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Eadweard Muybridge makes a bet
Eadweard Muybridge made a bet for $25,000. He bet to his friends, that when a horse runs really fast, all his legs come off the ground. So they lined up a bunch of cameras, and took several pictures. They noticed when they looked at all the pictures quickly, it looked like one movement. They made it look like an optical illusion and made the horse look like it is actually running. -
First "Movie Theater"
They made things called "kinetoscope parlors". You would go here to watch moving images. They did not called it a video or movie yet. They would look through a little peep hole with one eye, and crank a level to get it to move. Only one person could watch a moving image at a time. Thomas Edison sold the parlors these "kinetoscope". He also invented a projecter, but didn't want to release it because it would make far less money. -
French released the projector
The French released a projecter they invinted. It was called "cinematographe". Normally 20 to 60 seconds long. One of the first "videos", was a train coming towards the screen. It was 20 seconds long. The viewers were so scared, they never seen anything like it before. They broke limbs and get really injured trying to avoid the fake train. It was one frank per view. -
Vaudeville's were made
These were short films that were filled with drama and comedy. They were roughly 30 seconds long, and once it was over the actors would come on stage and start dancing with a little music act and what not until they were booed off. These were only a nickel to watch. -
Nickelodeon's
They started calling them "nickelodeons", because you paid a nickel to see it. They were more like a museum at the time, because it was considered art. The videos did not have sound at this point, so they would have a piano at the theater, or full on orchastras. They also had people make sound effects. -
First Narrative Movie
Edwin Porter, an employee of Tomas Edison, created the first movie that had a real story. It was 12 minutes long, which was an EXTREMELY long movie for the time. It was considered an epic. -
Nickelodeon BOOMS!
By 1910, these theaters were getting 26 million people a week! 5 years later, they have DOUBLED! They were making a lot of money making movies. People who wanted big money saw potential, and tried to create a monopoly. -
Thomas Edison wanted control
For his monopoly, he made Motion Picture Patent Company. They owned all the film stock, cameras, and studios where you make the movie. They even owned all the actors! He could set the price on anything. This was all in New York. If you tried to make your own movie, Thomas Edison would destroy all your equipment and may even have had you beaten up. -
The industry moved to LA
Thomas Edison tried to control the industry too much. People were tired of him, so they moved to the other side of the country to make their movies. Also, it never rained there, so it was good to film in. So when Thomas Edison eventually made it to Southern California, he lost his control. If Thomas Edison were to ever try to sabotage them, the filmers would quickly go into Mexico. His reign was finally over! -
Thomas Edison wanted all the credit
Thomas Edison did not give credit to any of the actors. He did not want them to become famous, or he would have to pay them more. The private companies decided to give all their actors famous, and try to make them famous. They thought if the fans grew attatched to an actor, they would go watch the movie that they star in. -
Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin, the comedic star quickly became famous. He started out making $150 a week, and soon after ended up making a million dollars per year. In 1917, that was a very good amount of money. He also brought positive messages in his movies, about how society is unequal, and making fun of dictators. -
The first movie with sound
The first movie with sound was "The Jazz Singer". This was a very big step in the movie industry, and the new era had begun. It was a major hit. It made over $3,000,000 dollars! $3,000,000 in 1927 was worth: $39,798,644.07 in 2015. That was a lot of money. It won an oscar in 1929.
