A man in evening clothes is sitting with a pretty girl. They are drinking, smoking, and having a great time. Then the scene unfocused; when the camera comes back into focus, he wakes to argue with his wife in bed.
Is this the first instance of a dream sequence in the movies? I'm hesitant to assert anything as a first in the movies; even movies in 1895 were borrowing from other, older technologies for their subjects and what they showed. Yet this is a movie from George Albert Smith, whose films from 1898 through 1904 are the earliest known examples of many techniques..... some of which, of course, he borrowed from earlier technologies, like magic lanterns.
His method of fading out is to unfocus the camera, and then refocusing it for the second shot; at this time, even two camera set-ups in a movie was cutting edge. However, I think this precursor of the modern 'fade' to indicate waking might have been a technique borrowed from magic lantern shows.
Never mind. The fact that Smith, even if he knew of this trick elsewhere, thought to apply it to movies. That's innovation enough for me. I will, however, keep my eyes open for earlier uses of the technique.
Is this the first instance of a dream sequence in the movies? I'm hesitant to assert anything as a first in the movies; even movies in 1895 were borrowing from other, older technologies for their subjects and what they showed. Yet this is a movie from George Albert Smith, whose films from 1898 through 1904 are the earliest known examples of many techniques..... some of which, of course, he borrowed from earlier technologies, like magic lanterns.
His method of fading out is to unfocus the camera, and then refocusing it for the second shot; at this time, even two camera set-ups in a movie was cutting edge. However, I think this precursor of the modern 'fade' to indicate waking might have been a technique borrowed from magic lantern shows.
Never mind. The fact that Smith, even if he knew of this trick elsewhere, thought to apply it to movies. That's innovation enough for me. I will, however, keep my eyes open for earlier uses of the technique.