The Advent of Motion Picture Technology

Horse in Motion

Oct 19, 1878

Scientific American depicted a horse in a gallop motion through a zoetrope. After a British photographer, Eadwaerd Muybrige took a series of multiple photos close in close succession. The idea to look at the photos in the zoetrope became one of the first pre-film devices to show motion.

Zoogyroscope

1879

A year later, Scientific and Muybridge teamed up to create the zoogyroscope another version of the zoetrope where they displayed the motion of pictures to an audience in San Francisco

Chronophotography

1886

While these actions took place in France, they are still a large part of the advancements seen later in the US. Ettiene-Jules Marey created a camera which shot 12 photos per second. This is one of the founding advancements for modern motion technology.

Kinetograph

1888

Thomas Edison and his assistant William Dickson created the kinetograph which was able to capture motion pictures. This project was soon followed up with many variations to further their goals in motion pictures.

Kinetoscope

1892

This machine, built by the same creators of the Kinetograph, was able to project the images onto a screen. After this invention, there was the beginning of public screenings.

Silent Films

1903

The first silent film was the Great Train Robbery which was produced by Thomas Edison. This was a pioneer in what became one of the largest industries over time. There were many silent films made after this also in Europe, with France being one of the leaders of production. Introduced techniques such as using different film sets and panning the camera.