The Birth of Film
Posted On Tuesdayat7:28 PM by Ark_Light_333
The history of film spans over a hundred years, from the latter part of the 19th Century to the beginning of the 21st Century. Motion pictures developed gradually from a carnival novelty to one of the most important tools of communication and entertainment, and mass media in the 20th Century. Motion picture films have had a substantial impact on the arts, technology, and politics.
Roundhay Garden Scene,1888. The first known celluloid film recorded.
In 1878, under the sponsorship of Leland Stanford, Eadweard Muybridge successfully photographed a horse named "Occident" in fast motion using a series of 12 stereoscopic cameras. The first experience successfully took place on June 11 at the Palo Alto farm in California with the press present. The cameras were arranged along a track parallel to the horse's, and each of the camera shutters was controlled by a trip wire which was triggered by the horse's hooves. They were 21 inches apart to cover the 20 feet taken by the horse stride, taking pictures at one thousandth of a second.
The second experimental film, Roundhay Garden Scene, filmed by Louis Le Prince on October 14th,1888 in Roundhay, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England is generally recognized as the earliest surviving motion picture.
The movies of the time were seen mostly via temporary storefront spaces and traveling exhibitors or as acts in vaudeville programs. A film could be under a minute long and would usually present a single scene, authentic or staged, of everyday life, a public event, a sporting event or Slapstick. There was little to no cinematic technique: no editing and usually no camera movement, and flat, stagey compositions. But the novelty of realistically moving photographs was enough for a motion picture industry to mushroom before the end of the century, in countries around the world.
The movies of the time were seen mostly via temporary storefront spaces and traveling exhibitors or as acts in vaudeville programs. A film could be under a minute long and would usually present a single scene, authentic or staged, of everyday life, a public event, a sporting event or Slapstick. There was little to no cinematic technique: no editing and usually no camera movement, and flat, stagey compositions. But the novelty of realistically moving photographs was enough for a motion picture industry to mushroom before the end of the century, in countries around the world.
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