A scene from Charles Hoyt's 'A Milk White Flag': A brass band marches out, led by bandmaster Steele Ayers. When Ayers reaches his position, he turns around and directs the musicians as they ... Read allA scene from Charles Hoyt's 'A Milk White Flag': A brass band marches out, led by bandmaster Steele Ayers. When Ayers reaches his position, he turns around and directs the musicians as they take up their own positions.A scene from Charles Hoyt's 'A Milk White Flag': A brass band marches out, led by bandmaster Steele Ayers. When Ayers reaches his position, he turns around and directs the musicians as they take up their own positions.
Photos
- Directors
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFilmed portion of the play "A Milk White Flag" by Charles Hoyt.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Edison: The Invention of the Movies (2005)
Featured review
Filming Theater
"Band Drill" is an example of one of the very earliest films ever made in the silent era that takes a well-known theatrical skit or play, and films it to create a motion picture version of the original spectacle. Before cross-cutting, closeups, medium closeups and other modern film techniques came into play (which started to take over at about 1910 and later) one of the most commonly used methods of storytelling in film was, quite frankly put, a drudgery of long shots taken in a certain order, one after the other. When it came to theater, this type of storytelling was acceptable (after all, there can be no closeups when you watch a play) but when adapting long shot scenes to film, it becomes a rather dull monotony. Thus, it was all for the better when Griffith entered the scene and began to change film grammar in his uses of the advanced techniques listed above. As it is, these cutting techniques were already starting to be experimented with by the time the early 1900s rolled around.
"Band Drill", as mentioned before, is clearly one of the earliest (if not completely the first) motion pictures that begins this concept of filmed theater. Even though Edison had been filming with long shots since his company began (with Dickson's and Heise's performance films of dancers and athletes) those earlier films were by no means scenes of filmed theater. Oftentimes, they were mere demonstrations which, while typically shot from an audiences' perspective, did not present a play or skit in any sense of the word. While this very brief 20-second short consists of only one scene and is a mere stand-alone shot of a band leader directing musicians, it also happens to be a very small fragment of Charles Hoyt's "A Milk White Flag" play--a theatrical piece which I admittedly know nothing of in regards to plot or content. Additionally, the exact same day this short clip was made, Dickson and Heise also made at least four other films of scenes from the same play, using the professional actors from the original performances. This act alone remains; the rest are either lost, undiscovered, or not available online.
Even despite the fact "Band Drill" is only a representation of Hoyt's play, one has to wonder exactly why, of the five-or-more films they made, Dickson and Heise chose to film this particular scene. When one of the oldest motion pictures systems in the entire world can produce only silent pictures, would it not be more sensible for the company to shoot a more active scene that could work without sound? Either the band practice scene was a favorite with the masses, Frank Baldwin was insistent that he be featured in his role of Steele Ayres, or the other scenes featured too many sets and props (since no sets are really needed in this film). Either way, watching "Band Drill" on its own provides a sort of mystery, without further information, as to what was its context.
Being a scene of a theatrical play does, however, have its advantages. Because of the fact the names of the actors were already billed in the various places the play was performed, the film historians must have had no hesitation at all as to who played who. Even the names of those who played the musicians, such as Fred Boardman, Paul Pfarr, George Goddard, etc, are known. (Strangely enough, a seeming relation to Boardman also plays a musician, but his first and middle name are represented only by the initials J. F.). The costumes of every character, which must have been lovely when seen in reality, still look fairly good on black-and-white film. With these pluses and the fact it helps us remember the title of an outdated play we would otherwise have forgotten, "Band Drill" remains of historical interest; but even keeping those things in mind, one has to wonder why, of all the scenes they filmed of this play, this rather pointless scene had to be the one to survive.
"Band Drill", as mentioned before, is clearly one of the earliest (if not completely the first) motion pictures that begins this concept of filmed theater. Even though Edison had been filming with long shots since his company began (with Dickson's and Heise's performance films of dancers and athletes) those earlier films were by no means scenes of filmed theater. Oftentimes, they were mere demonstrations which, while typically shot from an audiences' perspective, did not present a play or skit in any sense of the word. While this very brief 20-second short consists of only one scene and is a mere stand-alone shot of a band leader directing musicians, it also happens to be a very small fragment of Charles Hoyt's "A Milk White Flag" play--a theatrical piece which I admittedly know nothing of in regards to plot or content. Additionally, the exact same day this short clip was made, Dickson and Heise also made at least four other films of scenes from the same play, using the professional actors from the original performances. This act alone remains; the rest are either lost, undiscovered, or not available online.
Even despite the fact "Band Drill" is only a representation of Hoyt's play, one has to wonder exactly why, of the five-or-more films they made, Dickson and Heise chose to film this particular scene. When one of the oldest motion pictures systems in the entire world can produce only silent pictures, would it not be more sensible for the company to shoot a more active scene that could work without sound? Either the band practice scene was a favorite with the masses, Frank Baldwin was insistent that he be featured in his role of Steele Ayres, or the other scenes featured too many sets and props (since no sets are really needed in this film). Either way, watching "Band Drill" on its own provides a sort of mystery, without further information, as to what was its context.
Being a scene of a theatrical play does, however, have its advantages. Because of the fact the names of the actors were already billed in the various places the play was performed, the film historians must have had no hesitation at all as to who played who. Even the names of those who played the musicians, such as Fred Boardman, Paul Pfarr, George Goddard, etc, are known. (Strangely enough, a seeming relation to Boardman also plays a musician, but his first and middle name are represented only by the initials J. F.). The costumes of every character, which must have been lovely when seen in reality, still look fairly good on black-and-white film. With these pluses and the fact it helps us remember the title of an outdated play we would otherwise have forgotten, "Band Drill" remains of historical interest; but even keeping those things in mind, one has to wonder why, of all the scenes they filmed of this play, this rather pointless scene had to be the one to survive.
helpful•00
- Tornado_Sam
- Feb 25, 2019
Details
- Runtime1 minute
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content