Copyedit: Wording, punctuation. Enclose presumed quotation in quotation marks and tag as needing a source. Tag statement needing clarification
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Williamson was born in [[Pathhead]] near [[Kirkcaldy]], Fife, and raised in [[Edinburgh]], where he trained to be a master chemist. He moved to London in 1868, where he was an apprentice to a [[pharmacist]] and to [[Eastry]], Kent in 1877, where he bought his own pharmacy and got married.<ref name=”NMMBio” /><ref name=”BFChron”>{{cite web|url=http://www.brightonfilm.com/brighton_chronology.htm |title=Brighton & Hove from the dawn of the cinema |accessdate=26 June 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150811070923/http://brightonfilm.com/brighton_chronology.htm |archivedate=11 August 2015 }}</ref> He was also a keen amateur photographer who sold photographic apparatus and chemical supplies in his shop and became an agent for [[Kodak]].<ref name=”NMMBio” />
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Williamson was born in [[Pathhead]] near [[Kirkcaldy]], Fife, and raised in [[Edinburgh]], where he trained to be a master chemist. He moved to London in 1868, where he was an apprentice to a [[pharmacist]] and to [[Eastry]], Kent in 1877, where he bought his own pharmacy and got married.<ref name=”NMMBio” /><ref name=”BFChron”>{{cite web|url=http://www.brightonfilm.com/brighton_chronology.htm |title=Brighton & Hove from the dawn of the cinema |accessdate=26 June 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150811070923/http://brightonfilm.com/brighton_chronology.htm |archivedate=11 August 2015 }}</ref> He was also a keen amateur photographer who sold photographic apparatus and chemical supplies in his shop and became an agent for [[Kodak]].<ref name=”NMMBio” />
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In 1886, he moved his chemist’s and photographic business to 144 Church Road, [[Hove]],<ref name=”BFChron” /> where he took up residence with his family, and formed friendships with fellow pioneers [[Esmé Collings]], [[William Friese-Greene]] and [[George Albert Smith (inventor)|George Albert Smith]], among others, for whom he supplied chemicals and processed films
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In 1886, he moved his chemist’s and photographic business to 144 Church Road, [[Hove]],<ref name=”BFChron” /> where he took up residence with his family, and formed friendships with fellow pioneers [[Esmé Collings]], [[William Friese-Greene]] and [[George Albert Smith (inventor)|George Albert Smith]], among others, for whom he supplied chemicals and processed films.<ref name=”IMDBTriv”>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0932055/bio#trivia |title=James Williamson |publisher=Internet Movie Database |accessdate=26 June 2015}}</ref> The property, previously owned by the photographer S. Grey of Well & Grey, was later renumbered 156 Church Road and currently bears a commemorative plaque to Williamson’s achievements unveiled as part of the centenary of cinema celebrations in 1996.<ref name=”BFChron” />
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Williamson, who initially purchased and adapted an apparatus for local showings of Smith’s films,<ref name=”NMMBio” /> was, with assistance from the engineer [[Alfred Darling]],<ref name=”BFChron” /> able to
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Williamson, who initially purchased and adapted an apparatus for local showings of Smith’s films,<ref name=”NMMBio” /> was, with assistance from the engineer [[Alfred Darling]],<ref name=”BFChron” /> able to construct his own home-made filming apparatus and begin making films, including the actuality ”Devil’s Dyke Fun Fair”,<ref name=”SASEddff”>{{cite web |url=http://sasesearch.brighton.ac.uk/view/?from=search&fromid=&film=8884 |title=Devil’s Dyke Fun Fair |publisher=Screen Archive South East |accessdate=26 June 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627040601/http://sasesearch.brighton.ac.uk/view/?from=search&fromid=&film=8884 |archivedate=27 June 2015 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> in time for inclusion in the Hove Camera Club’s annual exhibition in November 1896, and again in November 1897.<ref name=”BFChron” /> At the same time he introduced x-ray photography to the region.<ref name=”BFIBio” /><ref name=”BFChron” />
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===Productions at Western Road===
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===Productions at Western Road===
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[[File:Williamson Fire.ogv|thumb|right|Excerpt from Williamson’s ”Fire!” (1901)]]
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[[File:Williamson Fire.ogv|thumb|right|Excerpt from Williamson’s ”Fire!” (1901)]]
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Williamson, as shown by the 1901 census in which he is described as a
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Williamson, as shown by the 1901 census in which he is described as a “chemist & druggist but engaged in photography only“,{{quote without source|date=October 2021}} had entered a period of dedicated film-making during which he produced trick film ”[[The Big Swallow]]”, with its innovative use of extreme close-up, as well as dramas ”[[Fire! (1901 film)|Fire!]]” and ”[[Stop Thief!]]”, with their use of action continuity across multiple shots which established the basic grammar of film.<ref name=”BFChron” /> The following year these films became available in the US where they are said to have influenced Edwin Porter’s ”[[Life of an American Fireman]]” and ”[[The Great Train Robbery (1903 film)|The Great Train Robbery]]” (both 1903).
