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History of Film

  • The First Film

    The First Film
    Johann H. Schulze, a German physicist, discovers that silver salts turn dark when exposed to light.
  • The First Motion Pictures

    The First Motion Pictures
    British photographer Eadweard Muybridge takes the first successful photographs of motion, showing how people and animals move.
  • A new kind of photography

    A new kind of photography
    Etienne Marey in France develops a camera, shaped like a gun, that can take twelve pictures per second.
  • Paper Film

    Paper Film
    American inventor George Eastman introduces film made on a paper base instead of glass, wound in a roll, eliminating the need for glass plates.
  • The First Projector

    The First Projector
    Thomas Edison and W.K. Dickson invent the Kinetoscope, the first projector
  • The First Commercial Movie Theatre

    The First Commercial Movie Theatre
    Two French brothers, Louis and August Lumiere patent a combination movie camera and projector, capable of projecting an image that can be seen by many people. In Paris, they present the first commercial exhibition of projected motion pictures.
  • The First Cartoon

    The First Cartoon
    The first animated cartoon is produced.
  • The Arrival of Sound

    The Arrival of Sound
    Lee DeForrest demonstrates a method for recording sound on the edge of a film strip, making the first films with audio.
  • Film Censorship Begins

    Film Censorship Begins
    The U.S. Treasury Department upholds a Commissioner of Customs decision to prohibit the import of the film Ecstacy because it contains nudity.
  • Dreamworks

    Dreamworks
    Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen form the film studio DreamWorks.
  • The Blair Witch Project

    The Blair Witch Project
    The Blair Witch Project, which cost $30,000 to make, grosses $125 million, making it the most profitable film in Hollywood history.
  • Shift in Film Styles

    Shift in Film Styles
    Documentary films such as March of the Penguins and Bowling for Columbine become popular, and awarness of home movies rises.
  • Period: to

    3D Films

    3D films become increasingly popular