Dickson Greeting

As simple and brief as it is, this mini-feature is one of the most important steps in the development of moving pictures. In its time, it was an enormous step forward from previous experiments (at least from those of which records still exist), and it shows a complete success in getting past some of the difficulties with the Edison Company's earlier "Monkeyshines" experiments.

The footage simply shows Edison's associate W.K.L. Dickson, performing a jaunty motion of greeting, which is then repeated more than once. The image is very clear, with only a slight suggestion of minor distortion around the edges. The illusion of motion is smooth and completely convincing. It has also survived in good condition, which is fortunate given its significance.

It is also appropriate that such a significant step forward would preserve the image of Dickson, who was so instrumental in developing the new technology. While the exact amount of credit rightfully due to Edison, Dickson, and other individuals can now no longer be determined accurately, it seems apparent from all accounts that Dickson probably deserves as much credit as anyone in the early development of motion pictures.

It is wrong credited as a first movie filmed in United States. First movies filmed in US are Monkeyshines 1, Monkeyshines 2 and third part of Monkeyshines which is losted and you will not see it ever, unfortunately.

I read somewhere that is first film which is shown in public, and i think that this fact is true. Quality of this movie is lot better than quality of 2 parts of Monkeyshines and we have clear view on person standing in front of camera. We can clearly see his face and it is positive side of this movie. Negative side was a fact that we can't see anything interesting and it is pretty much boring.

It's very fascinating to see the invention of the moving picture in the 1890's, and the short reel shows it off. However, there's certainly more interesting short reels of its time, such as Newark Athlete and the Blacksmith Scene which is certainly more interesting.

A little more enjoyable then some of the other early film experiments I have viewed recently. Partly because of the quality of the image, partly because of the surreal vibe, (though its a few seconds of nothing really) and partly because you get to see the handsome face of the filmmaker himself.

After the previous year of filmmaking for the Edison company, in which they had innovated the Kinetograph and used to shoot the first movies in America (that is, the first attempted ones), the famous producer Thomas Alva Edison finally proved himself successful at improving the quality of the picture in order to produce a much clearer film. Continuing to experiment in 1891, his camera tests were now much more viewable, and with much smoother movement. While I would disagree that this film "Dickson Greeting" was really the first commercially exhibited film (since when he showed it to the women's convention, it was merely a private showing and was not publicly shown) it does show how Edison continued to explore filmed movement with his camera. In the same year, he would also record more moving subjects with the camera, and even create a comical variation on "Men Boxing" (in "Monkey and Another, Boxing").

"Dickson Greeting", like all the earliest Edison movies, was filmed what I suppose is the inventor's laboratory and shows a medium closeup of the great man W. K. L. Dickson himself, Edison's right-hand man, greeting the audience with a gesture of his hat. (Why his eyes are closed, I have no idea). Because of how early it was in the filmmaking industry, I think it's also safe to say that this is the first instance in motion pictures to have an actor break the wall (although in the Monkeyshines shorts the factory worker posing could have been looking at the camera and we'd have no way of knowing). As Dickson moves his hat and greets the audience, he thus involves the audience in the action, a concept later to be explored by Cecil Hepworth and James Williamson.

Edison would later experiment with various other subjects on film: a certain James C. Duncan smoking before the camera, a Newark athlete swinging Indian clubs, etc. For now, however, he was merely trying to find good subjects that moved to test the boundaries of his camera and would have to experiment a couple more years before introducing his invention to the general public.