Frank D. Williams
Frank D. Williams (March 21, 1893 – October 15, 1961) was a pioneering cinematographer who was active in the early days of the motion picture industry. He developed and patented the traveling matte shot.
Frank D. Williams was born March 21, 1893, as Frank Douglas Williams, to James and Lucinda Williams in the small community of Nashville, Missouri.
In 1912, Williams became a cameraman at Keystone Studios. There, in 1914, he was the photographer for many of Charlie Chaplin's first-year pictures, including Kid Auto Races at Venice which was the first film released in which The Tramp appeared. Williams is credited as appearing in Kid Auto Races at Venice, playing a cameraman, but his appearance is in doubt. For a time he was chief cinematographer at Keystone, and a large number of the studio's 1914 films are credited to him as photographer. He defected to work for the short-lived Sterling Motion Pictures, but returned to Keystone when Sterling closed in 1915. He also worked a camera for Henry Lehrman's L-Ko Kompany, Reliance-Majestic Studios, and Bluebird Photoplays.
When Roscoe Arbuckle formed a new motion picture company, Comique, in 1917, he hired Williams to be his cameraman. At Comique, Williams also shot Buster Keaton's first film appearance, The Butcher Boy (1917). His tenure there was also short; he shot three films for Arbuckle (Butcher Boy, A Reckless Romeo, and The Rough House) before departing to start his own lab. His business did not get off the ground quickly, and he supplemented his income by continuing to work as a cameraman. He was director of photography at Sessue Hayakawa's Haworth Pictures Corporation and is credited with 15 pictures that came out of that studio between 1919 and 1921.
While he was working as a cameraman at various studios, Williams worked on his idea for a traveling matte in which the actions of actors would be combined with a filmed moving background. Available technology prevented him from achieving the effect he envisioned until he built a printer himself to his own specification. He filed for a patent in May 1916, and it was granted in July 1918. The process was first used in a motion picture in 1922's Wild Honey.
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Photos
Movies (52)
The Invisible Man
1933 · Visual Effects Supervisor
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
1927 · Special Effects
The Swamp
1921 · Director of Photography
Where Lights Are Low
1921 · Director of Photography
Black Roses
1921 · Director of Photography
The Devil's Claim
1920 · Director of Photography
The Brand of Lopez
1920 · Cinematography
The Beggar Prince
1920 · Cinematography
The Tong Man
1919 · Director of Photography
The Illustrious Prince
1919 · Cinematography
The Dragon Painter
1919 · Director of Photography
The Man Beneath
1919 · Director of Photography
His Debt
1919 · Cinematography
Secret Strings
1918 · Cinematography
Queen of the Sea
1918 · Director of Photography
The Rough House
1917 · Director of Photography
A Reckless Romeo
1917 · Director of Photography
The Butcher Boy
1917 · Director of Photography
The Vagabond
1916 · Director of Photography
The Floorwalker
1916 · Director of Photography
Hop - The Devil's Brew
1916 · Director of Photography
Tillie's Punctured Romance
1914 · Director of Photography
His Prehistoric Past
1914 · Caveman (uncredited), Director of Photography
Getting Acquainted
1914 · Director of Photography
His Trysting Places
1914 · Cinematography
His Musical Career
1914 · Cinematography
Gentlemen of Nerve
1914 · Cinematography
Dough and Dynamite
1914 · Cinematography
Those Love Pangs
1914 · Cinematography
The New Janitor
1914 · Cinematography
The Rounders
1914 · Director of Photography
His New Profession
1914 · Director of Photography
The Masquerader
1914 · Cinematography
Recreation
1914 · Director of Photography
The Face on the Barroom Floor
1914 · Cinematography
The Property Man
1914 · Director of Photography
Laughing Gas
1914 · Cinematography
Mabel's Married Life
1914 · Director of Photography
Mabel's Busy Day
1914 · Cinematography
The Knockout
1914 · Director of Photography
Her Friend the Bandit
1914 · Cinematography
The Fatal Mallet
1914 · Cinematography
A Busy Day
1914 · Director of Photography
Caught in the Rain
1914 · Cinematography
Caught in a Cabaret
1914 · Director of Photography
His Favorite Pastime
1914 · Director of Photography
Tango Tangles
1914 · Director of Photography
A Film Johnnie
1914 · Director of Photography
Between Showers
1914 · Director of Photography
Mabel's Strange Predicament
1914 · Director of Photography
Kid Auto Races at Venice
1914 · Cameraman (uncredited), Director of Photography
Making a Living
1914 · Director of Photography
TV shows (0)
No credits available.