At the Origins of Movie Industry (Western world)

THE HISTORY OF CINEMA

At the Origins of Movie Industry (Western world)

The Seven Ages of Film

Pioneering Age1896 - 1912

From Sideshow to Art Form


The Silent Age1913 - 1927

The emergence of Hollywood

World War I and the exodus

from Europe


The Transition Age

1928-32

From Silent to Sound


The Hollywood Studio Age

1932 - 1946

Domination by the Studio

Genre moviesWorld War II


The Internationalis

t Age1947 - 1959

Hollywood Studio decline

The challenge of TV


The New Wave Age1960 - 1980

From France to the world

Technological innovation

Small scale productions

Strong social / political value to

film.


The Mass Media Age

1980 - present

Film & movies as part of the global entertainment / communications

media Digital production


Pioneering Age1896 - 1912

From Sideshow to Art Form

History

Mechanisms for producing moving images had been demonstrated from the 1860s. – ZOETROPES (a.k.a. PRAXIONOSCOPES AND KINEOSCOPES)

ZOETROPE

A zoetrope is one of several precinema

animation devices that produce the illusion

of motion by displaying a sequence

of drawings or photographs

showing progressive phases of that

motion. The name zoetrope was

composed from the Greek root words ζωή zoe,

"life" and τρόπος tropos, "turning".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precursors_of_film%23Modern_era

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language

History

ZOETROPES relied on the “persistence of vision” to provide an illusion of movement if the images were moved at sufficient speed past the viewer.

In 1904 Edward Muybridge, an Englishman, needed to settle a $25,000.00 bet. He believed that a galloping horse had all four feet off of the ground at the same time but others said that this was impossible. The problem was that galloping hooves move too fast for the eye to see.

Edward Muybridge

To settle the bet indisputable proof was needed. In an effort to settle the issue once and for all an experiment was set up in which a rapid sequence of photos was taken of a running horse. When the pictures were developed it was found that the horse did indeed have all four feet off the ground for a split-second.

More than just a bet

Why is this significant?

In doing this experiment they found out something else — something that becomes obvious from the illustrations of the horse on the left.

Discovery!

When a series of still images of a moving object are viewed at a certain speed the illusion of motion is created.

In the case of Muybridge’s series of still photos, when they were presented sequentially at 0.1 second intervals they created the illusion of continuous motion.

This is Muybridge’s actual footage

The Illusion of Continuous Movement

The Phi Phenomenon explains why, when your view a series of slightly different still photos or images in

rapid succession, an illusion of movement is created in the transition between the images.


The Phi Phenomenon

Persistence of Vision is the phenomenon that explains why the intervals between the successive images merge into a single image as our eyes hold one image long enough for the next one to take its place.


Persistence of Vision

In 1822, Frenchman Joseph Nicepce was the first to produce a basic photographic image.

But, in 1839 Louis Daguerre patented a process that could actually be considered photography.His photos were referred to as daguerreotypes.

The earliest known photograph - 1822

The First Photograph

There were obvious problems with this process. The only way to capture images was to make metal plates light-sensitive by painting them with a liquid solution while you were in a darkroom. You would need to expose them in a camera before they dried and then return to the darkroom to develop them.

An 1837 Daguerreotype photograph

Daguerrotypes

An inventor by the name of Hannibal Goodwin greatly simplified the process in 1889, when he developed a transparent, pliable film base called celluloid.The next step was to create long strips of film where a series of still pictures could be captured in rapid succession.

Film now comes in lengths up to 1000’

Celluloid

Soon, a host of devices were invented to entertain anyone who wanted (for a price) to watch "moving images."Unfortunately, all of these devices had the disadvantage of only having an audience of one. A viewer would look through a peephole at a series of drawings or photos presented in rapid sequence.Thomas Edison’s Kinetograph

Almost a Great Idea

History

The development of the motion picture projector and film stock allowed the development of film.

Early motion pictures were static shots showing an event or action with no editing or other cinematic techniques as this series showing a nude walking demonstrates.

History

Early films were a visual art until the late 19th century when they developed into a narrative with a series of scenes linked together to tell a story.

