Florida Memory is administered by the Florida Department of State, Division of Library and Information Services, Bureau of Archives and Records Management. The digitized records on Florida Memory come from the collections of the State Archives of Florida and the special collections of the State Library of Florida.
State Archives of Florida
- ArchivesFlorida.com
- State Archives Online Catalog
- ArchivesFlorida.com
- ArchivesFlorida.com
State Library of Florida
Related Sites
Listen: The Assorted Selections ProgramMotion Picture Film
- Flexible film bases allowed for rapid exposure and projection.
- Motion picture photography requires a consistent rate of speed.
History
The advent of flexible film bases, as opposed to rigid glass plates, opened up a new world for photography: the motion picture. Large reels of film could hold hundreds or thousands of images, one after the other. Film could be cut, spliced or edited, and most critically, the positive image could be fed through a projector and displayed on a big screen. In essence, filming a movie is nothing more than taking a rapid series of photographs and projecting them at a rate which gives the eye an impression of motion. Most contemporary movies are projected at 24 frames per second. Amateur videographers enjoyed a huge variety of options in 8- and 16-millimeter “home movie” films, while professional productions tended to shoot on larger 35-millimeter stock.
The movies developed in parallel with film photography and improvements soon included color, increased ease of use, and even the inclusion of optical audio tracks on some film stocks for synchronized sound. Motion pictures quickly became a part of how stories in and about Florida were told.
Jacksonville was an early center for the silent movie business and was notably home to Norman Studios, which produced films featuring predominantly African American casts. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Florida Development Commission filmed and distributed a vision of midcentury Florida that was full of glamour and leisure in equal measure, contributing to the state’s status as a vacationer’s paradise.
Did You Know?
Some of Florida’s most memorable film productions took place underwater. The State Archives of Florida houses the complete collection of the photographs and films of Bruce Mozert, one of the first successful underwater photographers. Not only was he an accomplished photographer, but he also built many custom waterproof camera enclosures by hand.
Still Frames from The Torch of Friendship, State Archives of Florida, ca. 1962. (State Archives of Florida)
