The Early Years of Cinema – Part I ADV4M

The Birth of Cinema Cinema was invented in the 1880s-1890s at the tail-end of the Industrial Revolution alongside other inventions such as the telephone (1876), phonograph (1877) and automobile (1890s). Like them, film was an invention that became the basis of a large industry. However, before film (as we know it) could be invented, several other technological discoveries had to occur.

Preconditions for Motion Pictures Before cinema could be invented, several conditions had to be in place: An understanding of ‘persistence of vision’ The ability to photograph images (quickly) The ability to photograph images on a clear, flexible material The ability to project images

Persistence of Vision Persistence of Vision – a commonly-accepted theory that the human eye continues to see an image, briefly, once it is gone, which explains how a series of still shots is perceived as moving, when shown quickly. Now, people believe that when a series of still images is shown in quick succession, the brain assumes there is motion by filling in the gaps. Several optical toys were marketed that created the illusion of movement by using a small number of drawings, each altered somewhat, on a spinning device. When spun, the images move so quickly that the brain blends them together, and the illusion of movement is complete.

Optical Toys The phenakistoscope (left) and zoetrope (above).

Early Photography First still photograph taken using a glass plate technique. Claude Niepce's “The View from a Window at Le Gras” (1827) took nearly eight hours to expose.

Early Projection In the 1800s, the Magic Lantern was the only way to project an image. Concave mirrors behind a light source gather light and project it through a painted slide. The light rays crossed an aperture (an opening at the front), and hit a lens. The lens projected an enlarged picture of the original image from the slide onto a screen.

Development of new technologies As optical toys and photography gained popularity, inventors began to experiment by combining these two technologies. One such example is Emile Reynaud’s “Projecting Praxinoscope.” This device was a spinning drum. The audience saw moving images appear on a spinning mirror mounted inside a drum with pictures painted on its walls. Around 1882, Reynaud devised a way to use a lantern with additional mirrors to project images on a screen, and then began to use long, broad strips of hand- painted frames. These were the first public exhibitions of moving images, though the effect on the screen was jerky and slow.

Projecting Praxinoscope

Towards Moving Pictures... As photographic exposure times became quicker and film itself was invented, photographs were no longer recorded on glass or metal. Thus, the potential for creating moving photographic images improved.

Muybridge and Motion At a California race track, he set up a bank of twelve cameras with trip- wires connected to their shutters. Each camera took a picture when the horse tripped its wire, creating a successive line of photos depicting the horse galloping. Muybridge’s still photos of a galloping horse. When exhibited in rapid succession, these stills gave the illusion of movement and therefore became one of the best known precursors to motion pictures.

THOMAS EDISON Film was invented by George Eastman in Later, Thomas Edison, his assistants William Dickson, Charles A. Brown and William Heise collaborated in the lab experiments that led to the invention of one of the first movie cameras. The Kinetoscope was shown to the public in 1891.

Lumiere Brothers In 1894, two brothers from France, Louis and Auguste Lumiere, designed a camera which served as both a recording device and a projecting device. They call it the Cinématographe. The Cinématographe used flexible film cut into 35mm wide strips. The camera shot films at sixteen frames per second which became the standard film rate for nearly 25 years.

Early Cinema- The ‘Actualitie” Due to the inventions of Edison, Dickson, the Lumiere Brothers and Casler (who improved projectors), the invention of cinema was largely completed by However, cinema in 1897 was a significantly different entertainment medium than it is today. Most films were nonfiction and were referred to as ‘actualities’ or actuality films. These were films that simply captured reality – workers leaving a factory, a theatre performer dancing, a travelogue or film of a distant land, a fire carriage racing to a fire.

Arrival of a Train Arrival of a Train (L’arrivee d’un train en gare de La Ciotat) is among the Lumiere’s most famous films. It was first publicly projected in January Typical of films of the day, Arrival of a Train is a single, unedited view of a real life event Less than 1 minute in length, the film is composed in one continuous, real-time shot.

Georges Melies A performing magician who owned his own theatre, Georges Melies decided to add films to his program after seeing the Lumiere Cinematographe in Accustomed to performing and thinking imaginatively, Melies did not create actuality films, but creative movies that were replete with camera tricks, elaborate scenery, theatrical sets and fantastical stories. Melies often incorporated stop-motion and other special effects to create more complex and magic and fantasy scenes.

A Trip to the Moon From the late 1890s to the early 1910s, Melies films were widely successful. Among his most celebrated works is A Trip to the Moon, (Voyage a la lune) (the film) However, Melies did not alter his theatrical methods as filmmaking evolved. By 1912, his small company was in debt and he stopped producing films, having made 510 films of which about 200 survive. He died in 1938, after decades of working in his wife’s candy and toy shop.

Summary Several technological developments had to be in place in order for the medium of film to be invented. There were many people who contributed to the invention and development of early film – early photographers, inventors and filmmakers such as Niepce, Muybridge, Edison, and the Lumiere Brothers all made significant contributions. As is the pattern with film development today, the innovations and discoveries of one filmmaker led to the next (cause and effect relationship). The developments made in early cinema from the 1880s to the mid- 1900s laid the necessary foundation for both the style and business structure that would emerge in Hollywood in the 1910s.