The first machine patented in the
United States that showed animated pictures or movies was a device called
the "wheel of life" or "zoopraxiscope". Patented in 1867 by William Lincoln,
moving drawings or photographs were watched through a slit in the zoopraxiscope.
However, this was a far cry from motion pictures as we know them today.
Modern motion picture making began with the invention of the motion picture
camera.
The Frenchman Louis Lumiere is often
credited as inventing the first motion picture camera in 1895. But in truth,
several others had made similar inventions around the same time as Lumiere.
What Lumiere invented was a portable motion-picture camera, film processing
unit and projector called the Cinematographe, three functions covered in
one invention.
The Cinematographe made motion pictures
very popular, and it could be better be said that Lumiere's invention began
the motion picture era. In 1895, Lumiere and his brother were the first
to present projected, moving, photographic, pictures to a paying audience
of more that one person.
The Lumiere brothers were not the
first to project film. In 1891, the Edison company successfully demonstrated
the Kinetoscope, which enabled one person at a time to view moving pictures.
Later in 1896, Edison showed his improved Vitascope
projector and it was the first commercially, successful, projector in the
U.S..
"The cinema is an invention without
a future" - Louis Lumière
General
History of Cinema - Motion Pictures
- The
Inventors in Cinema
General essay on cinema inventors. Also see Early
Cinema
- History
of Cinematography from 500 BC!
From 1800 to 1850 covers early photography and from 1850 to 1900 early attempts at "moving photography"
- Film
History by Decade
Chronology of film's history, both
the technology and the artistry.
- Animated
Gif: Shadow the Magnificent
This film estimated to be from
1896 or 1897 is one of the earliest projected films.
- History
of Motion Picture Sound 1910-1929 - Motion
Picture Loudspeakers
Motion Picture
Innovators
Eadweard
Muybridge
San Francisco
photographer, Eadweard Muybridge conducted motion-sequence still photographic
experiments and is called the "Father of the motion picture" even
though he did not make films in the manner we know them as today.
Thomas
Edison
Thomas Edison's
interest in motion pictures began before 1888, however, the visit of Eadweard
Muybridge to the inventor's laboratory in West Orange in February of that
year certainly stimulated Edison's resolve to invent a motion picture camera.
-
History
of Edison Motion Pictures
Origins of motion pictures, the Kinetoscope, and
Edison Motion Pictures.
Lumiere
Brothers
- The
Lumiere Brothers
Inventors of the cinematographic
process.
History
of Film Stock
- One
Hundred Years of Film Sizes
Whereas film equipment has undergone
drastic changes in the course, 35 mm has remained the universally accepted
film size. We owe the format to a great extent to Edison (see photo) -
in fact 35 mm was once called the Edison size.
- Chronology
of Eastman Kodak Motion Picture Film
In 1889, the first commercial transparent
roll film, perfected by Eastman and his research chemist, was put on the
market. The availability of this flexible film made possible the development
of Thomas Edison's motion picture camera in 1891.
- Ancient
photo & film
In 1904, the brothers Auguste and
Louis Lumiere patented the fist commercially successful color photography
process - simple good essay, nicely illustrated.
- History
of sub-35 mm Film Formats
Edison and Lumiere brothers discussed,
lots of illustrations, easy to understand essay.
History
of the Motion Picture Cameras
Colorization
- Film
Colorization
Invented by Canadians Wilson Markle
and Brian Hunt in 1983.
Animation
Mickey Mouse's official birthday
is November 18, 1928 when he made his first film debut in Steamboat
Willie. This was the first Mickey Mouse cartoon released. However,
the first Mickey Mouse Cartoon ever made was Plane Crazy in 1928,
it was the third cartoon released. Walt Disney
invented Mickey Mouse and the multi-plane camera.
Theaters
- The
Drive-In (ventor)
Richard M. Hollingshead patented
and opened the first drive-in theater.
- The IMax
Movie System
The IMAX system has its roots in
EXPO '67 in Montreal, Canada, where multi-screen films were the hit of
the fair. A small group of Canadian filmmakers/entrepreneurs (Graeme Ferguson,
Roman Kroitor and Robert Kerr), who had made some of those popular films,
decided to design a new system using a single, powerful projector, rather
than the cumbersome multiple projectors used at that time.
©Mary
Bellis
Next
page > History
of Edison Motion Pictures
|