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 Chaplins firstyear 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 studios 1914 films are credited to him as photographer He defected to work for the shortlived Sterling Motion Pictures but returned to Keystone when Sterling closed in 1915 He also worked a camera for Henry Lehrmans LKo Kompany RelianceMajestic 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 Keatons 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 Hayakawas 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 1922s Wild Honey From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
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