Film History by Cass Rock

Kinetoscope

crock22 — 2024-09-04 11:38:09 UTC

The first movie projector invented by Thomas Edison and his team. Because of the limitations in technology, they could only be around 16 seconds long, there was no sound, and only one person could view it at a time. People would line up and pay 25 cents to watch a few seconds of film.

The Kinetograph was the camera used to capture the movie.

Cinematograph

crock22 — 2024-09-04 11:49:44 UTC

A new movie screening device created by the Lumiere brothers. It allowed for better image quality and longer movies. Most importantly they could now be projected onto walls allowing multiple people to watch at a time.

George Melies

crock22 — 2024-09-04 12:04:16 UTC

A magician and theatre owner who was the first person to edit multiple clips together. Used a method called double exposure to display two images at the same time. The films he created had much more extravagant settings, costumes, and stories than previous ones.

The Great Train Robbery

crock22 — 2024-09-04 12:20:08 UTC

A notable and famous movie from 1903 that used techniques first pioneered by Melies. Projected multiple different scenes at the same time. One of the first films with complex editing and a cohesive plot. Had music playing in the background.

Feature Films

crock22 — 2024-09-06 11:25:15 UTC

Entire studios dedicated to creating film became very common. Instead of a few people doing everything they started splitting up the jobs and specializing in specific parts. With movies making more money they were able to afford a larger production with more people hired on. Films were now made over multiple reels so they could be much longer.

The Birth of a Nation

crock22 — 2024-09-06 11:40:20 UTC

The most famous feature film of the time. Created by D.W. Griffith and over three hours long. Really bad movie that romanticizes the confederacy and has white people in blackface as the villains and the KKK as the heros.

Charlie Chaplin

crock22 — 2024-09-06 11:46:38 UTC

The first very famous movie actor and the most remembered from his era. Started directing his own movies and took the power away from big studios. He was the most famous man in Hollywood and earned an extremely high salary of 10,000 dollars a week. Became blacklisted later in his career for having socialist beliefs and was banned from acting in movies.

Synchronous Sound

crock22 — 2024-09-06 12:01:21 UTC

Before the only sound you'd hear in movies was music played live by an orchestra or on a separate track. But in the 1920's they finally developed the technology to have sound recorded on film using the Vitaphone. Movies with sound called 'Talkies' became quickly widespread, but ended up putting a lot of famous actors out of their jobs.

The Golden Age of Hollywood

crock22 — 2024-09-06 12:17:25 UTC

From the late 1920's to the 1950's lasted the Golden Era of Hollywood. Movies became incredibly popular during the Great depression because everyone wanted to escape from their depressing lives. MGM, Paramount, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, and RKO were the most famous film studios, most still are today.

Color Film

crock22 — 2024-09-06 12:26:43 UTC

Very early on, films were colored by individually painting each frame of the reel. They would also dye entire film reels in specific colors to set a certain mood. The Technicolor Corporation was the first company to develop a method for creating real color film by recording images on multiple separate negatives. The Toll of the Sea was the first feature length film to use Technicolor technology.

United States vs Paramount Pictures

crock22 — 2024-09-11 11:26:07 UTC

The most famous film studios at the time, represented by Paramount Pictures, were sued and taken to the supreme court. The accusation was that these giant studios held an unfair monopoly over the movie industry, complete control over production and distribution. The Supreme Court ruled that the studios needed to break up their business and sell their theatres to allow more diversification of films.

The Jazz Singer

crock22 — 2024-09-11 11:41:10 UTC

The very first 'Talkie' There was really only 2 minutes of spoken dialogue but it is still renowned for its time. It was also a pretty racist movie with more actors in blackface but it's famous for bringing the rise to Talkies and marking the end of the silent film era.