French inventor Louis Le Prince (1841-1890) is
considered by many to be the inventor of the motion
picture camera;

and he has been credited with shooting Cinema's
first experimental motion pictures

Le Prince, however, is a relatively unknown figure;
cultural sociologist Richard Howells writes,

Le Prince had indeed succeeded making pictures move
at least seven years before the Lumière brothers and
Thomas Edison, and so suggests a re-writing of the
history of early cinema.
- Screen vol.47 #2, p.179~200, 2006

Roundhay Garden Scene, filmed in October 1888, is
believed to be earliest surviving motion picture

it was shot at the home of Le Prince's mother-in-law,
Sarah Whitley in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England

Ms. Whitley and Le Prince's eldest son, Adolphe,
are featured and can therefore be thought of as
Cinema's first actors

the 2-second experimental film was shot at 12 frames
per second

Roundhay Garden Scene


Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge, Le Prince's second film,
is also 2 seconds long; it documents Leeds' 1888
horse-drawn and pedestrian traffic

Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge


for more on Louis Le Prince, check out
E. Kilburn Scott's Adventures in Cybersound,
The Career of L. A. A. Le Prince