Film History: From Bet to Blockbuster

“The motion picture today is
the greatest medium of
expression the world has ever
known. [It is] capable of giving
life and form to all ideas,
practical and emotional ...Its
only limitation [is] human
ingenuity.
John Seitz, ASC, 1930."
Film History
…and it all started over a bet

Film History
In 1878 Eadweard Muybridge,
an English photographer, was
hired to settle a wager. Former
CA Governor, Leland Stanford,
believed that a galloping horse
had all four feet off of the
ground at the same time but his
friends claimed that this was
impossible. The problem was
that galloping hooves move too
fast for the eye to see.

Film History
To settle the bet indisputable
proof was needed. In an
effort to settle the issue once
and for all an experiment
was set up in which a rapid
sequence of photos was taken
of a running horse. When the
pictures were developed it
was found that the horse did
indeed have all four feet off
the ground for a split-second.

Film History
Why is this significant?
In doing this experiment they
found out something else —
something that becomes
obvious from the illustrations
of the horse on the left.
That discovery would soon
make the $25,000 wager look
like pocket change.

Film History
When a series of still images
of a moving object are
viewed at high speed the
illusion of motion is created.
In the case of Muybridge’s
series of still photos, when
they were presented
sequentially at 0.1 second
intervals they created the
illusion of continuous motion.
This is Muybridge’s actual footage

Film History
Later, we would give
impressive names to the two
factors that created this
illusion of motion — the
illusion that lies at the base of
both motion pictures and
television.

Film History
The Phi Phenomenon
explains why, when your
view a series of slightly
different still photos or
images in rapid succession,
an illusion of movement is
created in the transition
between the images.

Film History
Persistence of Vision is the
phenomenon that explains
why the intervals between
the successive images merge
into a single image as our
eyes hold one image long
enough for the next one to
take its place.

Film History
In the illustration on the left
an illusion of motion is
created, even when pictures
are presented at a slow rate.
Motion picture projectors
present images much faster,
at 24-frames per-second. This
high speed makes the
transition between images
virtually invisible.

Film History
The roots of photography
precede Muybridge’s first
footage by hundreds of
years. The Camera
Obscura, also known as a
pinhole image, is a natural
optical phenomenon that
occurs when an image of a
scene on the one side of a screen is projected through a small
hole in that screen as an inverted image (seen left to right and
upside down) on the opposite wall.

Film History
In the 1600’s, the “Magic Lantern”
used a concave mirror in back of a
light source to direct the light
through a small sheet of glass - a
"slide" that bore the image - and
outward through a lens at the
front of the apparatus. The lens
was adjusted to focus the slide onto
a projection screen, which could be
simply a white wall. It was a
popular form of entertainment.

Film History
The phénakisticope was the first
widespread animation device
that created a fluent illusion of
motion. A series of drawings are
viewed through slots in a
spinning disk thereby creating
the effect. Dubbed "Fantascope"
by its inventors, it has been
around since the 1830’s.

The phénakisticope was the first
widespread animation device
that created a fluent illusion of
motion. A series of drawings are
viewed through slots in a
spinning disk thereby creating
the effect. Dubbed "Fantascope"
by its inventors, it has been
around since the 1830’s.
Film History

Film History
The Zoetrope and the
Praxinoscope also had
spinning disks to give
the illusion of motion.
The final invention
necessary for the
advent of motion
pictures came along at
about the same time.

Film History
In 1822, Frenchman Joseph
Nicepce was the first to
produce a basic photographic
image. But, in 1839 Louis
Daguerre patented a process
that could actually be
considered photography.
His photos were referred to
as daguerreotypes.The earliest known photograph - 1822

Film History
There were inherent problems
with this process. The only
way to capture images was to
make metal plates light-
sensitive by painting them
with a liquid solution while
you were in a darkroom. You
would need to expose them in
a camera before they dried
and then return to the
darkroom to develop them.
An 1837 Daguerreotype photograph

Film History
An inventor by the name of
Hannibal Goodwin greatly
simplified the process in
1889, when he developed a
transparent, pliable film base
called celluloid.
The next step was to create
long strips of film where a
series of still pictures could
be captured in rapid
succession.
Film now comes in lengths up to 1000’

Film History
Cameras and projectors were
developed that could do this
at a rate of 16 frames per-
second. (The rate was later
moved up to 18 frames, and
eventually to 24 FPS.)
A few years later, George
Eastman standardized film
widths for cameras and
projectors to 16 and 35 mm.
George Eastman and Thomas Edison

Film History
Once standardized, motion
picture film was 35mm wide
and had sprocket holes on
each side. Gear teeth fit into
these holes to pull the film
through cameras and
projectors at a steady rate.
Sound was added later on
one side of the film next to
the sprocket holes.
George Eastman’s 35mm Film Format

Film History
Soon, a host of devices were
invented to entertain anyone
who wanted (for a price) to
watch "moving images."
Unfortunately, all of these
devices had the disadvantage
of only having an audience of
one. A viewer would look
through a peephole at a
series of drawings or photos
presented in rapid sequence.
Thomas Edison’s Kinetograph

Film History
The Edison profits came
from the sale of machines
and prints, not from
exhibition to the general
public. . . . From the Edison
viewpoint, one machine for
every viewer was more to be
desired than a hundred or
more viewers for every
machine.
Kinetoscope Parlor in 1899

Film History
As he had with the
phonograph, Edison
misjudged how the market
was to develop. He thought
the money was in the
kinetograph and the
kinetoscope; he didn’t think
people would want to sit in
audiences to see an image on
a screen.
Thomas Edison’s Kinetograph

Film History
This turned out to be a major
miscalculation. According to
popular belief, it was the
Lumière brothers in France
who first did what Edison
didn't want to do - to create a
projector that could show
motion pictures on a screen
for an audience. They called
it the cinematographe.
The Lumiere Cinematographe 1896

Film History
In 1895, the Lumieres shot a
series of 30 to 60 second films
that they showed in a Paris
cafe and charged a one-franc
admission to see.
These films covered such
fascinating topics as a man
falling off a horse and a child
trying to catch a fish in a
fishbowl.

