The History of the Movies
The History of the
Movies |  |
People
have always been interested in 'moving pictures'. 30 000 years ago even cavemen tried to get the
impression of movement to their paintings.
The most important things in the development
of the movies:
- Development of photography in 1839.
- Development of celluloid
film in 1887.
- Cinetograph made by Thomas Alva Edison in 1889. Its 35 mm wide film was
perforated to rotate it with toothed gears.
- Maltese cross -shaped film moving device in 1895
which rotated film one frame at a time, 16 frames per second in the beginning, now 24 frames per
second.
Development
The first public viewing of
movies was in Paris on December 28, 1895 when the French brothers Auguste and Louis
Lumière showed short films they had made.
The first movies showed "real" things,
like a train coming to a station, or they were just filmed stage plays. The first movie to have edited
shots was The Life of an American Fireman (1902) by Edwin S. Porter. His film The
Great Train Robbery (1903) was the first to have a plot.
D. W. Griffith is considered
to be the inventor of directing. He was the first to use close-ups, special lightning and moving
camera.The Length of the Movies
The first films
were short and in 1910 The Motion Picture Patent Company ordered that movies should be only
one reel long. Longer films were made in Europe and when the Italian movie Quo Vadis,
which was four reels long, was a success in New York the American started to accept longer
movies.
In 1915 D. W. Griffith made three-hours-long The Birth of a Nation.
Only after that the movies were considered to be a serious art form.The Sound
Movies were silent their first three decades. Live music,
records or even live actors and actresses speaking behind the screen were used to create sound.
Don Juan, which premiered in New York on August 26, 1926, was the first film to have
syncronized music and sound effects. The Jazz Singer, premiered on October 6, 1927, was
the first to have a recorded dialogue. Warner Bros. was saved from bankruptcy by The Vitaphone
recording method used in these films.Technicolor
Color filming method developed in 1930's. It has three
basic colors: blue, green and red. Colors became more common in 1940's and
1950's.Cinerama
Wide-angle film developed in
1952. It needed three film projectors to project the film on the screen. It was difficult and expensive
to use, so it was short-lived.Cinemascope
Wide-screen film developed in 1953. A special lens
but normal film is used in camera. The screen is wider than the traditional
screen.