Film History Timeline

By Kaleycarrubba

  • First camera

    First camera
    The first camera was partially assembled in 1816, and paper film was created in 1885, then Kodak was born.

  • The Bet

    The Bet
    Eadweard Muybridge and his friends made a bet of whether a horse galloping could have all four feet off the ground at the same point in time, $25,000 to prove who was right. To prove the winner, they had to make a way to slow down the frame rate of a video, essentially slow-motion.

  • Vaudeville Theaters and Nickelodeons

    Vaudeville Theaters and Nickelodeons
    Vaudeville theaters were small theaters that showed short skits, comedy routines, and song and dance numbers, and would show short films in between sets. These soon became Nickelodeons, which were storefront-type theaters that features films, with a person would play piano and make sound effects at the front. These were sometimes accompanied with one or two vaudeville acts.

  • The First Movie

    The First Movie
    A narrative, produced by Edwin Porter in 1903. He was an employee of Thomas Edison, and the movie was 12 minutes long with a total of 14 scenes, called the Great Train Robbery.

  • MPPC and Hollywoodland

    MPPC and Hollywoodland
    Thomas Edison and some other companies decided to create MPPC, with plans to own everything within the realm of film. If you wanted to make a film, you would have to pay them. People didn't like having to pay, so they moved from New York to California, where the weather was much better for filming anyway. This was called Hollywoodland, and they also paid their actors a lot more than MPPC, making it even more appealing.

  • Talkies

    Talkies
    Movies that had sound were called talkies, and at first they thought it would be a failure and that audiences would not accept them. This proved to be very wrong, and soon enough every movie was a talkie.

  • Color in Film

    Color in Film
    The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind were the first movies with color that were released. This was a huge advancement for the industry.

  • Blockbuster Era

    Blockbuster Era
    Due to the success of JAWS, the blockbuster era began. Tentpole films began showing in the summer to box office success
    Other box office hits were Star Wars and Alien.

  • Film to Digital

    Film to Digital
    In the 2000's the transition from film to digital began, and film was used more sparingly. However, JJ Abrams, Spielberg, Nolan, etc, keep the use of film alive.