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===Productions at Cambridge Grove===
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===Productions at Cambridge Grove===
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In 1902, he moved his business, now named the Williamson Kinematographic Company, to a new location at Cambridge Grove off Wilbury Villas, Hove, where he and his family took up residence at Rose Cottage and a glasshouse film studio and a photographic atelier, designed by W.B. Sheppard,<ref name=”BFChron” /> were constructed to house production and processing of such important works as
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In 1902, he moved his business, now named the Williamson Kinematographic Company, to a new location at Cambridge Grove off Wilbury Villas, Hove, where he and his family took up residence at Rose Cottage and a glasshouse film studio and a photographic atelier, designed by W.B. Sheppard,<ref name=”BFChron” /> were constructed to house production and processing of such important works as ”[[The Little Match Seller]]” as well as ”The Soldier’s Return” and ”A Reservist, Before the War, and After the War”, which pioneered the use of film to promote social issues, prefiguring the genre of [[Social Realism#In British cinema|Social Realism]].<ref name=”BFIsr”>{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1037898/index.html |title=Social Realism |publisher=BFI Screenonline |accessdate=26 June 2015}}</ref> That summer he also filmed the procession and rehearsal procession for the coronation of [[King Edward VII]].<ref name=”BFChron” />
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Williamson Kinematographic Company began a period of expansion in 1907 opening new offices in London and in New York, under Williamson’s son Alan.<ref name=”BFIBio” /> Williamson himself, like fellow pioneer [[Robert W. Paul]], had become disillusioned with the increasingly industrialised nature of the business and left production first to Jack Chart and later to David Aylott, while he concentrated on film processing and distribution, as well as working with his son Colin, an engineer, on a new venture manufacturing and selling equipment.<ref name=”BFChron” /> The following year, as part of this new venture, he invented a device which allowed exhibitors to make their own intertitles.<ref name=”VCBio” /><ref name=”IMDBTriv” /> Williamson, along with Charles Urban and other filmmakers, also attended the 1909 European Convention of Film Producers and Publishers in Paris, intended to combat the threat from the foundation of the [[Motion Picture Patents Company]] in the US, shortly before shutting down the film production and exhibition arms of his business.<ref name=”BFChron” />
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Williamson Kinematographic Company began a period of expansion in 1907 opening new offices in London and in New York, under Williamson’s son Alan.<ref name=”BFIBio” /> Williamson himself, like fellow pioneer [[Robert W. Paul]], had become disillusioned with the increasingly industrialised{{clarify|reason=This word is non-descriptive in this context. Please replace it with a descriptive word.|date=October 2021}} nature of the business and left production first to Jack Chart and later to David Aylott, while he concentrated on film processing and distribution, as well as working with his son Colin, an engineer, on a new venture manufacturing and selling equipment.<ref name=”BFChron” /> The following year, as part of this new venture, he invented a device which allowed exhibitors to make their own intertitles.<ref name=”VCBio” /><ref name=”IMDBTriv” /> Williamson, along with Charles Urban and other filmmakers, also attended the 1909 European Convention of Film Producers and Publishers in Paris, intended to combat the threat from the foundation of the [[Motion Picture Patents Company]] in the US, shortly before shutting down the film production and exhibition arms of his business.<ref name=”BFChron” />
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===Later life===
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===Later life===
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In 1910, following the production of his final film, ”[[The History of a Butterfly: A Romance of Insect Life]]”, announced as the first of an unrealised series of innovative informational films on science and nature subjects,<ref name=”VCBio” /><ref name=”WFHhb”>{{cite web|url=http://www.wildfilmhistory.org/film/28/The+History+of+a+Butterfly+-+A+Romance+of+Insect+Life.html |title=The History of a Butterfly: A Romance of Insect Life |publisher=Wild Film History |accessdate=26 June 2015}}</ref> Williamson and his family moved to London, and his premises at Cambridge Grove were sold Charles Urban’s Natural Color Kinematograph Company.<ref name=”BFChron” /> That year he also patented a projector which inserted title slides into projected films.<ref name=”VCBio” /><ref name=”IMDBTriv” /> Williamson briefly returned to production in 1913 with a newsreel service which closed down shortly after the outbreak of [[World War I]].<ref name=”VCBio” />
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In 1910, following the production of his final film, ”[[The History of a Butterfly: A Romance of Insect Life]]”, announced as the first of an unrealised series of innovative informational films on science and nature subjects,<ref name=”VCBio” /><ref name=”WFHhb”>{{cite web|url=http://www.wildfilmhistory.org/film/28/The+History+of+a+Butterfly+-+A+Romance+of+Insect+Life.html |title=The History of a Butterfly: A Romance of Insect Life |publisher=Wild Film History |accessdate=26 June 2015}}</ref> Williamson and his family moved to London, and his premises at Cambridge Grove were sold Charles Urban’s Natural Color Kinematograph Company.<ref name=”BFChron” /> That year he also patented a projector which inserted title slides into projected films.<ref name=”VCBio” /><ref name=”IMDBTriv” /> Williamson briefly returned to production in 1913 with a newsreel service which closed down shortly after the outbreak of [[World War I]].<ref name=”VCBio” />
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By this time Williamson Kinematographic Company assets included a processing plant in [[London Borough of Barnet|Barnet]] and a factory in [[Willesden]], where the famous Williamson’s ‘Topical’ cameras along with a variety of other apparatus widely used in
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By this time Williamson Kinematographic Company assets included a processing plant in [[London Borough of Barnet|Barnet]] and a factory in [[Willesden]], where the famous Williamson’s ‘Topical’ cameras along with a variety of other apparatus widely used in professional British film-making at the time were manufactured. During the war the company pioneered the development of aerial photography, producing gun-mounted reconnaissance cameras to photograph aerial battles. It also developed an innovative [[photogrammetry]] camera for scientific and military use, and a photo-finish camera for horse-racing.<ref name=”VCBio” />
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On 18 August 1933, Williamson died at his home in Richmond, Surrey of a heart attack.<ref name=”BFIBio” />
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On 18 August 1933, Williamson died at his home in Richmond, Surrey of a heart attack.<ref name=”BFIBio” />
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| style=”text-align:left”|[[Trick film]] about a barber who removes a
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| style=”text-align:left”|[[Trick film]] about a barber who removes a customer’s head to shave it.
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| style=”text-align:left”| ”Early Fashions on Brighton Pier”
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| style=”text-align:left”| ”Early Fashions on Brighton Pier”
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