A gymnast assumes a number of positions while holding a wand in both hands.A gymnast assumes a number of positions while holding a wand in both hands.A gymnast assumes a number of positions while holding a wand in both hands.
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Did you know
- TriviaThis film was made as an experimental test run for the later filming of 'Eugene Sandow'.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Edison: The Invention of the Movies (2005)
Featured review
Test Run for Sandow
People who criticize "Athlete with Wand" as being boring clearly do not see the actual point of this brief shot. No, the athlete was not a professional performer who had his performance filmed for publicity like Edison did later the same year, and the act he puts on for the camera here wasn't meant to be entertaining. In the long run, the footage thus served one purpose: it was a test run for "Souvenir Strip of the Edison Kinetoscope", later to be retitled "Sandow No 1", (as at least two other films of strongman Eugene Sandow were shot by the same company). Clearly, as Snow Leopard says, to have an athlete bend his knees and pose with the wand was a mere way of figuring out the staging and camera placement within the studio. (Don't forget the Black Maria was finished just the previous year and that until now they hadn't have much of a chance to work within it). There was obviously nothing meant to be entertaining about this piece of footage, it was probably never titled (which would explain the square brackets used for this and the early camera tests) and no doubt never even released to be viewed in Kinetoscope parlors. The athlete, said to work for the Newark Turnverein, was probably more likely a factory worker than a true gymnast; the chances of Edison taking the time to get the actual thing down to his studio just for a test run is unlikely. Simply put, this footage was shot for mere experimental reasons.
While I agree with Snow Leopard's assumption that the dog in the corner of the frame was placed there to test non-central movement, I think another possibility could be that someone just brought their dog into the studio and he/she ended up finding that part of the stage to his/her liking, and couldn't be budged. The chances of Edison actually getting a dog to sit on the floor by command seems a little far-fetched. You'd think they'd have gotten the dog to lay there another way, possibly by putting a bone or a slab of meat in the right spot so the dog would lay there for filming.
While I agree with Snow Leopard's assumption that the dog in the corner of the frame was placed there to test non-central movement, I think another possibility could be that someone just brought their dog into the studio and he/she ended up finding that part of the stage to his/her liking, and couldn't be budged. The chances of Edison actually getting a dog to sit on the floor by command seems a little far-fetched. You'd think they'd have gotten the dog to lay there another way, possibly by putting a bone or a slab of meat in the right spot so the dog would lay there for filming.
helpful•10
- Tornado_Sam
- Dec 19, 2017
Details
- Runtime1 minute
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