CelluloidTM: Cecil M. Hepworth, Trick Film, and the Material Prehistory of the Plastic Image

ABSTRACT:This essay builds on emerging ecomaterialist accounts of film history to advance an argument about the primitive thermoplastic, celluloid, that served as the base for early photosensitive emulsions. It contends that, more than simply feeding early film technology, this "pioneer plastic" helped shape developments in early film aesthetics. Drawing on a close analysis of the early writings and film output of pioneering British director Cecil M. Hepworth, it shows that a series of encounters with this volatile vegetable compound played a key role in the director's early filmmaking practice, mediating his burgeoning appreciation of the medium's plastic as opposed to its purely photographic possibilities.