Frank Percy Smith (1880–March 24, 1945) was a British naturalist and early nature documentary pioneer working for Charles Urban, where he pioneered the use of time lapse and micro cinematography.
Smith began to photograph the natural world around him while working as a clerk for the British Board of Education, but found his desire to exploit the educational possibilities of film stiffled until his close-up photograph of a bluebottle’s tongue caught the attention of film producer Charles Urban. Smith subsequently made “To Demonstrate How Spiders Fly” (1909) and “The Acrobatic Fly” (1910) before joining the Charles Urban Trading Company full-time and directing over fifty nature films for the “Urban Sciences” series, including the pioneering stop-motion film “The Birth of a Flower” (1910), prior to the outbreak of the First World War.
During the First World War, Smith served as a Naval photographer, shooting aerial views of battlefields for British forces, and made a series… read more
Frank Percy Smith (1880–March 24, 1945) was a British naturalist and early nature documentary pioneer working for Charles Urban, where he pioneered the use of time lapse and micro cinematography.
Smith began to photograph the natural world around him while working as a clerk for the British Board of Education, but found his desire to exploit the educational possibilities of film stiffled until his close-up photograph of a bluebottle’s tongue caught the attention of film producer Charles Urban. Smith subsequently made “To Demonstrate How Spiders Fly” (1909) and “The Acrobatic Fly” (1910) before joining the Charles Urban Trading Company full-time and directing over fifty nature films for the “Urban Sciences” series, including the pioneering stop-motion film “The Birth of a Flower” (1910), prior to the outbreak of the First World War.
During the First World War, Smith served as a Naval photographer, shooting aerial views of battlefields for British forces, and made a series of films depicting battles through animated maps, including “Fight for the Dardanelles” (1915).
After the war he went to work for British Instructional Films on the “Secrets of Nature” series starting in 1922 and made the comedy film “The Bedtime Stories of Archie the Ant” (1925). He continued to work for BIF into the 30s on the retitled “Secrets of Life” series, handing the direction of films including “Magic Myxies” and “The World in a Wine-Glass” (both 1931) over to his colleagues Mary Field and H.R Hewer, while he concentrated on the photography.
He died at his home in Southgate, North London, on 24 March 1945. —Wikipedia
