HISTORY OF FILM

PRE-1800’S▸ Puppetry is one of the earliest references to film in history. It is estimated to have

been entertaining people for 30,000 years, including during the Egyptian times. In its day puppetry was performed to hundreds of people at a time, making it one of the most popular types of entertainment. A large, thin white fabric was used as a backdrop/screen. A light source was used to portray the puppet on to the screen in the form of a shadow. As an audience this will appear like a moving figure on the screen, similar to a movie.

▸ In the 17th century scientist Athanasius Kircher created the concept of projecting hand drawn images using what would be called a ‘magic lantern’. A magic lantern uses one light source, such as a candle, and projects the hand drawn images on a reflective surface via lens on the wall. One magic lantern is configured of seven different parts: lamp - primary light source, originally a candle however now electricity is used; a reflector - reflects light from the lamp towards the condensing lens; condensing lens - focuses light on to the projection; lens tube - magnifies the lit up slides; body - the outer shell that stores all of the previous components; base - elevates the magic lantern and prevents table burns from occurring; smokestack - ventilates the smoke from inside the magic lantern from the lamp. One of the best magic lantern presentations was by Etienne Phantasmagoria and was called Phantasmagoria. Premiering in 1798, the presentation included dissolves and was considered one of the first horror flicks. From this he developed a lot of fame and travelled around Europe showing off his presentation.

THE 1800’S▸ The demand for magic lanterns increased and people eventually wanted to be

able to use magic lanterns in their homes. A number of different image projection devices came to light with the purpose of enjoying the features of a magic lantern from home. These devices, Motion Toys, were small and quite different from the standard magic lantern. All of these devices originated from scientific experiments. One of these experiments was called the persistence of vision, which looked in to the eye’s capacity to retain an image, even after its source had been removed. This idea caused for multiple efforts to build mechanisms that could create a single moving image from separate still images. An example of this was Thaumatrope by John Ayrton in Paris, 1862. It was a round card attached to string, one side had a picture of a horse and the other had a picture of a man in the horse riding position. As the card spun, the man appeared to be riding the horse.

▸ The first ever movie to exist was created by Eadweard Muybridge in 1872. He placed twelve cameras on a race horse track, spread a piece of thread across the track, and attached the thread to the camera’s shutter. As the horse ran across the track, the threads were broken by its legs and it caused for the cameras to take pictures in a sequence. It ended with twelve photos of the horses footsteps. His invention, Zoopraxiscope, had the ability to quickly project these images, creating what is known as motion photography and the first movie to ever exist.

THE 1800’S CONTINUED…▸ George Eastman and William H. Walker created the first real

of film in 1885. Film was sensitised paper created with gelatine emulsion, later replaced by celluloid.

▸ The kintegraph was a machine that captured a collection of images, similarly to a camera. It differed from a camera because it automatically took a picture of the moving image every half a second. This complication of images were then placed in the kintescope. This device contained a motor and shutter mechanism that ran a loop of film past an electric light source. A viewer would then look through a small window to see the moving image.

▸ After the invention of the kintegraph and kintescope was created, a lightweight hand started mechanism called the Cinematographe was created. It was able to take pictures and project large images quickly when linked up with projecting equipment.

THE 1900’S▸ At the very start of the 1900’s the use of editing, backdrops, and more

were being discovered and more commonly used.▸ Editing allowed for movies to become clearer and more story like. The

importance of editing was never looked in to during the 1800’s as the development of movie making itself was still new and being explored. When editing, directors would be given the choice of either perfecting their material by altering the camera angle/shot or to just re-record the whole scene! The very first special effects and techniques were used because of this editing.

▸ A main difference between film today and film in the early stages is how directors chose to approach continuity. Back in the 1900’s an event would be replayed over and over again however in different angles each time. Although it sounds bizarre to us today, back in those times it was thought to be quite comical.

▸ From 1905, during the Nickelodeon era, an inexpensive way of viewing movies was formed. The 5 cent movie theatre improved the general appeal for movies by making them more available and more affordable.

THE 1920’S▸ This decade was when the film industry started to properly

develop. Studios and ‘film stars’ came to light. During the mid-1920’s around 800 films were made annually in the Hollywood area.

