To Demonstrate How Spiders Fly

1909
Silent
1m

Charming animated illustration of one of nature's wonders from Britain's most inventive pioneer of wildlife filmmaking.

This typically delightful film from Britain's great pioneering wildlife filmmaker F. Percy Smith uses model animation to capture one of nature's engineering marvels: the spider's web-building. Presumably judging that live-action photography wasn't up to the job, Smith built his own charming eight-legged model, which he animates to illustrate how the spider "throws a thread of silk to the wind". Arachnophobes beware: in the final few seconds the cute model is replaced by the real deal, seen shooting its web like an arrow.

This was Smith's first attempt at animation, but it would become an increasing element of his films, sometimes to more deliberately comic effect, as in his series charting the adventures of Archie the Ant.

Early Animation

The dawn of a new celluloid art: Britain's animation pioneers at peace and war

When you're creating a new art form, everything is experimental. The pioneers of animation in Britain cast a range of subjects as the stars of their films - the toys of an Edwardian child; insects and animals; Kaiser Bill and John Bull. But even the richest of fantasies on display here offer a window into the turbulent era in which they were made. When the nation went to war, animation was conscripted to meet its propaganda needs. In peacetime, the industry sought success as an entertainer, but found a career in sales.