History+of+Film

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Motion pictures were created by inventors, scientists, and manufacturers who saw the illusion of movement from still pictures. It can be noted that the creator was first described by British physician Peter Mark Roget in 1824. “He wrote a paper describing an optical illusion he had noticed while watching the wheels of a horse drawn carriage through the blinds of a window. The illusion - 'the Persistence of Vision' - allows us to see a succession of still images as a continuous, moving picture, and it is this that makes cinema and television work”(BBC). This was the first step in the development of the cinema.

Silent movies were the dominant type in the film industry, the films were becoming bigger, costlier, and more defined. They simulated the human mind by associating physical movement to depict a story. Looking back at film history, special effects were used by early inventors to improve the visual aspects of film that made it easy to target audiences by using simple effects. Upon rersearch we can see the use of optical toys, shadow shows, and visual tricks have existed for hundreds of years. Although, they were not completely silent there were instruments and sound effects in the background, except without spoken words. Motion pictures used sound recording to heighten the illusion of reality.“Charlie Chaplin was one of the silent-era’s most famous stars. With his trademark waddle and comedic but sincere films Chaplin created a classic, memorable character (Sklar, 1993, 110)." Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) was a British photographer and inventor, “known primarily for his early use of multiple cameras to capture motion, and his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting motion pictures that pre-dated celluloid film strip still used today”(Muybridge). He first used a row of 12 cameras, equally spaced along the racetrack, to record the movement of a galloping horse, to prove that all four of the horse's feet were off the ground at the same time.

The Lumiere Brothers
The film industry was comparatively different to modern times in their traditions, values and habits. The culture centered on their talent and their love for acting. However, in the 1920’s, it did not take long for Hollywood to realise that fame could also be sold and successfully marketed. “Carefully crafted to complement the technical components of the entertainment industry, the "star system" focused attention of the public onto idealized "picture personalities" and represented privileged individuality for their fans (Creekmur, 2000)”. The films were being manufactured in a assembly-line manner. The production was broken down and organized into many different components. For example, script, makeup, sound, and directing. This is the fashion we see films being produced today. Film producers depended soley on the appeal that actors had on audiences, and used this system to promote motion pictures. Historicaly, audeinecs were lured with the “star sytem” this can be compared to todays audiences who are attracted to the tecnological innovations used in blockbusters.

The Major Film Studios: The Big Five
The studio system was created to cater to the stars, they had long-term contracts and treated with royalty. In the 1920s, America was the leader of film making. This is due to their style of production with in major studios. Now all the various aspects of film making was completed under one roof. There were five major studios that lead the industry: The Big Five.

~Warner Bros. Pictures ~Paramount Pictures ~RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum) Pictures ~MGM (Metro-Goldwyn Pictures) ~Fox Film Corporation/Foundation

The Concept of Form in Film
Artistic form is best thought of in relation to a perceiver, the human being who watches the play, reads the novel, listens to the piece of music, or views the film. Like all artworks, a film has form. Film form means the overall system of relations that we can perceive among the elements in the whole firm. Film contains both narrative and stylistic elements. Narrative elements constitute the film's story. Stylistic elements include the way the camera moves, the patterns of colour in the frame, the use of music, and other devices. In addition, form can include referential, explicit, and implicit meanings. Referential is the spectator's ability to identify specific items and events. Explicit meanings are defined by context and function within the film's overall form. Lastly, implicit meanings are implications and when perceivers ascribe implicit meanings to an artwork, they are usually said to be interpreting it. Other principles of film form include similarity and repetition, difference and variation, development, and unity vs. disunity.

Learn more about Silent Film