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One of the first things that can be established about a piece of film which is taken in the 1930s is the level of status that taking a film establishes. This is due to the lack of accesses to recording equipment compared with the modern day. This automatically gives whatever is being recorded within the film a level of value, personal or otherwise, as filming will have accrued a significant cost to those involved. In the contexts of the film on which this commentary is based the personal value of the footage can be seen to be quite simple to establish with it being a wedding video and therefore weighted in sentimental value. It is key however to note that the ‘rise of popular visual literacy is a striking feature of the period’.[1] Therefore film in the period would have been on the increase even if it remain primarily in the domain of the rich. Additionally, the style of this film implies that it is a home movie created for personal enjoyment it can be viewed as portraying realist social situations as there is not the performative element that it may contain had it been aimed at an external audience.
The opening shot of this film shows the guests leaving the wedding ceremony and it is key to note how the new bride and groom at this moment leave arm in arm and walk forward and then retrace their steps seemingly for another camera in front of them. This is interesting as it highlights the prioritisation of capturing an image over the natural moment. This shows technology evoking and influencing behaviour. Contrary to this it is key to note where the second camera angle is. The angle clearly shows multiple people obscuring its view and therefore obscuring its recording. This shows a de-prioritisation of the quality of the film over the individual’s viewpoints of the event. Underlining that film record is not central to the guest experience.
This film is additionally interesting to observe in the context of looking at contemporary technology of the 1930s as there is an extended shot of a camera in use. This shot is significant as it shows what appears to be a domestic umbrella being used to shield the equipment. This implies that there was only a limited amount of specialist products designed to improve photography and that everyday household items had to be used in their stead.
This film is also useful as a tool to explore the beauty standards and fashions of this era as it stand to reason that an event such as a wedding would cause attendees to wear their best clothes. Nowhere is this truer than the case of the bride. The bride in this video conforms to the ‘popular contemporary image of the bride as a young woman in virginal white, which was widely disseminated in the media and through Hollywood films.’[2] This shows that this wedding can be described as traditional at least in the sense of clothing.
What is also significant in the film is the way in which the individuals interact with the camera (and assumed cameraman). This is particularly noteworthy near the end of the film when a young lady directly makes eye contact with the camera as directly before this the footage jumps slightly from a direct location to focus of what is presumed to be the exiting of the guest from the wedding. This is interesting as it shows a shift in the film from the significant highly photographical elements of the wedding, the bride and groom leaving the church and the taking of wedding photos to the focus on a more low key moment, so low key in fact that the bride, a traditional focal point of wedding films and wedding photography, is absent. This can be seen to cast aspersions on the status of the bride within the wedding party, a fact that is not disproved by the significant age difference of the bride and groom and the supposed economic disparity. So this shift to the guest’s level implies a choice on the part of the cameraman or his employer to film this moment or that there is lost film which would bridge this gap. The later can be deemed more likely due to the age of the footage. This tonal shift in the footage is significant for the observation of human interacting with filming technology as it shows a young women who as she gets into the car acknowledges the camera and seems to be pleased with the attention. This implies that photography was still a novelty at this stage that it would warrant observation. It is also significant to note that she then leaves in the car with an older man. This along with the age different in the newly married couple shows a social trend of younger women being with older men which can be seen as a gender relations comment.
This individual is also significant to observe in the context of gender relations and the level of affection displayed in the semi-public sphere of a private party, which a wedding constitutes. One of the moments within this film which can be deemed the most significant is where two females briefly kiss on the lips. This shows the acceptability of this type of female-female interaction in this period as it does not invoke a response from others, which would imply it was commonplace.
[1] Helen Wilkinson, ‘“The New Heraldry”: Stock Photography, Visual Literacy, and Advertising in 1930s Britain’, Journal of Design History, 10:1 (1997), 23-38.
[2] Edwina Ehrman, The Wedding Dress: 300 Years of Bridal (London, 2011), p. 127.
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