In 1891, Thomas Edison and his staff, led by William K. L. Dickson, successfully produced demonstration films on the Kinetograph camera, and showed them to one person at a time through the Kinetoscope projector. For 1892 and the early part of 1893, Edison and Co. Geared up for commercial production. As part of this endeavour, Dickson oversaw the building of a dedicated motion picture studio, the Black Maria. This film was one of the first ones to be made at the Black Maria.
The Barbershop, along with Blacksmithing Scene, was one of the films directed by Dickson and William Heise, at the Black Maria, in 1893. In this 22 second masterpiece, while one man gets a very quick shave, and the start of a haircut, two other actors share a bit of business involving a newspaper. These may be the first instance of background performers, or extras in a scene. Although, in this case, they are more like foreground performers. There is a lot of motion in this particular film. For the time, it was quite an ambitious film.
The Barbershop, along with Blacksmithing Scene, was one of the films directed by Dickson and William Heise, at the Black Maria, in 1893. In this 22 second masterpiece, while one man gets a very quick shave, and the start of a haircut, two other actors share a bit of business involving a newspaper. These may be the first instance of background performers, or extras in a scene. Although, in this case, they are more like foreground performers. There is a lot of motion in this particular film. For the time, it was quite an ambitious film.