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Early History of Cinema

Early History of Cinema. Presentation by Chris Schloemp Information by Tim Dirks http://www.filmsite.org. The Birth of Cinema. 1891--William Dickson, an assistant to Thomas Edison designs Kinetoscope 1892--Kinetograph, camera with sprocket system

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Early History of Cinema

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  1. Early History of Cinema Presentation by Chris Schloemp Information by Tim Dirks http://www.filmsite.org

  2. The Birth of Cinema • 1891--William Dickson, an assistant to Thomas Edison designs Kinetoscope • 1892--Kinetograph, camera with sprocket system • 1893--”Black Maria”, first film studio in New Jersey • 1894--Fred Ott’s Sneeze • 1896--The Kiss

  3. The Lumiere Brothers • Louis and Auguste • Inspired by Edison • Cinematographe--could project to many spectators • December 28, 1895--first commercial exhibition of a projected motion picture to a paying public in the world’s first movie theater

  4. Lumiere Films • La Sortie des Ouviers de L’Usine Lumiere (Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory) • L’Arroseur Arrose (The Sprinkler Sprinkled) • The Arrival of a Train • Short, slice-of-life documentaries

  5. Georges Melies • Set up Europe’s first film studio in 1897 • 1902--Le Voyage Dans la Lune (Trip to the Moon) • Pioneer in illusion and fantasy: trick photography, dissolves, wipes, trick sets, stop-motion, slow-motion, and fadeouts

  6. Further US Development • Edison Company, Biograph, American Vitagraph Company • Edwin Porter, first American documentary: The Life of an American Fireman (1903) • 1903--Porter directs The Great Train Robbery

  7. GreatMilestones • First narrative film with storyline • First film shot out of sequence • First use of cross-cutting • First Western • First smash hit

  8. Nickelodeons • Spend an evening at the cinema for a nickel • First nickelodeon in Pittsburgh, 1905 • Cheap entertainment for the working class

  9. D.W. Griffith: Early Pioneer • “Father of Film”--first cinematic storyteller • Joined Biograph in 1908, made 60 films in 1909 • Created modern language of cinema: composed shots, camera movement, split screen, flashbacks, dissolves, lens filters, and artificial lighting

  10. The Motion Picture Patents Company • 1908--East-Coast companies formed MPPC to monopolize the growing industry • Protected profits, limited artistic freedom, fought movie piracy, reduced power of distributors • Refused to give screen credit to players • Signed contract with George Eastman for exclusive right to his famed film stock

  11. IMP and Universal • MPPC fought by the independents, led by Carl Laemmle • Founded Independent Moving Pictures (IMP) • 1911--IMP acquires first studio in Hollywood (later Universal) • 1913--Traffic in Souls, about white slavery

  12. East Coast vs. West Coast • Laemmle encouraged US government to bring anti-trust suit against MPPC • 1907--first film shot in Los Angeles • 1911--Nestor Company becomes first West Coast motion picture studio • 1912--15 film companies operating in Hollywood • 1917--Supreme Court disbands MPPC

  13. Vitagraph • Early 1900s, major competitor with Edison • Became known for filming historical events: Roosevelt’s charge up San Juan Hill, the Boer War in South Africa, the Galveston flood of 1900, McKinley’s assassination in 1901, and the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 • Eventually absorbed in Warner Bros. in 1925

  14. Carl Laemmle and Universal • Founder of IMP and Universal • Cinema taken over by entrepreneurs • Responsible for creating the “star system” • Actors now earned screen credits • Florence Lawrence and Mary Pickford first movie stars, under Laemmle

  15. Fan Magazines • Photoplay, first true fan magazine debuted in 1911 • Gave rise to the idea of celebrity culture • Interviews and gossip columns about personal lives of stars

  16. Serials • Films released in episodic installments extremely popular in period before WWI • Death-defying stunts, speedy plots, sensationalism, nice-girl leads in distress • 1914--The Perils of Pauline • 1914--The Exploits of Elaine • 1915--Theda Bara became new movie archetype: the “vamp,” the first tempting sex symbol

  17. Thomas Harper Ince • Developed the “factory-studio system” to mass produce films • Supervised Bison Company (Inceville) a 20,000 acre ranch in the Santa Ynez Canyon • Prototype for Hollywood studio: studio head, directors, production staff, writers under one organization (the unit system) • Died 1924, mysteriously, on Hearst’s yacht (See the 2002 film The Cat’s Meow)

  18. Keystone and Mack Sennett • Trademark slapstick comedies • Canadian vaudevillian Mack Sennett, the “King of Comedy” • 1913--first of the Keystone Comedies • 1914--Tillie’s Punctured Romance--first American feature-length comedy

  19. Charlie Chaplin: the Tramp • First truly great film star • British vaudevillian • Apprentice to Sennett in 1913 • Established familiar tramp character with characteristic walk in TheTramp (1915) • 1917--first million-dollar contract

  20. Griffith’s Landmark Epics • 1915--Birth of a Nation • Beautifully-structured battle scenes • Revolutionary techniques: dollying, masking, irises, flashbacks, cross-cuts • 1916--Intolerance • Four interwoven stories of intolerance (modern, medieval, Judean, Babylonian)

  21. Next time... • The Development of the Studios • The Birth of the Talkies

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