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Lesson 1
Early cinema and Narration
Subject:
understanding
cinema
film studies
Faculty Name:
Amol Jadhav
India’s premier M-school
Deviprasad Goenka Management College of Media Studies (dgmcms.org.in)

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Introduction
 The word Cinema is derived as a shortened form of
cinematograph or cinematography. (an art of visualization
through camera that captures moving images)
 Early filmmaking owes a lot to photography techniques
developed by Louis Daguerre (1787- 1851) and Joseph
Niepce (1765- 1833) in France.
 Edward Muybridge, an English photographer captured a
horse in motion in 1879 which can be marked as one of the
earliest attempts of motion pictures in the world.

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Cinema is born
 World’s first movie was made by Louis
and Augustus Lumiere in France and it
was screened at Café La Grande, Paris
on 28th December 1892.
 Lumiere brothers captured the events which
occurred around and projected the reality on
screen.
 They developed an equipment which was built on the
principles of still photography but could capture moving
images. It was called Cinematograph.
 Arrival of train in a station, a naughty boy with a gardener and
workers coming out of a factory are some of the noted works
and earlier movies made by Lumiere Bros.

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Cinematograph
 Cinematograph by Lumiere Brothers was a wooden box
that had a feed in and feed out for
Film and a lens. It had a built in light
bulb that gave an illumination on lens.
As the grid was moved, the film rolled
Thus giving us an experience of
Moving image which were shot
and stored on that film.

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Lumiere Brothers Films
Train arrives in station Factory workers
Naughty Boy and the Gardner

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Georges Melies
 Georges Melies, a famous magician from France introduces art
of story and editing to
cinema.
 His works are considered as the prolific
examples of visual effects.
 He was a writer, actor, designer and
director for number of movies.
 His works dealt with stories (narratives) and had characters with
significant costumes and make up, which was considered as a
unique trait in the early years of cinema.
He also introduced independent production studios
where major part of production and post production was done.

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Magic and stories
 Gerogs Melies, an ardent theatre practitioner believed in the
power of the movie narratives and hence it reflected in almost
all his movies.
 The merry frolics of satan, The voyage to moon, The tales of
Cindrella are those notable where Melies combined the art of
story telling and visual effects.
 His visual effects have enhanced the experience of movies for
audience generating a response of wonder- something hasn’t
been imagined. This is how, Melies believed, cinema can make
our dreams come true.

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Georges Melies
Merry Frolics of Satan
(colored frames,
explosion visual effects)
Cindrella and Fairyland
(visual effects)
A trip to Moon (story and visual effects)

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Cinema and Narration
 Early movies made by Lumiere brothers were associated with
realistic representation through movies and Georges Melies
can be considered as a figure who introduced narrative fiction
in terms of short stories to movies.
 Melies used the technique of shock and humor in his stories.
His movies would have visual effects, make up- costumes and
comedy that paved the way for entertainment.
 Lumiere Bros. dealt with verite (truth) whereas Melies inspired
through fantasy.
 This is how early cinema exploited and successfully
practiced the two important and mutually opposite
techniques of narration.

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Further Reading:
Oxford History of World Cinema
(Ed. Geoffery Nowell- Smith)
Tales of Cinema (Ganesh Matkari)

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