Underwater Elapsed Time Motion Picture
HEE-FV-007
- Date:
- 1973 & earlier
- Location:
- MIT campus, Cambridge MA; Hodgkins Cove, Gloucester MA
- Image(s):
- Color
- Sound(s):
- Silent
- Maker:
- Harold E. Edgerton
- Film type:
- 16 mm film, Kodachrome reversal master
- Run time:
- 07:46
- People:
- Harold E. Edgerton, Kenneth R. H. Read
Harold E. Edgerton produced this film in collaboration with Kenneth R. H. Read (Boston University) to demonstrate underwater time-lapse photography techniques using marine invertebrate subjects. Shot on location at Hodgkins Cove (Gloucester, MA), the film includes footage of the equipment, set-up and operations. The time lapse film allows us to perceive the otherwise elusive interactions of slow-moving underwater organisms such as sand dollars, sea urchins, starfish and crustaceans. The film opens with a brief time-lapse sequence of people crossing the street in front of MIT’s entrance at 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge MA. The underwater time lapse film equipment was partly funded by a grant from the National Geographic Society.
TIME CODE | DESCRIPTION |
---|---|
00:00:01 | Introductory information: film title, synopsis, date, run time. |
00:00:08 | Film begins. |
00:00:17 | [Title card] "ELAPSED TIME MOTION PICTURE / MADE AT / STROBOSCOPIC LIGHT LABORATORY / MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY / HAROLD E. EDGERTON, M.I.T. / KENNETH R. H. READ, B.U." |
00:00:22 | Title "PEOPLE - PROJECTED AT 24 f.p.s. / PHOTOGRAPHED AT 8 f.p.s. / SPEED UP 24 ÷ 1/8 = 3X" |
00:00:27 | [Title card] "UNDERWATER SUBJECTS / PHOTOGRAPHED AT 24 f.p.s. / PHOTOGRAPHED AT 1/20 f.p.s. ± / SPEED UP 24 x 20 = 480X / SAND DOLLARS / STAR FISH, etc." |
00:00:33 | [Title card] "For a Description of Equipment See NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY RESEARCH REPORTS 1966, WASHINGTON, DC 1973 “An Elapsed-time Photographic System for Underwater Use” Page 79 / H. Edgerton, V. MacRoberts & K. Read" |
00:00:46 | People filmed (somewhat faster than normal speed) walking in front of MIT’s entrance at 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge MA, crossing the street. |
00:01:09 | Harold Edgerton and scuba diver Kenneth Read place underwater camera on a dolly and Edgerton begins to roll camera away from van. |
00:01:20 | Kenneth Read stands next to the underwater camera |
00:01:23 | Read and Edgerton take the underwater camera down to the water’s edge. |
00:01:32 | Young boy (H. Edgerton's son and/or grandson?) and wife (?) walk along beach as Edgerton and Read finish preparing the underwater camera. |
00:01:40 | Read takes the camera into the water, various shots and angles. |
00:01:55 | Read returns to shore with sand dollars for young boy, who then displays the animals for the camera |
00:02:34 | Read suiting up next to van and walking to the beach |
00:03:18 | Read enters the water to retrieve the underwater camera |
00:03:22 | Read returns to shore, film appears to be slightly speeded up. |
00:03:44 | Read returns with underwater camera, H. Edgerton helps take camera away with dolly. |
00:04:15 | Sand dollars moving of the cove bottom |
00:04:30 | Sea urchins, starfish, fish and crabs on a rock |
00:05:22 | Sand dollars in motion |
00:05:55 | Starfish, crabs, lobsters, and sea urchins moving about. |
00:07:17 | Close-up video of starfish |
00:07:36 | Film ends. |
00:07:46 | © MIT 2010 credits. |