Georges Méliès (1861-1938) was the man who created a world of wonder never seen before. As a young boy he fabricated cardboard puppet theaters and marionettes. Later as a trained illusionist he created his own magic tricks and special effects for performances at his own theater. He was also the director, producer, writer, set and costume designer. After seeing a demonstration of the Lumière brothers’ cinematograph he was blown away. Fascinated with this new technology he built his own camera and went on to become one of the great innovators of early cinema, using creative tricks like multiple exposure, time lapses, dissolves and hand-coloring the negative for his fantastical movies. During his life he directed more than 500 films, one of them the delightful A Trip to the Moon.
Clip from the hand-colored version of A Trip to the Moon
one of my favorites
Mine, too.
http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/le-voyage-dans-la-lune-1902/
Thanks for the link. Nice background information & website looks very interesting too!
thought you might like the site as well. newsletter is free.
Already signed up 😉
I saw a longer version of this on YouTube, but v didn’t remember the color. It’s a delightful, surrealist film. What a life he had!
I know, I love his work too! Have you read the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (Martin Scorsese made it into a film)? It’s beautifully illustrated and celebrates the magic of Melies and early cinema.
just got this in a newsletter today – http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/le-voyage-dans-la-lune-1902/