Scenes were broken up into multiple shots of varying sizes and angles.

Camera movement was used to add to the story development.

Music was used to create mood using a pianist / organist using either sheet music or a score as they accompanied the screen action.

Film History» The first audience to

experience a moving film did so in 1895. The film, by the Lumiere brothers was called “Workers leaving the Lumiere Factory (1895)”

» Their film “Train Entering the Gare de Ciotat (1895)” caused people to faint with fear as the train loomed from the screen into the theatre auditorium.

» These films did not carry a story or narrative - they merely showed a moving image on the screen.

“LES LUMIERES”

» August (1862-1954) & Louis (1864-1948) Lumiere

A colourised still of the Train Entering the Gare de Ciotat Station.

Playing petanque (1895)

The Lumière brothers were born in Besançon, France and moved to Lyon in 1870, where both attended La Martiniere, the largest technical school in Lyon. Their father, Claude-Antoine Lumière (1840–1911), ran a photographic firm where both brothers worked for him: Louis as a physicist and Auguste as a manager. Louis had made some improvements to the still-photograph process, the most notable being the dry-plate process, which was a major step towards moving images.

Cinématographe Lumière at the Institut Lumière, FranceIt was not until their father retired in 1892 that the brothers began to create moving pictures.

They patented a number of significant processes leading up to their film camera, most notably film perforations) as a means of advancing the film through the camera and projector.

The brothers stated that "the cinema is an invention without any future" and declined to sell their camera to other filmmakers such as Georges Méliès. This made many film makers upset.

Consequently, their role in the history of film was exceedingly brief. They turned their attentions to colour photography and in 1903 they patented a colour photography process, the "Autochrome Lumière", launched on the market in 1907.

Throughout much of the 20th century, the Lumière company was a major producer of photographic products in Europe, but the brand name, Lumière, disappeared from the marketplace following merger with Ilford.

While the Lumière films were “actualities” shot outdoors on location, Edison’s films featured circus or vaudeville acts that were shot in a small studio before a stationary camera. In both cases the films were composed of a single unedited shot with little or no narrative content.

The Lumiere film café circa 1895

Simple Films

Film History - Georges Méliès

» Realising the potential of a good story George Melies

( 1861-1938) utilised film to create fantastic stories that took his characters and audiences to the moon and beyond.

The changing process of cinema

» The changes in film process involve several factors.

George Huaco indentifies four factors:

1. Current events & achievements. (political climate)

2. The creativity of the film-makers who influenced the team of crafts-people involved in the films.

3. The technical developments that could be exploited.

4. The capacity of a sufficient audience to appreciate the results.


The Silent Age1913 - 1927

The emergence of Hollywood

World War I and the exodus

from Europe

Changing process of cinema» “The division between film

and movie creates two views of quality and purpose”

MOVIES = This is a commercial differentiation = popular entertainment with a mass circulation of copies of the movie. The audience being largely passive.




» . The product of an industry dominated by the producer (money) in which there is no individual film-maker but a team under the producer’s control. (The studio system.) The director is hired to create the movie from the script. The final version is, however, the responsibility of the Producer and Editor.




» . The product of an industry dominated by the producer (money) in which there is no individual film-maker but a team under the producer’s control. (The studio system.) The director is hired to create the movie from the script. The final version is, however, the responsibility of the Producer and Editor.

» The director of a movie is known as: metteur en scene = an interpreter of a score / script.

Progressions - The Silent Film

» Film makers experimented with the use of the camera to develop new techniques that would enhance their ability to tell a story.

» 1913: Giovanni Pastrone (Cabiria) moved his camera laterally and slightly above the level of the forreground thus changing the perspective of the audience from that they’d previously had in the Luniere films.

» 1923: Carl Mayer directing Last Laugh for F.W.Murnau proposed a forward movement of the camera at dramatic moments as if to thrust the audience into the action.

LAST LAUGH

The Last Laugh/ Der Letzte Mann was a 1924 B&W silent film about the changing fortunes of a hotel doorman. Directed by F. W. Murnau and written by Carl Mayer it is noteworthy for its use of a moving camera (one of the first to do so) and near lack of intertitles.

