Danse Serpentine: http://ubu.com/film/lumieres_danse-serpentine.html
I was amazed to find out that films were recorded as early as 1896 and that the film industry was a competitive marketplace then too. I dug into who the Lumiere brothers were (August and Louis Lumiere) and what they did after watching Danse Serpentine, a visually beautiful capture of a woman dancing with her color-changing skirt. Although there isn't audio accompanying the 42 second long video, I think it just enhances the focus on the footage. When I first watched it I was perplexed trying to figure out how the dancer changes her skirt's color, "Maybe she flips a layer over like a magician?" Then I read the description and realized they hand painted the film. I can't imagine how much work that entailed. They were inspired to replicate Loie Fuller's well-known and entertaining dances where her skirts were illuminated by colored lights. Their patience, persistence and ingenuity are respectable. After watching the video it reminded me of a laundry detergent add I have seen and of traditional Mexican dances.
From my research I learned that the Lumiere brothers made their mark in the photography and film business. Their technical training and creative minds invented the Etiquette Blue method, the cinématographe, cinemas and delved into the first color photography processes - the autochrome plate. They were smart for having patents outside of their home country of France, having private screenings of their inventions, and seeing opportunities in in their competitions' product's weaknesses. The cinématographe was smaller, lightweight, hand-cranked, more visibility, faster frames per second and needed less film compared to Thomas Edison's clunky kinetoscope.
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