History of Film

Transcript

1. History of Film History of Mass Communication
2. What is a Motion Picture   Series of still pictures rapidly projected on a screen in such a way that the viewer perceives smooth motion.
3. Development of the Motion Picture   By WW1 (July 1914), the motion picture was a fully developed form of entertainment with audiences in the millions, whereas television existed only crudely in early laboratory experiments
4. Technology for Film   Photography (Daguerreotype, Flexible Film, Box Camera)   Illusion of Motion (Visual Persistence, Wheel of Life)   Capturing and Projecting Motion with Film (Motion Picture Camera, Vitascope, Kinetoscope)
5. Photography   French Artist & Inventor, Louis Daguerre Chemist Joseph Niepce created best method for photography
6. Daguerreotype Louis Daguerre (1839)   “Each picture was made on a polished copper plate that had been coated with gleaming silver. In the total darkness, the silver coated plate was exposed to iodine fumes, which formed a thin coating of light sensitive iodine on its surface. When the well protected plate was placed in camera and then briefly exposed to a strongly lighted scene, the pattern of light and dark entering the lens of the camera altered the silver iodide. Chemical baths then fixed the image to the plate.” (DeFleur & Dennis. 1998)
7. Practiced Art to Hobby   By 1880s, George Eastman developed and marketed flexible celluloid film and a simple box camera
8. Illusion of Motion   Motion pictures do not move!   Series of still pictures rapidly projected on a screen in such a way that the viewer perceives smooth motion.
9. Visual Persistence (Dr. Peter Mark Roget 1824)   The brain will persist in seeing an object when it is no longer visible   We ‘see’ an image for a fraction of a second after the thing itself has changed or disappeared.   If we are presented with one image after the other, the visual persistence of the first image fills the time lag so they seem continuous
10. Wheel of Life (Phenakistoscope)   Large disk on which a series of drawings showing a person or animal in progressively different positions was mounted.   By rotating the disk and viewing the drawings through an aperture as the ‘wheel’ turned, a person could ‘see’ smooth motion.
11. Motion Picture Camera   William Dickson (assistant to Thomas Edison) developed the first practical motion picture camera
12. Vitascope   Thomas Edison & Assistant Thomas Armat developed in reliable projector system and obtained US patent for the ‘Vitascope’.   Wastefully projected forty eight frames per second whereas sixteen frames would provide the illusion of smooth motion
13. Kinetoscope (Thomas Edison)   Moving pictures peep show device   For a nickel, a single viewer could turn a crank, look inside the machine and see a brief film on a small screen   Edison’s approach did not catch on , in the end the industry developed along the lines of the traditional theater model   By 1896, Edison was projecting motion pictures to the public for the first time in America
14. Thomas Edison
15. One to Two Reelers   By 1903, both American and European producers were making ‘one reelers’ that lasted 10 to 12 minutes and told a story.   By 1905, two reelers were becoming increasingly common, lasting up to 25 minutes
17. The Nickelodeon (Harry Davis & John Harris1905)   The Nickelodeon was the first type of indoor exhibition space dedicated to showing projected motion pictures   Usually set up in converted storefronts, these small, simple theatres charged five cents for admission and flourished from 1905 to 1915   ‘Nickelodeon’ was named from the nickle (US 5 cent coin and the Greek word odeion (roofed over theatre)
19. Movies for the Middle Class   Nickelodeons brought movies to the urban poor.   Attractive theatres were built in better neighbourhoods and movie ‘palaces; opened in business districts to attract middle class audiences
20. Making of the ‘Star’   Films were longer, more sophisticated and gave prominent roles and media attention to particular actors and actresses.   They hired press agents to publicize them as artists and important personalities.   Early PR specialists created masculine idols and love goddesses
26. Phonograph (Thomas Edison 1877)
27. Talkies   Since the 1980s, inventors tried to combine the phonograph and motion pictures to produce movies with synchronised sound.   In mid 1920 American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T) produced a sound system based on optical recording of sound incorporated directly into the actual film