The Shadow Traps
In October 1888, the French inventor Louis Le Prince shot what many people now believe to be the world’s first films. On the 16th September 1890, and just before he was due to sail to New York to demonstrate his films in public for the first time, Le Prince boarded the Dijon to Paris train and was never seen again. Brought to you by Buzzsprout and Open Space Books, The Shadow Traps podcasts will tell the story of Le Prince, his life, his films and his mysterious disappearance. It is a mystery story, an exploration of invention and obsession and a love letter to film. To find out more and support this podcast, go to www.patreon.com/theshadowtraps
Episodes
11 episodes
Episode 10. Still the Whitleys' Traveller
We continue to move through the 1870's, looking at Le Prince's career as an artist and teacher, and his continued connection with the struggling Whitley foundry. We also look at how Le Prince came to have a piece of work placed underneath the f...
Episode 9. 25,000 Years to Trap a Shadow
From a brief look at the influence of the Third Estate on society, the episode proceeds to a brief history of film based on the epic yet unpublished book '25,000 Years to Trap a Shadow' written by our 'esteemed adversary and fellow pilgrim' Wil...
Episode 8. The Set Square and The Trowel
1876. Le Prince becomes a Freemason and moves into 33 Park Square, a house that will be filled with happy memories for him and also, where he will begin experiments in photography that will lead towards his work in motion pictures.The y...
Episode 7. 1875
The contrasting fortunes of the Le Princes and John Whitley are looked at. Louis, with a growing family and a successful art school, has put down roots in the town of Leeds. John Whitley, on the other hand, experiences business failures that wi...
Episode 6. The Collector
What is a motion picture camera? And how could the film pioneers know what film might mean to the world?Le Prince, back in Leeds, but weakened by his time in Paris during the Siege, is persuaded to withdraw from Whitley Partners and sta...
Episode 5. John the author, Joseph the instrument
This episode starts with a look at a French newspaper report which may offer clues to help us better understand the identity of the German-accented stranger mentioned in an earlier article. In exploring this point, we will discuss the idea of '...
Episode 4. History, Backwards
A short description of the fall of Paris is followed by a look at how much we can learn from a few brief pieces of primary source material. Taking a handful of brief newspaper articles from 1870, the episode looks at the different ways of pulli...
Episode 3. The Disturbance at La Villette
This episode is a continuation of the biography of Le Prince, starting with Le Prince's move from France to Leeds, England in 1866. We will see him establish a life in the town, which is interrupted by the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in...
Episode 2. 'If a man called Will Day calls, be careful'
In this episode of The Shadow Traps, we look at unreliable narrators and the question of fake news in our retellings of past events. We will expose the flaws in two of the theories related to Le Prince's disappearance and we will chall...
Episode 1. Being a true history of the life, films and mysterious disappearance of Louis Le Prince, creator of the world's first films.
This is the opening episode of The Shadow Traps podcast series. It will give an overview of the story, looking at Le Prince's life, films and mysterious disappearance on September 16th 1890. There will be clues and theories scattered throughout...
