The Waif and the Wizard; or, The Home Made Happy

1901
Silent
1m

A boy asks a magician to entertain his sick sister in this edition of RW Paul's Sentimental Songs with Animated Illustrations.

Although the story might be obscure to us, this film is part of RW Paul's selection of Sentimental Songs with Animated Illustrations. Based on a (presumably) popular song of 1898, the subject was well known in its day. The three years between 1898 and 1901 (when this film was made) saw great advances in filmmaking, if not popular song. With several trick shots and a sophisticated change of location, this film shows evidence of the forward steps taken since the invention of cinematography.

Inventing Film Language

As with any new technology, it was film’s early adopters whose innovations and discoveries began to map out what is possible.

The first filmmakers had a lot to learn, but they learnt quickly, driven by their own creative ambitions and by audiences' hunger for novelty. Most of the techniques we know today were in place by the end of the Victorian period.

It was the Victorian pioneers who developed the essential building blocks of film; close-ups, pans and travelling shots; editing and principles of continuity. And their ambition spurred them to innovate numerous tricks and effects, from jump-cuts, to double-exposure and even split screen. Generations of later filmmakers would refine these methods, but the groundwork had already been done.