The History of Film

Film had a slow beginning. In its very earliest days there were several people that began to pursue the idea of moving pictures. This research and inventing started as early as 1980s. Once the invention of the photograph came, it greatly helped to increase the movement of the motion picture industry.

Thomas Edison invented a Kinetograph,

which was the first usable camera. It used a lamp that lit a moving loop of film that the spectator looked at through an eye piece. Kinetograph parlors started to spring up all over Europe and it gained many people’s interest.

Robert Paul and some of his colleagues were some of the first to hit on the projection of film. He and Birt Acres invented a camera and produced a short film of the Derby, won by the Prince of Wale’s horses. After this hit, many followed the trend and began to create different types of cameras and projectors.

The earliest shows were usually only a minute long and showed a real life event, sporting event or slapstick comedy. Even though these were very short shows and not very creative, the idea of moving pictures was enough to start the engine of the industry.

In the beginning of this new media film makers began popping up all around the world. In Paris, Georges Méliès started making films of fantasy and the bizarre. He made the first film about space travel called, A Trip to the Moon (1902). He bent reality with his filmmaking and started much of the basic special effects used throughout the twentieth century.

Film editing and the creation of the shot as a film structure started with Edwin S. Porter. He worked with Edison and developed much in the editing area of filmmaking. With these developments movie theaters called, nickelodeons began and the paying public started watching films.

Early films were only about fifteen minutes long. The audiences that watched these were mostly of the working class. As development advanced it became recognized more with the middle class as an art form, especially in America. D.W. Griffith founded the mainstream of film grammar, the editing and visual storytelling.

At this point France and Italy were on the top for production of films. World War I put a halt on movie making in Europe and America was able to take the lead. Famous actors such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Clara Bow became faces known around the world.

Studios were created and became popular in California. It provided an environment for technical development and production. Movie stars became more and more sought after as acting in movies became known as art.

The greatest competitor of America was Germany. They started to put more abstract and aesthetic art in their films as well as jump on board the beginnings of horror films. Soviet cinema and Spanish cinema were becoming greater in the more artistic films rather than popular films. Indian cinema also started and they created their first feature length film.

This was the peak for silent films. At this point no sound technology had worked in synchronizing with the film, but this was soon to change. Filmmaking advanced rapidly with more mobile cameras and more versatile film.

In the late 1920s Warner Bros. Films started to add recorded sound effects and music to their films. They produced the first feature length film containing music and dialogue. This began the trend of talking pictures.

Sound now took over the film making industry and started a new era of movies. It moved quickly in the American industry, but slightly slower in other parts of the world. In Asia, the Japanese created some of their classic silent films during this time, mostly with the art of a live narrator.

Some say that talking movies saved Hollywood from falling in the Great Depression. It allowed people to keep working and some of the greatest stars came from this time period. Shirley Temple, Clark Gable and Katherine Hepburn are just of few of the names that will never be forgotten.

Now that sound was a major part of the movie industry it began to be creative. A new genre of musicals started. The Broadway Melody (1929) was the first classical Hollywood musical to be produced. France and India also made many movies with music. Talking pictures took over slapstick comedy and quick witty sayings were begun.

In the forties American films were filled with patriotism and propaganda. This was because of World War II. Britain also produce wartime drama and propaganda during these years as well as other fun and enjoyable films. During the fifties the competition of film grew slightly as television became popular. It was feared that theatres would close down because of the TV.

Fortunately for the film industry, television and film stayed far apart for many years. They were able to keep the creative elements of film distinct enough to keep people going to the theatres.

The latest advance in filmmaking is the digital era. Films are still created in a similar fashion with actual film, but they are being enhanced with digital technology. Sound and animation are most often digital and create a crisper, clearer movie going experience. Some films are even shot with digital film creating a different look than traditional methods. Old movies are also being enhanced with digital technology to improve the picture.

Film has taken quite a change since its first creation only a little more than a hundred years ago. As technology advances so does entertainment. The method in which film is recorded, produced and projected is different in almost every decade. The future will hold many new and better ways of creating movies.