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Film History: A Brief Encounter: Key Moments From The History of Film and Film Technology

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Niguss Girma

This document provides a brief history of film from its origins in 1895 to modern cinema. It notes several key inventions and developments that were necessary for the evolution of film technology, such as the Lumière brothers' experimentation combining photography and Edison's Kinetoscope. Major milestones included the introduction of synchronized sound and color film in the 1920s, the development of the Hollywood studio system, and innovations like 3D, widescreen, portable cameras, steadicam technology, and computer generated imagery. The history traces the technological progress that transformed early silent films into the feature-length talkies seen in theaters today.

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Film History: A Brief Encounter: Key Moments From The History of Film and Film Technology

Uploaded by

Niguss Girma
84 views15 pages
This document provides a brief history of film from its origins in 1895 to modern cinema. It notes several key inventions and developments that were necessary for the evolution of film technology, such as the Lumière brothers' experimentation combining photography and Edison's Kinetoscope. Major milestones included the introduction of synchronized sound and color film in the 1920s, the development of the Hollywood studio system, and innovations like 3D, widescreen, portable cameras, steadicam technology, and computer generated imagery. The history traces the technological progress that transformed early silent films into the feature-length talkies seen in theaters today.

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This document provides a brief history of film from its origins in 1895 to modern cinema. It notes several key inventions and developments that were necessary for the evolution of film technology, such as the Lumière brothers' experimentation combining photography and Edison's Kinetoscope. Major milestones included the introduction of synchronized sound and color film in the 1920s, the development of the Hollywood studio system, and innovations like 3D, widescreen, portable cameras, steadicam technology, and computer generated imagery. The history traces the technological progress that transformed early silent films into the feature-length talkies seen in theaters today.

Copyright:

© All Rights Reserved
Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
Download as pdf or txt
84 views15 pages

Film History: A Brief Encounter: Key Moments From The History of Film and Film Technology

Uploaded by

Niguss Girma
This document provides a brief history of film from its origins in 1895 to modern cinema. It notes several key inventions and developments that were necessary for the evolution of film technology, such as the Lumière brothers' experimentation combining photography and Edison's Kinetoscope. Major milestones included the introduction of synchronized sound and color film in the 1920s, the development of the Hollywood studio system, and innovations like 3D, widescreen, portable cameras, steadicam technology, and computer generated imagery. The history traces the technological progress that transformed early silent films into the feature-length talkies seen in theaters today.

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© All Rights Reserved
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Film History: A Brief Encounter

Key moments from the history of film and film technology


Films, as we know them
and recognise them today,
were born in 1895.

In groups of four can you


name all of the major
inventions that needed to
happen to films before you
get to the kind of films you
find in the cinema today?
Here, have a handout. It’s
going to get stuck into the
inside of the front cover of
your book and it’s going to
help you revise and
hopefully understand the
history of cinema.
A Race Through History…
From a Simple Beginning
The first recorded moving
images came from two
French brothers whose
experimentation with
photography, combined with
seeing Edison’s
‘Kinetoscope’ resulted in…
During the early life of cinema,
silent films were the only
option - increasingly
accompanied by a live
musician/musicians. This
period saw basic film
language established - the
principles of continuity editing,
lighting, mise-en-scène and
the rise of the ‘feature length’
film (1 hour+).
American cinema rose to
prominence in the 1920s
with the advent of the
‘Studio System’. Most of
these studios still, sort of,
exist today! They turned film
making into an industrial
process and created the
idea of Hollywood.
The Jazz Singer (1927,
Alan Crosland) starred
musical star Al Jolson. It
was the first feature film to
have a synchronised
soundtrack, including
synchronised speech and
singing. This was the birth
of the ‘talkies’.
In 1935 the release of
Becky Sharp (Robert
Mamoulian) heralded the
feature length use of the
‘three strip’ technicolour
process for colouring film
and opened to gates to
many competing colour
technologies.
This famous court case
prevented the studios from
owning the full chain of
production, distribution and
exhibition. This led to the
emergence of independent
production companies, or
‘indies’.
In the 1950s film producers
continued to develop new
ways of expanding the
viewing experience in
response to the rise of
television ownership. 3D
and Widescreen
presentations became
popular.
The continued
developments in camera
technology allowed for
smaller and smaller
cameras to become
available to film-makers.
The French ‘new wave’ and
documentary makers used
this to their advantage.
Steadicam technology,
pioneered by Garrett Brown,
allowed the camera to roam
whilst maintaining a fluid
and smooth movement.
The 1990s saw an
explosion in the use of
computer generated
imagery, pioneered by
Industrial Light and Magic
back in the late 1970s and
1980s. Filmed, practical,
special effects took a
backseat to post-production
computer generated
imagery.

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