▸ Hollywood was appealing to directors because of the cheap property costs and sunny, warm climate. Hollywood is where the studio originated from. Studios were very big buildings containing laboratories, research departments (for costumes, etc.) and acres of outdoor land dedicated to outdoor sets including miniature cities!

▸ Studios were separated in to three different areas. The Big Five (Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox…) had the most detailed sets for film production, owned their own studios and were the most successful. The Little Three (Universal, Columbia…) were named this because they lacked one key feature, owning their own theatres. Poverty Row (Disney, Monogram Pictures…) existed in the more neglected areas of Hollywood. The major studios, i.e. The Big Five, built luxury ‘picture palaces’ (with 3000 seats) made specially for orchestras to perform with projected films.

THE 1920’S CONTINUED…▸ During the 1920’s directors received more and more

recognition due to the fact of them using their own personal stylistic signatures. They started to make movies with their own styles and this is another reason as to why so many films were being produced.

▸ Pre-1920’s actors/actresses weren’t given as much attention as they are today. Being a ‘star’ was both the best and worst times to be one. Publicity campaigns, primarily used by the studios to advertise their films, made sure that the ‘stars’ had every single part of their life completely monitored. They were told where they should eat, how they should dress, what they should be seen doing, and where they could go to do activities. Because of these rules they took on a large amount of stress and it resulted in a lot of people ending their contracts with the studios.

THE 1930’S▸ Sound came to films in this decade. Talkies (films with a

soundtrack) and some of the most popular documentaries came about in these times.

▸ Most of the early talkies were quite successful at the box office, yet most of them were poor quality. Mainly they were dialogued play adaptations performed by inexperienced actors and with a stationary camera or microphone.

▸ The 1930’s also formed some new film genres, for example gangster, historical, comedies, westerns and horrors.

▸ Documentaries and other non-fiction genres were revived in this decade. As World War 2 was upcoming there were plenty of opportunity for directors to make documentaries.

THE 1940’S▸ The early 1940’s was a terrible time for the film, mainly

due to war activity. Between 1943 and 1946 the film industry bounced back due to there being less technical challenges and technology advancements (i.e. special affects, sound recordings, use of colour, etc.). These advancements made film more modern and appealing to an audience. At the end of the war period the film industry took its highest profits with a record high theatre attendance.

THE 1950’S▸ Post World War II the majority of films produced showed men and

women as conventional, however the younger generation were demanding new and exciting portrayals of rebellion. A variation of anti-hero characters were introduced as Hollywood replied to the demands of this younger audience.

▸ Rock n’ roll was brought in to film during the 50’s. Films such as Rock Around The Clock (1956) was the first film to be dedicated only to rock n’ roll. With the teenage population being more defiant than ever before, parents were becoming fearful of what their children were developing in to. Despite this Hollywood identified that rock n’ roll oriented films were very successful in the box office and continued to make similar films.

▸ During this decade an increase in the appeal of television caused for a major decline in film attendance. Film studios were beginning to lose money and therefore had to move more in to television. Studios began to produce more TV films as a pose to feature films.

THE 1960’S▸ The decrease in film attendance followed through in to the 60’s. This

continued due to the small amount of profits being made with films because of the television domination. Film companies followed the trend and went on to other forms of entertainment such as records, publishing, TV movies, and the production of television series.

▸ The average film ticket cost was lowered to only $1 in America in a hope to appeal to the audiences and boost the industry. This caused for the average film budget to be just over $1.5 million. Unfortunately it didn’t work, and by the end of the decade the film industry was depressed and troubled. The industry was at an all time low and some studios tried to hang on by making money on studio tours, selling movie artefacts or creating theme parks as Disney did with Disney World in Florida. The financial struggles meant studios had to be taken over by national companies, and the traditional Hollywood era was over.

▸ Production costs in Hollywood were very high and the size of studios were decreasing so most studios decreased their internal production and increased their film making outside of America. Britain was one of the most commonly utilised country for foreign film making because it was economically advantageous and allowed for big budget films to be made.