Film History
While the Lumière films
were “actualities” shot
outdoors on location,
Edison’s films featured circus
or vaudeville acts that were
shot in a small studio before
a stationary camera,. In both
cases the films were
composed of a single
unedited shot with little or no
narrative content.
The Lumiere film café circa 1895

Film History
Edison eventually saw the
light and devised his own
camera and projector but he
didn't have much confidence
in the long-range value of
motion pictures. When he
paid for patents, he didn't
pay the extra $150 to secure
the international copyright, a
mistake that would cost him
millions in the coming years.
An early US Edison “nickelodeon”

Film History
Meanwhile, numerous
inventors from around the
world introduced their own
"movie machines." In fact, so
many motion picture devices
appeared at about the same
time that no one person can
truly be credited with the
invention.Alfred Wrench’s Cinematographe 1898

Film History
During this time, vaudeville
(small theaters that featured
short dramatic skits, comedy
routines, and song and dance
numbers) was quite popular.
In order get one-up on the
competition and fill in time
between acts, vaudeville
theaters started featuring
short films.A vaudeville theater in the early 1900’s

Film History
As the 1900s dawned,
vaudeville expanded into
nickelodeons, which were
small storefront-type theaters
that featured films
(accompanied by piano music
and sound effects) along with
one or two vaudeville
acts. As the name suggests,
admission was only a nickel.A vaudeville theater in the early 1900’s

Film History
As films got more popular
and longer, the vaudeville
acts disappeared from the
nickelodeons and the motion
picture theater was born - if
you can call a small room
with wooden benches a
motion picture theater. As
their popularity grew, films
had to be changed often.A nickelodeon in the early 1900’s

Film History
In the early days, film action
resembled a short stage play.
The action was continuous
and uninterrupted. This
allowed a new film to be
released every few days.
Within a couple of years
there were thousands of
nickelodeons in operation
leading to a worldwide boom
in the exhibition of films.
Pioneers of Film Production

Film History
Obviously, early studios had
to turn out large numbers of
films to meet the demand.
The studios of the early 1900s
were appropriately called
"film factories." At that time
they were primarily located
in New York and New Jersey
but that would soon change.
Georges Méliès film studio circa 1905

Film History
Edison’s New Jersey studio
was affectionately dubbed
the “Black Mariah”. It
featured hot metal walls and
an attached darkroom for
processing the exposed
footage.
Edidon’s “Black Mariah”

Film History
Rumor has it that the whole
idea of cutting from one
scene to a another resulted
from a director on a tight
schedule. Due to a camera
malfunction, a scene was lost
and there wasn’t time to
shoot it all over again. To
keep from falling behind he
left out the missing footage.Pioneers of Film Editing

Film History
After viewing "the mistake,"
it was concluded that the
"lost" footage wasn't really
necessary and the jump in
action actually speeded
things along. By the late
1800s, it was accepted
practice to stop and
reposition the camera and to
cut directly to a totally
different scene to tell a story.
Pioneers of Film Editing

Film History
In 1903, Edwin S. Porter, an
employee of Thomas Edison,
shot the first narrative film,
The Great Train Robbery. The
film featured a dramatic
story line and cross cutting
between different locations
and camera angles. It had 14
scenes and lasted 12 minutes,
making it an epic of its day.Pioneers of Film Editing

Film History
Actually, Porter “borrowed”
some of his ideas from some
European directors - and in
particular from a Frenchman
named Georges Méliès, who
is credited with virtually
inventing special effects with
his film, Trip to the Moon.
Crude by today’s standards,
the film wowed audiences in
1902.
Trip to the Moon introduced Special Effects

Film History
One of the very first films
produced in the United
States, called The Kiss, was
based on a scene from the
stage play, "The Widow
Jones." Groups tried to get
the film banned because it
showed a man and a woman
kissing - something that
moralists of the time thought
was obscene.
The Kiss that started an uproar

Film History
Responding to public and
political pressure of the day,
the U.S. Supreme Court
officially denied motion
pictures the same First
Amendment freedom that
was being given to the press,
literature, and the theater.
They used the argument that
films were amusements and
not artistic works.

Film History
As a result of the Supreme
Court decision, most states
elected boards to make sure
that films shown in their area
adhered to their particular
view of morality. Almost 50
years later, the Supreme
Court finally reversed itself,
allowing films the same First
Amendment protection as
other mass media.

Film History
At this point there still wasn't
sound or color. Dialogue
appeared as full-frame text
on the screen after actors
spoke their lines. Later, the
dialogue was superimposed
over the picture, as shown
here. The advantage of this
was that it was easy to dub
dialogue into any language
for other countries.
Subtitles ruled the theaters for 30 years

Film History
The celluloid film was wound
on reels, as shown on the
left. Since the reels only held
about 12 minutes of film,
they regularly had to be
changed during filming.
If the production was longer
than one reel, there was an
intermission while the reels
were switched.
Antique projection booth

Film History
Later, two projectors were
used so that the film reels
could be alternated between
projectors, making an instant
switchover possible. Today,
continuous projection is
possible with one projector
since the reels are edited
together and fed from a
turntable mechanism.
Contemporary projection booths

Film History: From Bet to Blockbuster

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