A timeline of of films and short films.

1. HISTORY OF FILM TIMELINE

2. EARLY CINEMA
• The next few slides will provide information on early cinema

3. 1888 - 1893
• 1888- George Eastman devises a still camera which produces photographs on sensitised paper
which he sells using the name Kodak
• 1888 - Etienne Marey builds a box type moving picture camera which uses an intermittent
mechanism and strips of paper film
• 1888 - Thomas Edison decides to design machines for making and showing moving pictures
• 1889 - Reynaud exhibits a much larger version of his praxinoscope
• 1888 – Louis Le Prince was a French inventor who shot the firsy moving pictures on paper film
using a single lens camera
• 1889- Edison travels to Paris and looks at Marey’s camera which uses flexible film
• 1891 – Edison and Dickson have their Kinetograph camera and Kinetoscope viewing box ready
for demonstrating
• 1892 – Reynaud holds the first public exhibitions of motion pictures using his Praxinoscope

4. 1894 - 1897
• 1894 - Louis and Auguste Lumiere design a camera which serves as both a recording
device and a projecting device called the Cinematographe, this became the standard film
rate for almost 25 years
• 1895 – The Lumiere brothers ‘Arrival of a train at la ciotat’
• 1896 – Lumiere brothers sent a rep to London and started a successful run of
Cinematographe films
• 1896 – R.W. Paul improved his camera & invented a projector, he sold his machines
rather than leasing them – this speeded up the spread of the film industry in Britain
• 1897 – The American Mutoscope company became the most popular film company in
America

5. 1898- 1905
• 1902 - George Melies produces “Voyage to the Moon” – a fifteen minute fantasy –
introduced colour to the screen through hand-painting and tinting
• 1903 - George Smith makes Mary Janes Mishap which was praised for its sophisticated
use of editing
• 1903 – Edwin S. Porter makes “The life of an American Fireman”, new visual storytelling
techniques – precursor to his most famous film “The Great Train Robbery” made in 1903.

6. CHARLIE CHAPLIN
• 1913 – signed with Keystone Studios
• ‘Making a Living’ marked his acting debut in 1914
• ‘Mabel’s Strange Predicament’
• ‘Mabel at the Wheel’
• ‘Caught in the Rain’ – 1914 – his first director debut which was successful

7. FRENCH NEW WAVE
• A term by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 60s. They had a
desire to shoot more current social issues.
• Is an example of European art cinema
• Social and political upheavals of the era
• Experiments with editing, visual style and narrative

8. FRANCOIS TRUFFAUT
• French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor and film critic
• Also a founder of the French New Wave
• Remains an icon of French film industry, having worked on over 25 films
• ‘The 400 Blows’ – a defining film of the French New Wave movement
• Directed:
• ‘Shoot the Piano Player (1960)
• ‘Jules et Jim’ (1961)
• ‘The Wild Child’ (1970)
• ‘Two English Girls (1971)
• ‘Day for Night; (1973)
• ‘The Woman Next Door’ (1981)

9. RIDLEY SCOTT
• English film director and producer

10. SHORT FILM FESTIVALS
• Venice held the first major film festival in 1932 and is the longest continually running film
festival
• The top short film festivals are:
• Sundance (USA)
• Cannes (France) – shorts under 15 minutes only
• Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films (USA)
• Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (France)
• Aspen Shortsfest (USA)
•

11. TIM BURTON
• Tim Burton is an auteur in the film industry meaning he possesses a certain style in this
films, being an auteur means that he has something unique about his films. Often you can
distinguish an auteurs film by the actors, the mise-en-scene, editing and camera work.
• For example, a Tim Burton film often stars Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter
and will have a darker twist to the story etc.
• Tim Burton would often make short films as a young child and made his first short at
Disney in 1982 called ‘Vincent’
• Shown at Chicago Film Festival and released for 2 weeks in one LA cinema.
• His next short ‘Frankenweenie’ was released in 1984 – he was actually fired by Disney as
he was using the resources to make a film to scary and dark for children
• He then went on to pursue feature length films

12. ASHVIN KUMAR
• Independent Indian filmmaker
• He produced and directed award-winner short film ‘Little Terrorist’
• As well as an Oscar it has also won top prizes at the Tehran International Short Film
Festival, Flanders International Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, Manhattan
International Short Film Festival and the Sao Paulo International Short Film Festival
• It has been invited to over 120 film festivals around the world
• Shot on a tight budget in the deserts of Rajasthan
• Show the fact that short films don’t have to have Hollywood budgets to be successful