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How did it start?
Eadweard Muybridge bets $25,000 that a horse at one point all of its hooves are off the ground. He set up cameras and watched the horse run past the cameras. The cameras caught a picture of the horse with all of its hooves off the ground. -
Kinetoscope
Thomas Edison invents the Kinetoscope. People would look into the kinetoscope and watch moving images as if they were really moving. Edison would only let one person at a time to look into the kinetoscope, so he could make more money. -
Cinematographe
The Lumière brothers in France did the same thing Thomas Edison did, but they let groups of people come. The Lumière brothers called their invention cinematographe. The films there were 30-60 seconds, so they were called short films. -
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a small theater where people would watch short films. After short films were finished, people would give a small act to perform for the audience. Later vaudeville became nickelodeons. -
The Great Train Robbery
An employee for Thomas Edison named Edwin Porter created the first U.S. narrative film for The Great Train Robbery. The Great Train Robbery was called an epic because the film lasted for 12 minutes. The film also had 14 scenes and Porter was the narrator. -
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeons were just like vaudeville, but they had one or two acts. The nickelodeons also had piano music and their own sound effects for the acts. The nickelodeons were given their name because people would pay a nickel to see a short film and two or one acts. -
Monopoly
Nickelodeon was making more money each week. 26 million people would come each week. Nickelodeon decided to call this situation a monopoly. -
Motion Picture Patents Company
The MPPC was led by Thomas Edison. This company owned all the equipment for films. They also wouldn't let anyone try to compete with them. -
Independent Companies
These companies would risk going against Thomas Edison's company to make their own films. They would try to hide their production from Edison. Thomas Edison would also threaten them by smashing their equipment. -
MPPC Actors
The MPPC didn't want to credit their actors. They thought if actors became superstars, they would want more money out if the MPPC. Therefore the MPPC didn't credit their actors. -
Independent Companies Actors
These companies would credit their actors. they did this because if people saw their favorite actor in their film then more people would want to their films. Actors made more money and so did their company. -
Popular Actors
Popular actors were Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin. Mary Pickford was known as America's sweetheart. Charlie Chaplin was known as a comic genius for his acting in messages for good and evil in society.
