Lumiere Brothers Report

CRITICAL THINKING

Introduction
Who the report is about?
The report is about the French inventing team of brothers, Auguste Lumière who was born on 1862 and died on 1954, and Louis Lumière the younger brother who was born on 1864 and died on 1948, both of them were excellent in science and were technical minded. They attended La Martiniere technical high school in Lyon. Their father, Antoine, was a photographer, who spent long hours in his studio experimenting with photographic chemistry. After completing high school they joined their father’s firm named Antoine's photography studio in 1880.
The brothers started working at a young age while attending the Conservative de Lyon. But they never started experimenting with the moving films until after their father had died in 1892.

What did they discover?
After observing Thomas Edison demonstrate his Kinetoscope, they developed their own motion picture camera, the Cinematograph, which utilized a claw mechanism to advance the film and functioned as both a camera and film projector. Their machine was capable of filming and developing and projecting a reel of film and was immediately considered to be more technically advanced that the Kinetoscope, in December, 1985 in a small café at Paris the brothers presented their invention to people for the first time showing a film of them leaving their factory named La Sortie des usines. Over the years they expanded throughout the UNITED STATES opening several theaters with equipment to demonstrate the cinematograph to the growing demand of audience.

The Problem
One problem the scientist was working on
One of the problems that the brothers faced was the color photography. Since the invention of photography in the 1830’s a number of attempts have been made to create color photographs which ended up with failure.

Mention the background to the issue
The British scientist James Clerk Maxwell had invented a method by reproducing color that could be created by using different color filters to photograph a subject, however the result he got cannot be printed it can only be viewed by projecting the image. This obstacle was overcome in the 1860s by Louis Ducos du Hauron, he produced a colored image by overlaying positive and negative shots that are taken through colored filters. While it could produce printed image, it was time consuming and complicated and never gained much popularity. That’s when the lumiers set themselves to the task of creating a more practical application of color photography.

It started as a hobby for the brothers, but soon they realized that work in this area could have great commercial value. They started to look for a photographic projection of continuous still images, in the summer of 1894. Pictures motion had been founded more than a decade earlier by English photographer and bookseller Eadweard Muybridge. In an attempt to look for a way to analyze the horse’s movement, in the 1880’s Muybridge had taken a continuous pictures of a horse motion which he placed on a glass disc that helped him in projecting the images in a quick succession, and got a moving image in result. But it was limited by the numbers of images that could fit on the disc. The idea was taken up lated by a French physiologist Étienne-Jules Marey and U.S. inventor Thomas Edison. Edisons experiments that resulted with the creation of his kinetograph a device that is also called “ peep box” which allowed a single person to view the moving pictures. The Lumière brothers' goal was to improve on Edison's ideas by finding a way to project motion picture films for a larger audience.

What questions & Hypothesis did this lead them to?
Louis realized that the main obstacle to their goal of projection was finding a way to automatically create a continuous movement of the film containing the images. Part of the answer to the problem was found by Louis, who suddenly was inspired while lying awake one night. He realized that the same "presser foot" mechanism that drives a sewing machine could be adapted to move small sections, or frames, of film across the lens in quick succession, allowing a short period of time for each frame to be stationary to allow for exposure.

Experiment
What was it?
The experiment was to use the presser foot mechanism that drives a sewing machine to move small section and frames

What did they predict would happen?
They predicted that by the mechanism of presser foot of the sewing machine will help them to move the pictures quicker to produce a film.

Detail Explanation of the Experiment
Louis drew up the plans for a prototype camera, which was constructed by one of his technicians at the family factory. This machine, known as the Cinematograph, underwent a number of further developments that made it an extremely versatile tool. Not only could it create the negatives of an image on film, but it could also print a positive image as well as project the results at a speed of 12 frames per second.

Analysis and theory
What did their experiment show?
Their experiment resulted in the invention of The Cinematogaphe, which was a box-like camera, exceeded the working of Edison’s Kinetoscope in numerous ways. Obviously it was much smaller, weighing only twelve pounds. This allowed a photographer to carry the device both inside and now, outside. Also, the device could be used to project an image, once film was developed, as well as to capture successive portraits (motion pictures). Also, the Lumiere Brothers devised an excellent mechanism to help register the film within the camera, creating a much more effective, concise framing of the film within the apparatus.
At the heart of the Cinematogaphe was the film transport mechanism, whereby the two pins or ‘claws’ were inserted into sprocket holes at each said of the film, moved it down and were then retracted, leaving the film stationary for exposure. This intermittent movement was designed by Louis and based on the principle of the sewing machine mechanism. The handle at the rear of the Cinematographe operated the rotating shutter the take-up magazine as well as the film transport mechanism.
Unlike the Edison Kinetographe, it did not rely on electrical power, which few premises had at the time. It also was immensely compact; therefore allowing the Cinematographe to be taken anywhere, either to shoot film or to use as a projector- and all that was required was a magic lantern lamphouse with a gas or limelight illuminant.

