L'Araignée d'or - 1909
ABOUT THE FILM : L'Araignée d'or
Lobster FilmsThe Golden Spider
Year: 1909
Four gnomes scour the woods, looking in the ponds of water for a golden spider. A lumberjack follows them in their adventure to their cave, where he sees the captured spider weaving gold ingots which it next cuts up into pieces! Other insects meanwhile are hard at work: a fly slips on pearls, a cicada paints… But it is indeed the spider which particularly interests our lumberjack, who spirits the creature away to his hut. The lumberjack is going to become rich! Nevertheless, he refuses charity to a beggar. His miserliness and greed are soon to be punished…
Segundo de Chomón, a relatively unknown pioneer of the early motion pictures, and master of colours and special effects, directed this film in 1909.
Nationality: French
Length: 8' 12"
Genre: trick film
Sound: silent with soundtrack
Original elements: stencil coloured
Producer: Pathé Frères
Composer: Etienne Desaux
Original language: French
A BRIEF HISTORY : L'Araignée d'or
Often, the name of Segundo de Chomón (1871-1929) is associated with that of Georges Méliès (1861-1938). If he is less known than his illustrious rival, the Spanish filmmaker has nonetheless little to envy in him in terms of creativity and inventiveness when it comes to special effects. It is in 1905 that Segundo de Chomón is hired by Pathé Frères, and put in charge of special-effects films to compete with Méliès. During the years 1908 and 1909, which are particularly prolific, Segundo de Chomón makes his best special-effects films, among the some 150 which he made for Pathé between 1905 and 1909.
As for Le Rêve des marmitons (Scullions' Dream) or Le Voleur invisible (The Invisible Thief), Chomón used, to make L'Araignée d'or (The Gold Spider) and create its special effects, a camera which he had specially modified. The apparatus enabled the filmmaker to film forwards or backwards, and especially frame by frame, by means of a crank marked with eight positions (because it records eight frames per turn). Also known as "turn of the crank", the frame-by- filming enabled Chomón to bestow life on objects by moving them ever so slightly between each take. When the final film is projected, movement is recreated, giving the audience the impression that the objects are moving on their own!
The colours of this film were created by the use of stencil images. Colour was an obsession for Chomón. His wife, Julienne Mathieu (1874-?) - who appeared moreover in several films of the Pathé period, like Les Ombres chinoises - was in charge of the illumination workshop run by Mme Thuillier, and who coloured Georges Méliès' films. She was the one who initiated Chomón to the art of colouring, and thus ushered him into the just-burgeoning world of motion pictures. In 1902, the couple moved to Barcelona, opening a film colouring studio there. Chomón took up all the techniques of colouring and perfected them. Returning to Paris, he collaborated on perfecting the mechanical technique of stencil colouring of films, patented under the name of Pathécolour.
The original music for this film was composed in 2011 by Etienne Desaux in the context of the partnership with the CNSMDP (Paris Conservatory of Dance and Music).
