Eadweard Muybridge

an English-American photographer important for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection
He is known for his pioneering work on animal locomotion in 1877 and 1878, which used multiple cameras to cap

Thomas Edison

an American inventor and businessman who has been described as America's greatest inventor.
He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, which include th

Lumi�re Brothers

French inventors and pioneer manufacturers of photographic equipment who devised the early motion-picture camera and projector called the Cin�matographe
They were among the first filmmakers in history. They patented an improved cinematograph, which in con

Georges M�li�s

a French illusionist and film director famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema.
He was an especially prolific innovator in the use of special effects, popularizing such techniques as substitution splices

Edwin S. Porter

an American film pioneer, most famous as a producer, director, studio manager and cinematographer with the Edison Manufacturing Company and the Famous Players Film Company.
An employee of Edison who began making early films for the Edison Company. Directo

D.W. Griffith

In 1897 he set out to pursue a career both acting and writing for the theater, but for the most part, was unsuccessful. Reluctantly, he agreed to act in the new motion picture medium for Edwin S. Porter at the Edison Company. Griffith was eventually offer

Buster Keaton

an American comic actor and filmmaker.He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".
An American actor, comedian, film dire

Claude Ni�pce

a French inventor, usually credited as the inventor of photography and a pioneer in that field. He developed heliography, a technique he used to create the world's oldest surviving product of a photographic process: a print made from a photoengraved print

Louis Daguerre

French inventor of the first practical photographic process, the daguerreotype (1789-1851)
He improved on earlier technologies to produce successful photographs

George Eastman

an American entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and popularized the use of roll film, helping to bring photography to the mainstream. Roll film was also the basis for the invention of motion picture film stock in 1888 by the world's first f

Eastman Kodak Company

an American technology company that produces camera-related products with its historic basis on photography.
First prewrapped dental films, and first machine made film packets

William Kennedy Laurie Dickson

a Scottish inventor who devised an early motion picture camera under the employment of Thomas Edison.
He invented the Kinetoscope under the supervision of Thomas Edison

A Trip to the Moon

a 1902 French adventure film directed by Georges M�li�s. Inspired by a wide variety of sources, including Jules Verne's novels From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon, the film follows a group of astronomers who travel to the Moon in a cannon-prope

The Great Train Robbery

A 1903 black and white silent western film that was 14 minutes long and the first film to tell a coherent story. Due to its success it is credited for the creating Hollywood and the success of the movie industry.

The Lonely Villa

a 1909 American short silent crime drama film directed by D. W. Griffith.
A group of criminals wait until a wealthy man goes out to break into his house and threaten his wife and daughters. They take refuge inside one of the rooms, but the thieves break i

The Navigator

In this revered silent comedy, the wealthy and impulsive Rollo Treadway (Buster Keaton) decides to propose to his beautiful socialite neighbor, Betsy O'Brien (Kathryn McGuire). Alhough Betsy turns Rollo down, he still opts go on the cruise that he intende

Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show

Country rube thinks what he sees on the movie screen is real. He jumps out of his seat to try to stop a kissing scene. (1902)

The Dancing Pig

A humongous and obese anthropomorphic swine dressed like a fine gentleman in a fancy dinner attire tries to make a pass at a solitary lady having a picnic. (1907)

Those Awful Hats

a 1909 American short comedy film directed by D.W. Griffith. It takes place in a small, crowded movie theatre, where the patrons are perpetually distracted by people - primarily women - wearing large, ostentatious hats that obstruct everyone else's views

Electrocuting an Elephant

a 1903 American, short, black-and-white, silent documentary film of the killing of the elephant Topsy by electrocution at a Coney Island amusement park.

How, when, and where did cinema first emerge?

Cinema emerged out of a series of technical developments made by numerous people over a series of years in several different countries.
This emerged happened in the 19th century during the Industrial Age

What were the some of the first kinds of film narrative?

The earliest films were in black and white, under a minute long, without recorded sound and consisted of a single shot from a steady camera.

Early Narrative Form

(To 1907) Basic stories with episodic editing

Film Narrative Develops

(1907 - 1912) Development of continuity editing, More Complex ordering of time

Film Narrative

(After 1907) Film makers are now creating films that "narrate themselves

What are some of the key techniques of continuity editing that were developing in the early cinema period?

Contiguity editing, intercutting, and analytical editting

contiguity editing

characters move in consistent directions between shots, chase scenes

intercutting

the editing of two or more actions that take place at different locations and/or different times but give the impression of one scene

analytical editing

The process of breaking a scene down into separate shots that can be edited to preserve spatial and temporal continuity

zoetrope

a 19th-century optical toy consisting of a cylinder with a series of pictures on the inner surface that, when viewed through slits with the cylinder rotating, give an impression of continuous motion.

stereoscope

A device for presenting one image to one eye and another image to the other eye

persistence of vision

(phi phenomenon) The process by which the human brain retains an image for a fraction of a second longer than the eye records it.

series photography

A series of still photographs shot by a battery of cameras and then mounted and framed or placed in a motion toy to simulate movement.

vaudeville

a type of entertainment popular chiefly in the US in the early 20th century, featuring a mixture of specialty acts such as burlesque comedy and song and dance.

Black Maria

A film studio created by Thomas Edison in New Jersey. America's first movie studio.

Kinetoscope

an early film projection system that served as a kind of peep show in which viewers looked through a hole and saw images moving on a tiny plate

W.K.L. Dickson

Scottish inventor who devised an early motion picture camera under the employment of Thomas Edison

Lumi�re Cin�matographe

It functioned as a camera, printer, and projector. The 40' film magazine on top and the internal take-up magazine were removed for use as printer or projector.

December 28, 1895

Official birth date of the movies

single shot films

Films where the camera is focused on only one scene for the entire film.

Multi-Shot Films

Films where the camera has recorded multiple scenes for the entire film

Single shot vs Multi Shot

Single shots films only tell a type of everyday life scenario
Multi-shot films give a more in-depth story from beginning to end

chase films

Films in which a chase or race features as a primary plot element. (How a French Nobleman got a Wife 1904)

actuality films

Realistic, early "documents" of actual life. As a form of media, these perform a kind of "revealing" function, in that they show mass audiences things that they would not have a view of otherwise.

Path� Fr�res

the name of various French businesses that were founded and originally run by the Path� Brothers of France starting in 1896. In the early 1900s, Path� became the world's largest film equipment and production company, as well as a major producer of phonogr

the "cinema of attractions

Overtly showing something, acknowledging the GAZE of the spectator. Like a fairground attraction (spectacle, shock, surprise)

Biograph Company

First and primary competition for Edison. Started out as American Mutoscope Company. Founded by WKL DIckson, a former Edison employee

Hale's Tours

an attraction at amusement parks and similar venues in the early 20th Century. They were specially constructed spaces designed to simulate a railway journey.

nickelodeons

the first small makeshift movie theaters, which were often converted cigar stores, pawnshops, or restaurants redecorated to mimic vaudeville theaters