Murnau’s most famous movie was , however, NOSFERATU and adaptation of Bram Storker’s Dracula.

Progressions - The Silent Film» F.W.Marnau influenced the film making

process with the introduction of the design tool - the STORYBOARD. This is a script visualised by drawings of every basic change of camera angles in the film.

» Marnau was influenced by the swing to the right in Germany post W/W I where business took advantage of the high inflation rate to mass produce films at cheap rates.

Progressions - The Silent Film» The storyboard design focus introduced

techniques like VISUAL PUNNING” that (e.g) involved showing the passage of time by tracking towards a candle flame then dissolving into a lighted gas jet or electric bulb from which they would track away to the next sequence of the story.

» This technique was replaced by nouvelle vague that introduced jump cuts to show or allow the passage of time and space.

» This was known as “kultur-film” in Germany.» World War I signaled the advance of the

movie from the USA. This was because while Europe was fighting a four year long war, costing 10 million dead, the Americans only fought for six months at a cost of 115,000 dead. The 10 years of prosperity in the USA allowed the industry to gain dominance.

IN THE MEANTIME IN THE US…..

THOMAS EDISON had developed projectors that could do this at a rate of 16 frames per-second. (The rate was later moved up to 18 frames, and eventually to 24 FPS.)

A few years later, GEORGE EASTMAN standardized film widths for cameras and projectors to 16 and 35 mm.

George Eastman and Thomas Edison

Edison and Eastman

Howevr, the Edison profits came from the sale of machines and prints, not from exhibition to the general public. . . . From the Edison viewpoint, one machine for every viewer was more to be desired than a hundred or more viewers for every machine.LATER HE REALIZED THE MISTAKE….

Kinetoscope Parlor in 1899

Edison’s Kinetoscope (how to develop other people’s invention)

During this time, VAUDEVILLE (small theaters that featured short dramatic skits, comedy routines, and song and dance numbers) was quite popular. In order get one-up on the competition and fill in time between acts, vaudeville theaters started featuring short films.

A vaudeville theater in the early 1900’s

Vaudeville and The Movies!

As the 1900s dawned, vaudeville expanded into NICKELODEONS, which were small storefront-type theaters that featured films (accompanied by piano music and sound effects) along with one or two vaudeville acts. As the name suggests, admission was only a nickel.

A vaudeville theater in the early 1900’s

Nickelodeons

As films got more popular and longer, the vaudeville acts disappeared from the nickelodeons and the MOTION PICTURE THEATER was born - if you can call a small room with wooden benches a motion picture theater. As their popularity grew, films had to be changed often.

A nickelodeon in the early 1900’s

A Booming Industry in Changng Times

In 1903, Edwin S. Porter, an employee of Thomas Edison, shot the first narrative film, The Great Train Robbery. The film featured a dramatic story line and cross cutting between different locations and camera angles. It had 14 scenes and lasted 12 minutes, making it an epic of its day.

Pioneers of Film Editing

An Early Epic: The Great Train Robbery

Progressions - The Silent FilmThe man who exploited this change was D.W. Griffith (1875-1948. USA) whose film “The Birth of a Nation (1914) created an explosive examination of the development of the American nation from the Civil War.The films until then were narrative and anecdotal this followed several threads of narrative - the friendly families in the North & South, political events in Washington, warfare with friends in opposite camps, exploitation of the South, white & black, carpet baggers from the North and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan.

Progressions - The Silent Film

Griffith’s success was also his undoing. His films - Intolerance -The Mother & The Law and The Fall of Babylon put him into debt. As a result Financiers ceased to regard the film-makers as the king-pins of production and decided to build up the film-star in their place - to put control in the hands of the producer, aided by his team of organisers and writers. (The Hollywood system).

This favoured the MOVIE over the film and reduced the risk for the banks.

It also meant that the actor was out of place in the movie world as his / her versatility would make them unrecognisable and therefore valueless commercially.

But they also introduced the langage (french = way of speaking) of the film- long shot / mid shot/ close-up and their variations.These terms allowed the editor to construct a movie or film to produce identified reactions from the audience.

Documents

At the Origins of Movie Industry (Western world)