THE 1970’S▸ The rebirth of Hollywood was primarily based on the traditional film genres

from its successful past. On average, most film studios would only heavily invest in a handful of films hoping that one or two would succeed and return a substantial profit. This is still seen in film production today, where only a few films will majorly succeed at the box office - covering the costs of all the other films and still being able to make a substantial profit! At this time it was becoming more and more difficult to be able to predict what will become a blockbuster hit/success. Jaws and Star Wars were definitely not expected to succeed, however they became the highest grossing films in history at their time (both returning more than $100 million).

▸ The 70’s gave Hollywood more opportunity to do more things. By moving their opening nights to Fridays and Saturdays, Hollywood opened up their films to more people. Also Hollywood started advertising its new films on TV because Jaws successfully made $700,000 just from TV marketing.

▸ VHS video players, laser disc players and film releases on video cassette tapes/discs increased profits massively for the studios. Despite this boost to the film industry, there was an unfortunate downside; the general public could now watch films from the comfort of their own homes and as a result theatre attendance decreased rapidly.

THE 1980’S▸ Instead of new trends being made, film in the 80’s developed upon

the strengths made in the 1970’s. Overall no memorable films were made in this decade. It is known as the decade to have produced high concept films in of which had a plot that could be summarised in a maximum of 25 words. From an audience’s point of view this made is appealing and understandable.

▸ Producer Don Simpson’s produced films that were action packed, loud, flashy, and simplistic. These films kept audiences coming back to the theatres and wanting more. It became apparent to the film industry that an audience just wanted to be entertained and not to have to think too much.

▸ 80’s films became very formulaic because it was proven to work. More special effects were being used more often. Although this all sounds positive, the film industry wasn’t doing so well. All of these new effects, etc. meant that the cost of production was increasing, however to engage and appeal to an audience the price of a ticket was becoming cheaper.

THE 1980’S▸ With these poor predications for the industry Hollywood conducted a lot

more research and went in to production with a positive mindset. Most big blockbuster films were released at important times of year such as Christmas or summer to get more of an audience. Although releasing a film at this time of year took a lot of money to produce, as I have said more people are going to be able to watch and therefore there is a guaranteed pay off. Most of the 80’s blockbuster didn’t rely on special effects, for example ET focused on a well constructed plot and cast.

▸ A “turkey” was a title given to a film when it was not a success. It became obvious to the industry that not all films are going to be instantly successful. A lot of films were costly with their production, yet didn't return much at the box office. Examples of these films included Annie, which obviously later became a huge success! On the other hand, there are the films that did become instant successes. Films like Batman are included in this category, especially as sequel films have been made from this coming in to today.

▸ Film budgets increased immensely due to growing use of special effects and the major names of actors. In order to reduce costs, more and more films were being filmed outside of America.

THE 1990’S▸ The very start of the 1990’s wasn’t a great time for the film industry due to

the economic recession. This lowered the box office’s income drastically. The only aspect of film taking in money was the introduction of the multi-screen cinema complexes.

▸ The average film budget in the 1990’s was around $54 million, and this was mainly due to special effects and having the big name actors/actresses in the cast.

▸ Pressure on the directors and studios increased as it became more and more important to create big blockbuster movie hits in order to cover costs.

▸ Video cassettes were still a very popular choice for viewing films. Rentals and purchases of video tapes were a lot larger than the sales of cinema tickets. In 1990, Kodak introduced the photo CD player. In 1992, the second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was made in to a CD Rom. By 1997 the first DVDs had emerged in to the stores. They featured a sharper image quality and were much more durable than what was available before. At this point the videotape would not last much longer.

▸ Independent films branched away from the Hollywood mainstream in the mid 90’s. These films were made without major stars and awards were presented for visionary, innovative films and actors/actresses that were just starting off their careers.

THE 2000’S▸ The new millennium was a turning point within the

history of film. In this decade came the IMAX theatres, the blue ray disc, HD discs, iPods, Cell Phones. The iPods and cell phones were able to play films and offered much more portability and convenience than what you could ever get with a DVD.

▸ Not much more has changed since this time in the world of film in comparison to today. The only major difference from today is the use of online platforms, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, to watch films on.