Segundo de Chomón and the pushbutton age
Regular readers have noticed we've been spending a lot time on the
history of technology, particularly the explosive changes around the
late 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the things I find most
fascinating about the period is the number of concepts that are now so
familiar as to be a part of our intuitive view of the world which didn't
exist until the time in question. The idea of remote control, virtually instantaneous nonmechanical action
at any terrestrial distance. You touch a button, you throw switch, and
lights go on, doors open, motors start. This went from being impossible
to completely mundane with remarkable speed.
The pushbutton age was still fairly new when Segundo de Chomón
made the groundbreaking film electric hotel. The though overshadowed by
Georges Méliès, de Chomón was, for my money, probably the better
filmmaker and his work with stop motion animation would prove more
fertile than any of the trick effects his contemporary is remembered
for.
Another piece of new technology.
No stop action, just a personal favorite.
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