HISTORY OF MOTION PICTURES

By Natalia Aguirre

The Beginning

Charles Émile Reynaud invented the Praxinoscope. A device that has a drum with hand-

drawn pictures, each one a little different then the last, and many little mirrors at the center of the drum that, when turned, look like the pictures are moving.

Impact on Society:

For the first time, people can see pictures “moving” as if it were a cartoon

Photographs Replace Drawings By 1852, photographs begin to

replace hand-drawn pictures. Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre first

invented the Daguerre process which was the first way of producing permanent pictures on a silver coated copper plateImpact on Society:

The first way of producing permanent pictures on a silver coated copper plate

William Henry Fox of England Fox invented the chemical process,

called the photogenic drawing, that produced negative images on paper

He later invented the calotype process which produced visible images outside of a camera by bathing the negatives with a specific chemical solution.Impact on Society:

Now people can see pictures but on paper

The First Moving Pictures

Coleman Sellers invented the Kinematoscope, which made posed pictures seem to move when they were placed on a turning paddlewheel.

Impact on Society:

An innovation of the Praxinoscope, it shows posed pictures and makes it seem as if they were moving

Thomas Edison & His Assistant Although Thomas Edison is credited

for the invention of the Kinetoscope, his assistant William K. L. Dickson did most of the work.

The Kinetoscope ran about 15 m of film in an endless loop that showed a moving picture.Impact on Society:

First real moving picture camera recorder.

Louis and Auguste Lumière

These two brothers invented the Cinématographe, a machine that is a camera, printer, and projector.

They filmed several short films such as waves crashing at the beach

Impact on Society:

An innovation of the Kinetoscope, it is a machine that films, prints, and projects a moving picture.

Edwin S. Porter

He filmed different shots in one reel of film for his short-film The Great Train Robbery in 1903.

Impact on Society:

Porter invented the first form of editing.

Silent Movies

In the early 1900s, short movies, made up of one or two reels of film, were filmed in silence hence its name

American producers were pressured by other independent producers, so they tried to make films longer and longerImpact on Society:

There was a lot of competition between producers as to who made better and longer movies.

D. W. Griffith

He played around with lighting, camera, angles and filters to make his films more dramatic and more exciting

Later, he filmed Judith of Bethulia in four reels, but it was not released until later because it was too long

Impact on Society:

His film was more dramatic, causing other producers to also play with lighting, camera angles, and filters.

Sound Films

Warner Brothers studio was the first to introduce films with sound with the process called Vitaphone in 1926

The film The Jazz Singer was released in 1927

Impact on Society:

Sound created a domino effect in movie productions. There was a growing demand for sound from viewers.

Microphones

Microphones allowed for the dialogue in a movie to have more emotion and to be less stiff

Impact on Society:

Movies were dramatized more since there was more emotion in the voices of the actors.

Beauty of Color

Color movies were first filmed in 1935, but color really took off in the 1950s

Some film producers even hastily added color to their films because of the high demand even after they had started filming in black-and-whiteImpact on Society:

The same domino effect occurred as it had with sound.

Wide Screen Films

In 1953, Twentieth Century Fox studio made a film with wide-screen revolution called CinemaScope.

With a series of anamorphic lens, the shot was showed in a 1:2.35 ratio

Beginning of 3D Films

For a short time in the 1950s, 3-D films were made by 2 cameras filming the same scene but from two different points

However, it was not very popular because it was unfocused and glasses weren't the bestImpact on Society:

Quickly rejected by society because the movie was unfocused. It upset many audiences.

The First Special Effects

Special Effects such as zero-gravity was first filmed with hidden wires, mirror shots, and large-scale rotating sets in 1970sImpact on Society:

Unimaginable images can now be created and seen for the first time.

Industrial Light and Magic Co. George Lucas's Industrial Light and

Magic (ILM) company innovated special effects in movies such as Star Wars, Forrest Gump, and Jurassic Park

ILM is a company that creates special effects for movies using a computer

THX Sounds System

In the 1980s, the THX sound system technology was invented being named after George Lucas

The THX sound system is a system that enables for sound to be heard well from any area in the theaterImpact on Society:

Enhances sound in movies making them more intense and amazing to the audience.

Beginning of Computerized Images Special effects software for

computers were invented, and created a way to make an image in the computer and add it to the movie

In the 1980s, first couple of computer-generated images (CGI) were used in movies such as Star Trek II: The Wrath of KhanImpact on Society:

An innovation of early special effects, it makes better quality images and more believable than before.

Present Day Films

In the present, many movies have been filmed in a green screen and have special effects or CGIs were added.

More and more special effects are used in every film

Camera recorders are now digital and in high definitionImpact on Society:

It makes films more alive and audiences often feel like they are actually in the movie.

References

Associated Content Inc. (2008). Sci-Fi at the Movies: Reagan and the 1980s. Retrieved September 19, 2008, from http://www.associatedcontent.com/ article/ 981998/ scifi_at_the_movies_reagan_and_the.html

Deepthi.com. (2003-2005). Movies History Timeline 1981-1990. Retrieved September 19, 2008, from http://www.history-timeline.deepthi.com/ movies-history-timeline/ movie-history-1981-1990.html

Edison Motion Pictures [Edison and his assistant]. (n.d.). Retrieved September 18, 2008, from Library of Congress Web site: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ ammem/ edhtml/ edmvhm.html

Google. (n.d.). Define: CINEMASCOPE [Defines cinemascope]. Retrieved September 19, 2008, from http://www.google.com/ search?hl=en&safe=active&defl=en&q=define:CINEMASCOPE&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title

History of the Motion Picture. (n.d.). Retrieved September 18, 2008, from http://inventors.about.com/ library/ inventors/ blmotionpictures.htm

References (cont.)

Howstuffworks. (1998-2008). Howstuffworks “How THX Works.” Retrieved September 19, 2008, from http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/ thx.htm/ printable

Motion Pictures, History of. (2006). Retrieved September 18, 2008, from History Encyclopedia Web site: http://www.history.com/ encyclopedia.do?articleId=216967

Python. (1990-2008). Python succes Stories [George Lucas’s ILM]. Retrieved September 19, 2008, from http://www.python.org/ about/ success/ ilm/

Schoenherr, S. E. (1999). Motion Picture Sound. Retrieved September 22, 2008, from http://history.sandiego.edu/ GEN/ recording/ motionpicture1.html

Wikipedia. (2008, September 10). Special Effect [Space Sci-Fi]. Retrieved September 19, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Special_effects#Space_sci-fi

Wild West Electronics. (1999-2008). History of THX - Learn About THX. Retrieved September 19, 2008, from http://www.wildwestelectronics.net/ historyofthx.html

THE END