The History of Motion Pictures
The history of motion pictures
The purpose of this lecture:
1. to provide a brief overview of the development of motion pictures
2. with an emphasis on the economic culture that developed historically.
3. This has meant an emphasis on profits and
4. an avoidance of controversy.
I. Early moving pictures
Note the term used in the early days of the industry: Moving pictures. Pictures that movied. From the 1850s on, there had been experimentation by photographers and others in reproducing human motion. First short motion pictures arrived in the 1890s.
In their first phase, motion pictures emphasized just movement. There was no sound, usually no plot and no story. Just movement. One of the earliest movie shorts was a collection of 15-30 second scenarios created by the Lumiere Brothers, in France. The first movie "shows," which lasted 5-8 minutes, were a collection of these short scenes: a train arriving at a station, a man watering his garden, men playing cards, people getting off of a ferry boat and a street vendor selling his wares. The early Lumiere presentations in Paris delighted people, drawing huge crowds.
In the United States, at the same time, Thomas A. Edison was producing similar short shows (water going over Niagara Falls, waves crashing at the ocean, two trains colliding).
By today’s standards, these early movies were extremely primitive. We’ve become accustomed to fairly elaborate movie effects (think of the Star War movie series, or the James Bond movies). However, for people at the start of the movie era, even these somewhat primitive films were exciting and highly realistic. For many Americans, the movies brought them their view view of a street car, or of the Pacific or Atlantic oceans. All of this seemed quite real to motion picture viewers. In one film, a train pulled into a station -- coming directly at the viewers. Some theater viewers were scared, thinking the train would come right into the theater; some in front rows panicked and ran out.
The purpose of this lecture:
1. to provide a brief overview of the development of motion pictures
2. with an emphasis on the economic culture that developed historically.
3. This has meant an emphasis on profits and
4. an avoidance of controversy.
I. Early moving pictures
Note the term used in the early days of the industry: Moving pictures. Pictures that movied. From the 1850s on, there had been experimentation by photographers and others in reproducing human motion. First short motion pictures arrived in the 1890s.
In their first phase, motion pictures emphasized just movement. There was no sound, usually no plot and no story. Just movement. One of the earliest movie shorts was a collection of 15-30 second scenarios created by the Lumiere Brothers, in France. The first movie "shows," which lasted 5-8 minutes, were a collection of these short scenes: a train arriving at a station, a man watering his garden, men playing cards, people getting off of a ferry boat and a street vendor selling his wares. The early Lumiere presentations in Paris delighted people, drawing huge crowds.
In the United States, at the same time, Thomas A. Edison was producing similar short shows (water going over Niagara Falls, waves crashing at the ocean, two trains colliding).
By today’s standards, these early movies were extremely primitive. We’ve become accustomed to fairly elaborate movie effects (think of the Star War movie series, or the James Bond movies). However, for people at the start of the movie era, even these somewhat primitive films were exciting and highly realistic. For many Americans, the movies brought them their view view of a street car, or of the Pacific or Atlantic oceans. All of this seemed quite real to motion picture viewers. In one film, a train pulled into a station -- coming directly at the viewers. Some theater viewers were scared, thinking the train would come right into the theater; some in front rows panicked and ran out.