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Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince (born 28 August 1842 -16 September 1890)
As the true father of motion pictures, Le Prince shot the first moving pictures on paper film using a single lens camera, several years before the work of competing inventors such as Auguste and Louis Lumière. In 1888 Le Prince was granted an American dual-patent on a 16-lens device that combined a motion picture camera with a projector, however due to his mysterious disappearance his contribution to film history has often been overlooked. -
The Lumiere Brothers were born: Auguste Lumiere (October 19, 1862 - April 10, 1954) and Louis Lumiere (October 5, 1864 - June 6, 1948)
As pioneers of the film reel, and the equipment used to produce such moving images the Lumiere brother were vital in kick starting the film industry as we know it today. By the 1980’s Lumiere and Sons were second only to Kodak in the world, continuously changing their method of invention to suit and create a working moving image camera. -
Edwin Stanton Porter (April 21 1870-April 30 1941)
In 1899 Porter joined the Edison Manufacturing Company, taking charge of motion picture production at Edison's New York studios, operating the camera, directing the actors, and assembling the final print, he then became the most influential filmmaker in the United States. Porter remains an enigmatic figure in motion picture history. Though his significance as director of and other innovative early films is undeniable, he rarely repeated an innovation once he had used it. -
Etienne-Jules Marey - The chronophotographic gun.
Marey held a desire to captured footage of the assorted studies he conducted-his chronophotographic gun was made in 1882, and capable of taking 12 consecutive frames a second, with all of the frames were recorded on the same picture, using these pictures he studied various animals.
His movies were at a high speed (60 images per second) and of excellent quality: in slow-motion cinematography, he had come close to perfection, his research of film helped the emerging field of cinematography. -
Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 1889-25 December 1977)
Modern TimesAn English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I. Chaplin used mime, slapstick and other visual comedy routines, and continued well into the era of the talkies. Overtime he was given complete artistic control over films, and became a pioneering figure in terms of film artistry and originality. -
The first moving image footage
Exiting the FactoryAfter the creation of the first film camera, they moved on to take the first footage with it of their workers leaving the Lumiere Factory on March 19th 1895. Moving forward in leaps and bounds they then showcased their work in the first private screening of ten short films on 28th December 1895. -
Silent, shocking and black and white
This 50-second silent film shows the entry of a train pulled by a steam locomotive into a train station in the French coastal town of La Ciotat. Like most of the early Lumière films, L'arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat consists of a single, unedited view illustrating an aspect of everyday life. This shocked every audience that witnessed the pioneering piece of footage, due to that fact that it was so groundbreaking and new - The public had never exprienced such a realistic caption of life. -
Luis Buñuel Portolés: 22 February 1900-29 July 1983
Un Chien AndalouBunuel, a spanish born film maker often refered to as the father of cinematic surrealism, he made his name from his explorations of the moving image. His first short film made in 1929 was Un Chien Andalou (The Andalusian Dog). Bunuel essentially opened the doors for the surrealists of film, kick starting a broader network of genres and film mediums. -
Le Voyage Dans La Lune
The film was written and directed by Georges Méliès, assisted by his brother Gaston. It was extremely popular at the time of its release, and is the best-known of the hundreds of fantasy films made by Méliès. A Trip to the Moon is the first science fiction film, and uses innovative animation and special effects, including the well-known image of the spaceship landing. -
François Roland Truffaut (6 February 1932-21 October 1984)
An influential film critic and filmmaker and one of the founders of the French New Wave. After having claimed titles such as best director at Cannes, and built a reputation as a critically acclaimed director, producer and screenwriter. Truffaut became an icon within the film world, shaping the way in which European Cinema in presented today. -
Short Film Festivals
One of the oldest film festivals is the Venice Film Festival founded in 1932, its creation paved the way for todays celebrations of film - Cannes Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival and the Raindance Film Festival. The producers and directors were given recognition of the work they gave to the public, creating a stronger base for the shorter medium of film -
Ridley Scott (30 November 1937)
An acclaimed director, producer and screenwriter, Ridley Scott is best known for his iconic films such as Bladerunner, Alien, Thelma and Louise, -
French New Wave
The New Wave was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of classical cinematic form and their spirit of youthful iconoclasm. Their radical experiments with editing, visual style and narrative showed part of a general break with the conservative paradigm. -
Tim Burton and Short Films
Despite the fact that Tim Burton would normally be known for feature length films such as Beetlejuice or Alice in Wonderland, the first two film he directed were in fact short films - Vincent (1982) and Frankenweenie (1984). Many directors had to start somewhere, that place often being short films. -
Christopher Nolan and Short Films
Acclaimed director Christopher Nolan also started out making short films. He directed, produced and wrote three short films (Tarantella 1989, Larceny 1996, and Doodlebug in 1997) before moving on to low budget feature films. Short films are so significant in that they act as the gate way passage into the feature film industry. -
Ashvin Kumar and Short Films
Kumar's first film was a short film 48 minutes long, most of his filmography consists of short films. Alot of his work has created controversy with the Indian Censor Board. In terms of international success he has only ever been nominated once for an Oscar for his short films. -
Youtube
Founded in 2005, Youtube paved the way for the online media domination. Being the one of the portals for broadcasting your work, amateur film makers across the globe began to use Youtube to create an image and a reputation. Even today, Youtube has grown essentially into a site full of advertiements - Once a short film is published onto the site millions can publicly view the content, quickly and cheaply creating mass social awareness and popularity in some cases.
