The Natural History of Film Form argues that gelatin, silver, and celluloid weren’t just ingredients in film stock—they helped shape early film aesthetics.

Drawing on fan and industry periodicals, as well as the testimony of pioneering filmmakers and film manufacturers, the book reveals that the “politico-material” properties of these geo- and bio-physical materials influenced a range of aesthetic regimes from the turn-of-the-century “trick” film, to developments in popular science cinema, to early studio-era fantasies of the “silver screen.”

In the process, the book offers a fresh perspective on the interplay between “nature” and “culture” in film history.