Was it repeated by them or others?
Both Auguste and Louis created films for a while, but eventually they handed this work over to others so they could pursue other interests,
The Lumière Brothers were not the only ones to claim the title of the first cinematographers. The scientific chronophotography devices developed by Eadweard Muybridge, Étienne-Jules Marey and Ottomar Anschütz in the 1880s were able to produce moving photographs, as was Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope, premiered in 1891. Since 1892, the projected drawings of Émile Reynaud's Theatre Optique were attracting Paris crowds to the Museé Grevin.
Although the Lumière brothers were not the first inventors to develop techniques to create motion pictures, they are often credited as one of the first inventors of the technology for Cinema as a mass medium, and are among the first who understood how to use it.

What theory did it lead to?
Lumiere brothers introduced the cinematograph in the market which was a motion picture film camera, that also served as a film projector and developer

Effect of discovery
Was it accepted by others at the time?
Their new technology were not accepted at first by the audience and were not sure about it, louis’s use of camera had led him to photograph a moving train from ahead on perspective, although some of the public were frightened and some have fainted because of the sight of moving pictures but the audience gathered to the Lumiere demonstrations and Cinematograph was soon in high demand all over the world.
The cinematograph became a popular attraction and pastime for people all over the world. The Lumière Brothers took their machine as far and wide as China and India Movies shown through its projector were enjoyed by people of all classes and social standings.

How influential has it been?
The work of Lumiere brothers was very influential and appreciated One of the best appreciations is the entry in David Thomson's A Biographical Dictionary of Film where he says that the Lumiers "used their camera in the way domestic customers employed still cameras." Well, the wheel has come full circle now that Canon and Nikon have put on the market still cameras which can record moving pictures. The Canon 7D can produce motion pictures of a quality and definition that can be projected in the cinema - and at a fraction of the cost of other digital movie cameras.

REFLECTION
Inductive and Distinctive
The lumiere brothers used The Inductive Reasoning which consists of making observations and then drawing conclusions based on those observations.
They used the presser foot mechanism that drives a sewing machine which could help to move small section or frames of flims accross the lens in quick sessions allowing short period of time for each frame for expossure.

Scientific Method Motion Picture Camera
Purpose/Observation Kinetoscope which was a electrically powered camera could not be transported in any way and can be viewed by one person at a time through an eye piece, peepshow style

Research The Kinetograph - the camera, was a colossal piece of machinery and its weight and size resigned it to the studio.
Hypothesis( Prediction ) Making lightweight and hand cranked camera
Experiment The Lumiers used a film speed of 16 frames per second, much slower compared with Edison’s 48 fps - this meant that less film was used an also the clatter and grinding associated with Edison’s device was reduced.
And incorporated the principle of intermittent movement using a device similar to that found in sewing machines.

Analysis Innovation of a portable and much lighter Cinematographe: a trinity of camera, printer and projector.
Conclusion Kinetoscope which was a electrically powered camera could not be transported in any way and was viewed by one person at a time through an eye piece, peepshow style

Reference

• Louis Lumire - Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2013, from Louis Lumire - Biography - IMDb website: http://www.biography.com/people/ louis-lumi%C3%A8re-21333665?page=2
• Auguste and Louis Lumière. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2013, from Auguste and Louis Lumière - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_and_Louis_Lumière‎
• Pioneers. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2013, from Lumière brothers - EarlyCinema.com website: http://www.earlycinema.com/pioneers/ lumiere_bio.html‎
• Lumire brothers. (n.d.). Retrieved from Lumiere brothers (French inventors) -- Encyclopedia Britannica website: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/ 1403398/Lumiere-brothers
• The Lumière brothers. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2013, from The Lumière brothers - France.fr website: http://www.france.fr › France.fr › Artists
• [Auguste and Louis Lumiere]. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2013, from www.alchemists.com/visual_alchemy/lumiere.htm website: http://www.alchemists.com/visual_alchemy/lumiere.htm
• The Lumière Brothers. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2013, from The Lumiere Brothers website: http://www.exeter.ac.uk/bdc/young_bdc/movingpics/ movingpics10.htm‎