Brighton School (fr.:L'école de Brighton) was a loosely associated group of pioneering filmmakers active in theBrighton andHove area of England from 1896 to 1910.[1] It was mostly a series of shorts and early projects made in the Brighton area.
The core membership of the group consists of filmmakersGeorge Albert Smith,James Williamson andEsmé Collings as well as engineerAlfred Darling; other names associated with the group include Collings' former business partnerWilliam Friese-Greene and the group's London-based distributorCharles Urban.[2][3]
While they were not the only early filmmakers working in Britain between the years 1895 and 1907, the group is considered to be the most prolific and influential. They are particularly known for their use of innovative techniques, includingcolour tinted films,trick photography, the first reverse angle shot inAttack on a China Mission (1900) the firstclose-up in the filmGrandma’s Reading Glass (1900) and zoom in the filmThe Big Swallow (1901), achieved by moving the camera closer to the subject.[4][5] Smith'sThe Kiss in the Tunnel (1899) is considered to mark the beginnings of narrative editing.
Despite being known as the Brighton School, both George Albert Smith and James Williamson lived and worked in nearbyHove, where they built film studios on the grounds of their houses. Towards the end of the period, the filmmakers increasingly gave way to their scientific and economic pursuits.[6]
The Hove Museum of Creativity has a permanent exhibition dedicated to the filmmakers.[7]
The term was coined by French film historianGeorges Sadoul in an article that was translated and re-published in pamphlet form asBritish Creators of Film Technique by theBritish Film Institute in 1948.[8][9]
