FILMING OF QUEEN VICTORIA AT BALMORAL CASTLE 1896

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Queen Victoria was born
(1801) before photography was discovered, and began
her reign just two years following the announcement that the
Daguerreotype process was being given freely to the world (1839).

Following
her husband's death in 1861 she became withdrawn and upon counsel
she allowed herself to be photographed not in a way similar
to a royal portrait. She allowed cameras to film her on more
than one occasion as a way to gain popularity from, and trust
with her subjects. Thus we have perhaps the first use of the
cine camera as a way to broadcast the well being of the Monarchy
to the public.

This
began a long tradition of using the media as an accessibility
tool. The sequence we have provided shows the Queen
in a carriage at Balmoral Castle, Scotland on 3 October 1896.
Her daily journal entry for the event reads 'At
twelve went down to below the terrace, near the ballroom, and
we were all photographed by Downey by the new cinematograph
process, which makes moving pictures by winding off a reel of
films. We were walking up and down, and the children jumping
about'.

Royal photographers William
and Daniel Downey used specially made 60 mm celluloid that had
four round perforations on each margin. The footage was shown
at Windsor Castle a month later (November). After the gala event,
Queen Victoria wrote 'After tea went
to the Red drawing room, where so-called "animated pictures"
were shown off, including the groups taken in September
[sic] at Balmoral. It is a very wonderful
process, representing people, their movements and actions, as
if they were alive'.

THE HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF CINEMATOGRAPHY
An illustrated Chronological History of the Development of Motion Pictures Covering 2500 Years Leading to the Discovery of Cinematography in the 1800's

http://precinemahistory.net

-- Paul Burns