I don't see any web in this 12-second film, but it's an interesting piece of work anyway. It's by George A. Smith, the Englishman who seems to have done the work that evolved into much of the photographic grammar of film. Here's it's a close-up of two spiders moving against a faint grid.
Are they large spiders in medium close-up? Tiny spiders in extreme close-up? It's impossible for anyone but a spider expert to tell, because 1900 was right in the middle of the time when Smith was experimenting with close-ups.
Smith distributed his films through Charles Urban's Warwick Trading, but he was an entrepreneur on his own, patenting Kinemacolour, one of the earliest color film technologies. He was another individual of foresight and talent whose contributions to cinema have been forgotten, washed away in the simple narrative of legend.
Are they large spiders in medium close-up? Tiny spiders in extreme close-up? It's impossible for anyone but a spider expert to tell, because 1900 was right in the middle of the time when Smith was experimenting with close-ups.
Smith distributed his films through Charles Urban's Warwick Trading, but he was an entrepreneur on his own, patenting Kinemacolour, one of the earliest color film technologies. He was another individual of foresight and talent whose contributions to cinema have been forgotten, washed away in the simple narrative of legend.
