Mosquinha

Starring: N/A
Directed by: Etienne-Jules Marey
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Short, Documentary
Length: 7 seconds
1890

Times Seen:
Tim: 6

Summary: A fly begins to fly.

Review:

Tim: In the earliest days of cinema, there were multiple inventors and innovators, all working on different technologies that would capture motion on film. Whereas Louis Le Prince is most likely the originator of cinema, you had outfits like Edison's (which was given far more credit than it deserved), Ottomar Anschutz doing interesting work to capture the movement of horses, and William Carr Crofts & Wordsworth Donisthorpe in London. Etienne-Jules Marey was working on his own invention, a "chronophotographic gun" to capture movement on film.

That brings us to Mosquinha, an early, experimental film from 1890. Whereas previous films had captured people, traffic, horses, and a cityscape, this is the first movie to film an insect. Here, the ordinary fly gets its day in the sun. The film is short, less than 7 seconds long. But, in many ways, it feels revolutionary. I believe it's the first slow-motion film, as it shows a fly beginning its flight. In the film, the fly is focused in on, so it appears massive. We see the beating of its wings, the lift of its legs as it reaches the air. I don't know how many people watched this film in the 1890s, but it must have been startling. Never before have people been able to see the slowed-down, amplified view of a fly flying. Yes, it's just dark against a white background- there's no detail. But, it's impressive nevertheless.

Marey certainly deserves credit for his technological advances. This film shows something no other film up to this point had been able to display. Other names are certainly spoken of louder and with more reverence when discussing the early days of cinema, but Marey's contributions shouldn't be overlooked. Mosquinha is a worth seeing and learning more about. It's always interesting to see the different innovators, their technologies, and their film subjects. This short film shows something we've all seen in life, but never this close before. It's yet another example of the power of motion pictures.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



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