In this film, a man makes some movements, including calisthenics, while working with a 3 foot long pole. His work is not particularly athletic or artistic. Our athlete in the film is not famous. He looks like he's in good shape but we don't even know what his name is. There's also a dog in the foreground behaving like a dog.
The importance of this film lies in being an experimental film to see how movement looked to the camera. This was an early film in Edison's Black Maria studio. The director, WKL Dickson, was preparing for later films which would feature famous performers such as Eugene Sandow, the strongman, or Carmencita, the dancer. The athlete in the film looks like he is warming up. The film is also warming up for what would be come a multi-billion dollar industry. These are very early stages.
The importance of this film lies in being an experimental film to see how movement looked to the camera. This was an early film in Edison's Black Maria studio. The director, WKL Dickson, was preparing for later films which would feature famous performers such as Eugene Sandow, the strongman, or Carmencita, the dancer. The athlete in the film looks like he is warming up. The film is also warming up for what would be come a multi-billion dollar industry. These are very early stages.