''Fun in a Bakery Shop'' is a 1902 American short film by Edwin S. Porter. Porter used

stop-motion animation Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

to depict

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

loaves being sculpted into faces.Dobson (2010), p. xxiv The film was released on April 3, 1902, by the

Edison Manufacturing Company The Edison Manufacturing Company, originally registered as under the name of the United Edison Manufacturing Company and often known as simply the Edison Company, was organized by scientist / inventor and entrepreneur, Thomas A. Edison (1847–1 ...

. The film's plot was only the pretext of showcasing the skills of a fast sculptor.Niver (1985), p. 113

Plot

The film is set in a

bakery A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based baked goods made in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, doughnuts, bagels, Pastry, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as Coffeehouse, cafés, servi ...

's interior. A man dressed as a

baker A baker is a tradesperson who baking, bakes and sometimes Sales, sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient histo ...

kneads

dough Dough is a malleable, sometimes elastic paste made from flour (which itself is made from grains or from leguminous or chestnut crops). Dough is typically made by mixing flour with a small amount of water or other liquid and sometimes includes ...

on a table, which is located next to an

oven upA double oven A ceramic oven An oven is a tool that is used to expose materials to a hot environment. Ovens contain a hollow chamber and provide a means of heating the chamber in a controlled way. In use since antiquity, they have been use ...

. He notices a

rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include '' Neotoma'' (pack rats), '' Bandicota'' (bandicoo ...

crawling up a

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden stave (wood), staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers ...

, and throws dough at the rat. When the rat is completely covered in dough, the baker pummels that dough with his hands. The baker's back is turned towards the camera, obscuring the manipulation of the dough. When he finishes, the dough has turned into a sculptured

mask A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment, and often employed for rituals and rites. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes, ...

. The baker proceeds to create another mask. Two other bakers then arrive, and notice what he is doing. They grab him, and stick his head into a barrel of

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

. The film ends.Niver (1985), p. 113

Production

In 1897,

plasticine Plasticine is a putty-like modelling material made from calcium salts, petroleum jelly and aliphatic acids. Though originally a brand name for the British version of the product, it is now applied generically in English as a product category ...

was invented in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The inventor William Harbutt published a book called ''Harbutt's Method and Use of Plasticine in the Arts of Writing, Drawing and Modelling in Educational Work'', with the intention of providing methods for using plasticine in educational contexts. The book also provided the methods which were used in the animation of clay,

claymation Claymation, sometimes called clay animation or plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine cl ...

. The first use of clay in proto-animation emerged in

trick films In the early history of cinema, trick films were short film, short silent films designed to feature innovative special effects. History The trick film genre was developed by Georges Méliès in some of his first cinematic experiments, and his wor ...

.Wells (1985), p. 57-58 Several early trick films used the concept of the "lightning

cartoonists A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the literary ...

", while ''Fun in a Bakery Shop'' introduced the concept of the "lightning sculptor". While not seen as an actual example of claymation, it paved the way for the use of clay animation in two 1908 film adaptations of the works of

Winsor McCay Zenas Winsor McCay ( – July 26, 1934) was an American cartoonist and animator. He is best known for the comic strip ''Little Nemo'' (1905–1914; 1924–1927) and the animated film ''Gertie the Dinosaur'' (1914). For contractual reasons, he w ...

(''A Sculptor's Welsh Rabbit Dream'' and ''The Sculptor's Nightmare'').Wells (1985), p. 57-58

References

Sources

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External links

* {{Edwin S. Porter 1902 films 1902 short films 1900s American films Articles containing video clips Edison Manufacturing Company films Films about mice and rats Films directed by Edwin S. Porter Films using stop-motion animation Surviving American silent films