History of Film

Kinetoscope

May 9, 1893

The Kinetoscope was created by Edison's company. The kinetoscope allowed for one individual at a time to view a moving picture. The prototype was first shown in 1891 to a convention of the National Federation of Women's Clubs. And was then released to the public at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences on May 9, 1893.

Cinematograph

Dec 28, 1895

The cinematograph was first created by Lèon Bouly in 1892 and called the Cinèmatographe Lèon Bouly. However with Bouly lacking money he sold his rights and name of the invention to the Lumière brothers. The cinematograph was the first invention that projected moving pictures to a paying audience. The first commercial public screening of the films was in paris 1895. The brothers produced their first film called Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory in the same year to go along with their invention.

The Great Train Robbery

1903

This was the first narrative film created in the United States by Edwin Porter. This film was a total of 12 minutes long and it was widely praise due to its use of composite editing, on-location shooting, frequent camera movement and with the use of the new found technique of cross cutting. This is used when two scenes are being played at the same time however in two different locations.

Nickelodeon

1905

Nickelodeon would be known as a modern day movie theater. It was the first indoor storage place used solely for the purpose of projecting motion pictures. Nickelodeon theaters came in production due to the already popular vaudeville which were small theaters used for dramatic skits, comedy routines, and musical performances. In order to get more popularity vaudevilles then started to feature these films in between acts called Nickelodeons.

Rise of the Film Industry

1914

There were many national film industries that were established by 1914. In countries including Europe, Russia, Scandinavia, and America. During this time period there were about 26-million people a week going to Nickelodeon theaters. When more people started paying to see these films it made the film industry grow. Which caused for money grabbers to attempt to take advantage of this situation and try to make other competitors go out of business and start monopolies.

The Jazz Singer

1927

The Jazz Singer was produced by the Warner Bros. where this movie will be the creator of many of firsts. Not only was it the first feature-length motion picture with a synchronized recorded music score but it also was the first to lip synch singing and speeches. The Warner Bros. accomplished this with the use of their Vitaphone sound-on-disc system however this system was soon shown to be unreliable so it was replaced by an optical variable density soundtrack.

Golden Age

1930

The film industry calls the time period from the 1930s to the 1940s the Golden Age of Hollywood because almost all feature-length movies were shown with sound and near the mid 1930s some were in also in full color. Not only were these facts important to making it known as the golden age in Hollywood but it was also because many people would attend the cinemas twice a week. In Britain there were over 31 million visits each week.

Snow White

Dec 21, 1937

The first sound and color animated feature film was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This movie was created by Disney. The first premiere of this movie was in 1937 at the Carthay Circle Theater and the nationwide release was on February 4, 1938.

McCarthyism

1948

In the time period of 1948 also during the time period of the Cold War Hollywood was threatened by McCarthyism due to the many accusations of communism. HUAC interrogated many people who worked in the film industry and many careers were destroyed while 10 people actually went to jail this was because they refused to divulge any communist leanings. The ten that went to jail became known as the Hollywood Ten.

Bwana Devil

1952

This movie was directed and produced by Arch Oboler. This was the first 3-D movie that required the audience to wear cardboard glasses with gray polarized lenses and two projectors in order to view the 3-D effect. The 3-D process was however created and developed by two brother inventors Milton and Julian Gunzberg.

Psycho

1960

This movie was film, directed, and produced by Alfred Hitchcock. It was then distributed by Paramount pictures between 1960-1968. This was the first horror movie that didn't consist of the mainstream monster movies. Psycho is now considered one of Hitchcock's best film.

PG

1970

During the 1970s the M rating was often getting confused with the mature rating. Due to this problem film makers changed this rating to PG or parental Guidance. This was a milestone because now more people were allowed to see movies which lead to more income