture camera to work right in that day, proper lighting had to be created for the filming. Obviously, this had to be the case with Edison's Kinetograph, which was probably even more so that way then future inventions. (Note how the whites in some of the Lumière movies are overexposed; this reason alone was probably the cause of that). I don't know enough about the proper exposures for such filmmaking, so I won't go into detail.
My guess is that since the high wire couldn't be stretched just so in the studio, they were forced into doing it in different conditions, which, in this case, appear to be in someone's backyard. From my own research, "Caicedo (with Pole)" was probably not the first film to do such a different thing, however: "Fred Ott Holding a Bird" from the same year also seems to take place outside a building. Finally, as the latter appears to be a test film like "Fred Ott's Sneeze", it was no doubt filmed earlier the same year, probably beating this film to the title of the first Edison film shot outside by several months.