A Brief History of Film

The Beginning

• Before the invention of film, audiences were entertained by plays and dances.

• It wasn’t until the 1870s that audiences were able to see the first ever moving picture.

• In 1878, Eadweard Muybridge carried out an experiment to capture a horse in motion on film.

• Muybridge used a series of 12 linked cameras to capture the picture.

The Cinematographe

• Around 1894 Louis and Auguste Lumière perfected the Cinématographe, an apparatus that took, printed, and projected film. They gave their first show of projected pictures to an audience in Paris in December 1895.

• One of the first films they made was Workers Leaving the Factory.

The Silent Era

• Up until the late 1920s there was no sound in movies.

• A musician/orchestra would play music along to the film.

• Silent film actors emphasised body language and facial expression so that the audience could better understand what an actor was feeling and portraying on screen.

“Talkies”• Sound on film was introduced

in 1923.

• Many of the films were short.

• The films became known as “talkies” or “talking pictures.”

• The first feature film with sound was The Jazz Singer.

• Jolson's first spoken line in the movie was "You ain't heard nothing yet," and indeed they had not.

Animation

• In 1937, the first full length animation was produced in America.

• Walt Disney’s, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Special Effects• 1977 was the year the world

was exposed to special effects with the film, Star Wars.

• Ground-breaking in its use of special effects, unconventional editing, and science fiction/fantasy storytelling, the original Star Wars is one of the most successful and influential films of all time.

The future?...