Historical Filming Events

By ZephyrRyan

  • Eadweard Muybridge

    Photographer Eadweard Muybridge takes a series of stills, proving all four of a horse's feet leave the ground at one time when it trots. These early 'animal locomotion’ photos are considered by most film historians to be the ‘origins’ of the moving picture.

  • Das Boxende Känguruh

    Das Boxende Känguruh premieres at the first public projection of motion pictures in Germany and is one of the earliest examples of animal behaviour on film.

  • Staged Confrontation between animals

    The first British film featuring a staged confrontation between two animals is made by William K. Dickson and features a fight between a tarantula and a scorpion.

  • Martin and Osa Johnson's film

    Martin and Osa Johnson's film, Simba, is released with large scale success in American cinemas. The film follows the couple armed with both rifle and camera, as they explore the African sub-continent in search of its wildlife.

  • Pirsch Wasser

    Pirsch Unter Wasser follows Hans Hass as he explores life in a Caribbean coral reef and is one of the first underwater films to gain wide public attention.

  • Under the Red Sea

    In Under the Red Sea, Hans and Lotte Hass explore a wealth of marine behaviour never captured before, including the first pictures of a whale shark underwater and the film wins first prize at Venice for feature-length documentary.

  • Jacques Cousteau

    Jacques Cousteau takes the first underwater colour footage whilst researching in the Red Sea

  • David Attenborough

    David Attenborough's first television series featuring animals, The Pattern of Animals, airs on BBC.

  • Alan and Joan Root

    Alan and Joan Root capture unique footage of wildebeest migration using cameras housed in tortoise shells in The Year of the Wildebeest.

  • In-Flight Movie

    In-Flight Movie, featuring innovative on-board cameras gives a unique insight into ornithological flight.

  • The Blue Planet

    The Blue Planet, the first comprehensive series concerning the natural history of the oceans airs.

  • David Attenborough

    David Attenborough completes his 'Life' series with Life in Cold Blood