F. Martin Duncan

F. Martin Duncan
Born 1873
Died 1961
Occupation naturalist, photographer, film maker

Francis Duncan Smith (1873–1961) was a British naturalist and nature documentary pioneer who worked for producer Charles Urban. He specialised in micro-cinematography and pioneered many of the techniques of future natural history filmmaking.[1]

Biography

He was the son of noted palaeontologist Peter Martin Duncan. While a student he assisted his father by taking up photography, and acquired a particular interest in microphotography. In the early 1890s he experimented with chronophotography (sequence photography), showing the results in motion on a Zoetrope.[2]

He was recruited by Charles Urban for the newly-formed Charles Urban Trading Company in 1903. Together they launched a film series, The Unseen World, showcased at the Alhambra Theatre in London from 17 August 1903, which showed scenes of animal life, with particular emphasis on micro-cinematographic views. The shows were advertised as being shown by the 'Urban-Duncan Micro-Bioscope'.[1] Among the films shown were Circulation of Blood in a Frog's Foot, Red Sludge Worms and the notorious The Cheese Mites, the views of which were preceded by a scene of a man (played by Duncan himself) horrified by what he sees when he views a piece of Stilton through a magnifying glass. Duncan continued to work for Urban until 1908, when he was succeeded by F. Percy Smith.[2]

He continued his career as a zoologist at London Zoo and as a populariser of nature subjects, writing many books. He also worked as an editor on some of the Secrets of Nature film series in the 1920s.

Filmography

Bibliography

References

  1. 1 2 "Francis Martin Duncan". charlesurban.com. Retrieved 2015-02-08.
  2. 1 2 McKernan, Luke (2013). Charles Urban: Pioneering the Non-Fiction Film in Britain and America, 1897-1925. Exeter: University of Exeter Press. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-85989-882-9.
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