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Edison
Edison and his company adopted the kinetoscope to be a peephole kinetoscope. He liked the idea of watching rapid sequence pictures through a peephole, so he made it and sold it. This was giving him a bit of money, even on top of of his other inventions such as the light bulb. -
How It Started
Film started with a $25k bet. The bet was whether or not a horse was completely off the ground at one point while it ran. One group believed it did happen, the other group didn't believe it. Eventually, to settle the bet, the groups took a rapid sequence of a horse running and ran through the film. They came to find out that a horse did, in fact, completely leave the ground at one point. -
The Kinetoscope
Eventually people started making devices that can move rapid sequence pictures fast enough so it looks like the pictures are moving. There would be parlors for this, but unfortunately only one person could watch at a time. -
The Start of Film
The Lumiere brothers invented the motion picture film. Doing what Thomas Edison refused to do, they created a projector and found a way to make motion pictures come to life in front of an audience. They began producing short films, being 30-60 seconds long. -
Vaudevilles and Nickelodeons
Vaudevilles, small theaters with different acts, became popular. These acts included things like comedy routines, singing and dancing, and dramatic skits. Vaudevilles soon expanded into nickelodeons. -
Nickelodeons
After vaudevilles, nickelodeons started appearing. Nickelodeons are small theaters that showed films accompanied by piano music and sound effects. In between the films, vaudevilles would show. -
The Early Days
As nickelodeons grew popular, they started attracting more and more people. Crowds of 26 million began to turn up each week from all over. As this business grew, more nickelodeons started to appear as more people wanted that kind of money. -
Actors
As motion pictures and how they were made grew, actors were needed. Charlie Chaplin was one influential actor at the time. His way of acting and portraying different emotions and his comedic acting caused him to have money coming in at high rates. -
Modern Motion Pictures
As time went on, the making and production of motion pictures changed. People began to experiment in acting and filming techniques, and business expanded. As money value increased, more and more filmers and actors emerged.
