Rough Sea | 1900 | Documentary, Short

Title: Rough Sea | 1900 | Documentary, Short Director: James Bamforth Studio: Bamforth & Co. Runtime: 1 Format: Silent, black-and-white Country: United Kingdom Language: Silent Genres: Documentary, Short --- Chapters: 00:00:00 Shoreline view 00:00:15 Waves intensify 00:00:30 Breakers and spray 00:00:45 Foam and ebb --- Summary: A brief actuality of waves breaking along a rocky shoreline, filmed to showcase the dramatic motion of the sea. The camera observes the surf as it swells, crests, and crashes, sending spray into the foreground. The film exemplifies early non-fiction cinema’s fascination with natural forces and the spectacle of movement, offering a concise record of rough water and shoreline atmosphere. --- Background: Produced by the Bamforth company of Holmfirth, Yorkshire, Rough Sea belongs to a popular strand of late-Victorian “rough sea” actualities made to demonstrate the new medium’s capacity to capture motion. Bamforth & Co. began filmmaking in 1898 and issued numerous short non-fiction subjects around 1900 alongside their lantern-slide business, contributing to the era’s catalog-driven exhibition culture. --- Trivia: The film runs about one minute, consistent with the brief actuality format common to turn-of-the-century programs. Rough sea subjects were widely exhibited in the 1890s and early 1900s because turbulent water provided an eye-catching test of motion photography. The Bamforth firm later became internationally known for picture postcards, but its earliest moving-picture work included simple documentary views like this one. The precise coastal location seen in this film is not identified in contemporary sources. --- Public Domain / Rights: Original Studio / Distributor: Bamforth & Co. Copyright Status: Public Domain Renewal: No --- Hashtags: RoughSea PublicDomain SilentFilm EarlyCinema DocumentaryShort Bamforth This video was sourced from Internet Archive. Originally uploaded by jake@archive.org. https://archive.org/details/silent-rough-sea