Society Wedding, c.1914
This rare example of amateur or home movie footage provides a glimpse of a society wedding about 1914, probably in an eastern suburb of Sydney. It shows guests arriving by car and horse-drawn vehicles at the church, followed by the wedding party. The bride and groom are seen leaving the church and being showered with rose petals before posing for photographs at the reception.
No record survives of this film’s source, subjects or locale.
Society Wedding, c.1914
This rare example of amateur or home movie footage provides a glimpse of a society wedding about 1914, probably in an eastern suburb of Sydney. It shows guests arriving by car and horse-drawn vehicles at the church, followed by the wedding party. The bride and groom are seen leaving the church and being showered with rose petals before posing for photographs at the reception.
No record survives of this film’s source, subjects or locale.
Year: c. 1914
Length: 04:29
Source: National Film and Sound Archive of Australia
Catalogue Reference: NFSA title: 255469
Location: Australia
Tags: Australia, wedding, home front
Subject: Weddings
This silent film clip is a rare
example of amateur or home movie footage from the 1910s. Prior to the invention
of 16mm film in 1923, amateur and home movie making was an expensive hobby and
confined to a small sector of Australian society. Surviving footage from home
movies filmed on 35mm nitrate film at this time is rarer still. The 35mm format
was usually reserved for professional filmmakers, suggesting that the camera
operator for this film may have had a formal connection to the nascent film
industry in Australia.
This would also explain the relatively sophisticated filming technique. It was carefully filmed in a series of shots, each deliberately framed. The shot from inside the bridal car of the couple walking out of the church was clearly planned to be edited with the next shot – a reverse from outside the car looking in at the bride. Each shot is formally framed – the opening is composed so that two brick pillars on either side of the path leading into the church frame the guests. This symmetry is repeated in the shot filmed from inside the car, with its door forming a dark frame-within-the-frame as the married couple walk towards the camera and step into the car.
Society Wedding, c.1914
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Australia
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0:00
Wedding party arrives at the church
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0:54
The bride arrives at the church
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1:47
Bride and Groom leave the church and enter a car
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2:19
Wedding party leave the church and enter cars
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2:50
View of church with cars departing
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3:08
Outside the church with people leaving by carriage
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3:26
Bride and Groom with wedding party stand for photos
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4:16
Wedding guests assemble
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4:19
Bride and Groom pose for the camera