Film camera

History of Film

  • Started because of a bet.

    Started because of a bet.
    Eadweard Muybridge accidentally started film when he proved that all of a horse's hooves do go up during a full sprint. He did this by shooting many cameras activated by a tripwire that would go off a thousandth of a second at a time. Not only did Muybridge win the bet, he realized that if you put them together fast enough, the pictures looked like they were moving. This lead to the birth of film
  • Chronophotographic gun

    Chronophotographic gun
    Physiologist Étienne-Jules Marey was inspired by what Eadweard did to make a way to choreograph how animals move. Therefore, he invented the chronophotographic gun, which could make twelve photos a second. Not only did it help us study animal movement, it added an extra step in the history of film
  • Humble beginnings

    Humble beginnings
    The first actual motion picture was invented in 1891 by Thomas Edison and William Dickson. It was called the kinetoscope and it used a strip of film and rapidly spun between a lens and a light bulb. Even though it could only be seen by one person, it was technically the first theater.
  • The Lumière Brothers

    The Lumière Brothers
    While Edison kept the power of the kinetoscope inside of a peephole to get more money by charging people individually for it, the Lumière brothers were not so greedy. They invented the Cinématographe, the first projector, in 1895 which could project minute long films they let whole groups of people see at a time. Not only did this spit in the face of Edison's greedy ways, the café the brothers used the projector for technically was the first theater.
  • The Great Train Robbery

    The Great Train Robbery
    The first actual movie with a plot and sequence of events made by Edwin Porter. This movie was only 12 minutes which was absolutely astonishing for people in the time it was made. It raised the bar and set the standard for future movies to come.
  • Period: to

    MPPC

    The MPPC was essentially a cruel way to get Edison's pockets filled with money. It was a film monopoly that controlled all of the companies and "roughed up" anyone trying to be independent. Eventually though, independents moved to California to avoid Edison and the MPPC slowly faded after its patents were taken away one by one.
  • Mark Strand Theatre

    Mark Strand Theatre
    The Strand theatre was made in 1914 and became open to the public. This was the first ever movie palace to be made. It housed many short films or "Nickelodeons" in its day.
  • Death of the Silent Era

    Death of the Silent Era
    The film "The Jazz Singer" was released, which changed the film industry drastically. The reason being it was the first film with sound using a device called the vitaphone. It was a major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one to be wildly and commercially successful.
  • IT'S ALIVE!!!

    IT'S ALIVE!!!
    The popular film "Frankenstein" is released as one of the first and most popular horror films. Even after tons of adaptations and reboots, this film is still highly praised and remembered by many. Not only did this kick off the horror genre of films, it also began the first movie expansive universe with movies like "Wolfman", "Dracula", and "The Invisible Man" coming out with crossovers with each other and Frankenstein's Monster himself.
  • Birth of Disney

    Birth of Disney
    The first ever film of Disney, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, comes out as the first fully animated color feature film. It was praised so highly, Disney was awarded one Oscar and seven smaller Oscars for the movie. This not only jump started animations in film, but Disney itself as well
  • Noir

    Noir
    In this year, the movie "Stranger on the Third Floor" was released. Arguably the first Noir film, it would be the father to this sub genre that would dominate the 40s and 50s. It had common Noir tropes like an urban setting, slanted shadows, and voice over narration
  • The Age of Television

    The Age of Television
    Televisions were introduced and being widely used in the 50s. Due to the fact people could watch movies at home now, many theaters went out of business. This revolutionized film, as you could watch movies much more easily.
  • Hanna-Barbera

    Hanna-Barbera
    At this time, the Flintstones started to air on prime time television by Hanna-Barbera. This marked the first time an animation was given a TV series. It would later be followed a year later by its brother, Yogi Bear.
  • A Galaxy Far, Far Away

    A Galaxy Far, Far Away
    Star Wars: A New Hope Releases. This was not only a blockbuster hit, it also influenced one of the best movie series of all time. It also made big names in cinema like Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, and Mark Hamill who would also be famous for his work in the Batman animated series as The Joker.
  • Father of Slashers

    Father of Slashers
    The movie Halloween comes out by John Carpenter on a laughably low budget. The movie was a gigantic hit and kicked off the Slasher sub genre of movies and the Slasher Craze of the 80s. This craze is credited for making huge horror baddies with making Freddy Kruger, Jason Voorhees, and obviously, Micheal Myers.