Life Cycle of the Mosquito
Life Cycle of the Mosquito is a short film from 1946 released on 16mm. It is held in the Prelinger Archives collection.
"An unusually informative film on the mosquito showing complete metamorphosis of the insect from the egg through the larva and the pupa stages to its emergence in adult form. New techniques in cinematography make possible faithful anatomical detail of the living mosquitoes." (National Board of Review)
Good, disgusting XCUs of wiggling mosquito larvae and an interesting real-time shot of a mosquito growing fatter as it sucks blood. Some nice illustration work as well.
00:47:15:02 Great MS man wearing white shirt with rolled up sleeves and round sunglasses, probably 1940s, swats at mosquitoes with his hand; CU single mosquito on disembodied forearm of man; VS CU mosquito on human skin; dissolves to detailed drawing of mosquito, various text labeling anatomy of mosquito superimposed over drawing; shot vertically divided in two comparing still photograph of male and female mosquitoes.
00:48:25:17 CU mosquito on human skin; CU drawing of mosquito, diagram superimposed in frame describes the mosquito beak and its sheath; dissolves back to CU VS of mosquito standing on human skin.
00:49:49:27 CU several mosquitoes feed on flower nectar.
00:50:30:03 CU mosquito eggs
00:50:40:01 CU disembodied arm enters frame and grabs handful of dirt; dissolves to disembodied arm rinsing hand in river water reaching through reeds.
00:50:50:29 CU disembodied hand lifts frozen clump of mud and drops the mud in a beaker filled with water; CU mosquito larvae jumping around in water.
00:51:34:00 CU mosquito eggs; CU hatching mosquito eggs; CU mosquito larvae in water, VS mosquito larvae in various stages of growth; CU mosquito larvae, superimposed arrow identifies heart of the larvae beating visibly through its transparent body; three hanging mosquito larvae, superimposed arrows and text identify the thorax, abdomen, anal gills and air tube; VS developing larvae metamorphosing into mosquitoes, mosquito breaks out of its pupae envelope casing; CU mosquito standing on human skin, good sound bite at end of film over CU of mosquito The mosquito is an excellent example of an insect undergoing complete metamorphosis; the eggs, the larvae, the pupae, and the adult. Truly the female of the species is more deadly than the male.| Life Cycle of the Mosquito | |
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| Produced by | Yorke (Emerson) Studio |
Production company | Yorke (Emerson) Studio |
| Distributed by | Yorke (Emerson) Studio |
Release date | 1946 |
Running time | 12:00 |
| Language | English |
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