The early French filmmaker Georges Méliès was originally a stage magician and it's pretty obvious in many of his films. That's because in probably a hundred or more of his 500+ films he essentially does his stage act in front of the camera. Sure, the costumes differ and the tricks differ a bit, but they are all basically the same film and is churned them out one after the other.
In this one, Méliès and his three assistants are dressed in costumes that appear to be from about 1500. The magician takes a disc and paints a moon-like face on it. Then, again and again, he reaches in the face and pulls out various items...such as wine and LOTS of clothing. Then towards the end, the assistants themselves change in various ways.
To achieve this trick, Georges Méliès simply stopped the camera and then inserted whatever item he wanted to produce and then re-started the camera. If you look at the assistants, you can even notice that their expressions change a bit with each stoppage. Not a bad trick for 1908, but also a bit tiresome as well as he simply wasn't innovating in any way with these particular films...just doing the same shtick again and again.
In this one, Méliès and his three assistants are dressed in costumes that appear to be from about 1500. The magician takes a disc and paints a moon-like face on it. Then, again and again, he reaches in the face and pulls out various items...such as wine and LOTS of clothing. Then towards the end, the assistants themselves change in various ways.
To achieve this trick, Georges Méliès simply stopped the camera and then inserted whatever item he wanted to produce and then re-started the camera. If you look at the assistants, you can even notice that their expressions change a bit with each stoppage. Not a bad trick for 1908, but also a bit tiresome as well as he simply wasn't innovating in any way with these particular films...just doing the same shtick again and again.