FILM HISTORY The Beginnings
Photography The first photograph Taken in 1826 By Joseph Niepce
Eadweard Muybridge Photographer hired in 1877 to prove a bet A galloping horse has all four hooves off the ground during stride Set up 24 cameras along a race track Experimented with motion sequences and set them up in viewing machines commonly called “Zoetropes.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYKZif9ooxs
Photography to Film Multiple cameras producing multiple still photos to One camera producing multiple photos Glass plate to paper to flexible light sensitive material Ability to produce multiple photos in the thousands
The Eye Persistence of Vision/Phi Phenomena Motion is an optical illusion The retina retains an image for a fraction of a second Early silent film was standardized at 16 frames per second
George Eastman 1889 Perfected a process of nitro cellulose base on rolls that were transparent, thin, strong and standard in quality and began to manufacture them
THOMAS EDISON Laboratories in West Orange, New Jersey Invited Muybridge to his lab to demonstrate the Zoetrope device Interested in a visual accompaniment to his phonograph
Black Maria Studio (1893)-Kinetographic Theater
Early Edison Films https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQk5RftSdF8
W.K.L. Dickson invented the motion picture camera Kinetograph (motion writer) and Kinetoscope (motion viewer). Produced short bits of motion for single viewers and charged a nickel Fred Ott’s Sneeze and the Rice-Irwin Kiss
Edison’s Kinetoscope
The Black Maria Edison’s studio in West Orange All black and rotated to stay with the sun
Technical Inventions American Perforation Allowed film to run smoothly in cameras and projection (Dickson) Latham Loop, patented by Thomas Armet (worked for Edison) Intermittent Movement: Allowed film to stop momentarily at the gate
Lumiere vs. Dickson
Latham Loop and Intermittent Movement
Lumiere Simple shots Train leaving station Workers leaving the factory Steady camera observing action Realism
The Lumiere Brothers France 1895: Short Documentaries
George Melies
Melies
Scorsese’s Hugo (2011)
A Trip to the Moon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FrdVdKlxUk
Early Filmmakers The Great Train Robbery 1903
Porter First Narrative Film Worked for Edison 1903 One Reel ten minutes long First film with a storyline First film shot out of sequence/editing First Western First Smash Hit Porter
Major Companies Edison Biograph Vitagraph Essanay Lubin Selig Kalem Melies Pathe
Motion Picture Patents Company Nine major film companies Monopoly on Film Exclusive contract with Eastman Kodak The General Film Company for distribution
Birth of Cinema Short https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0jm6j3s_uE