INTRODUCTION TO FILM HISTORY
The horse in motion 1878
Prof. Myrna Monllor Jiménez
English 124
©Myrna Monllor August 2015
All images used in this presentation were taken from the WWW for educational purposes.
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 Who invented the concept of the movies?
 How did some of the first film projectors look?
 Who were some of the pioneers?
 What were some of the important films?
 How did the film industry get to Hollywood, California?
 What were the patents wars?
 When did “talkies” begin?
 When did color films begin?
 Why were the movie studios powerful?
 What was the Production Code?
 How did the movie studios lose their power?
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FIRST ATTEMPTS AT CREATING IMAGES
THE CAMERA OBSCURA
THE PEEP BOX
THE MAGIC LANTERN
DAGUERROTYPE
CAMERA
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FANTASCOPE
MAGIC LANTERN ON WHEELS
1798
PHENAKISTISCOPE
ZOETROPE
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Herman Casler’s MUTOSCOPE 1894
MAX SKLADANOWSKY’S BIOSCOPE 1895
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Edward R. Muybridge
• Invented the zoopraxiscope, a device
that projected pictures in motion
• Inspired Edison to create his motion picture
devices
• Proposed a collaboration with Edison
that would combine the phonograph with the
zoopraxiscope
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Edward Muybridge
Zoopraxiscope
1881
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Etienne Jules-Marey’s Photographic Rifle
Rifle disk
Rifle Camera
Chronophotography
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Louis Aime Agustine Le Prince
October 14, 1888
The Round Hay Garden Scene
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Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge
(1888)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7saH58usq4
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LOUIS AND AUGUSTE LUMIERE
“the cinema is an invention without a future”
Visual Alchemy: Lumière Brothers
http://www.alchemists.com/visual_alchemy/lumiere.htm
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Lumiére Brothers’ First Films
http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue04/reviews/lumiere.htm
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Showed the first films to an audience in France on December 28, 1895
Invented the cinematographe in1895: a portable motion-picture camera,
film processing unit and projector
• Produced newsreels and documentaries through their film company Pathé
Freres.
http://www.edison.me.uk/thomas-edison-in-paris.htm
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Lumiére Films
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THOMAS ALVA EDISON
William Laurie Dickson
Edison and his kinetograph
A nickelodeon with kinetoscopes
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/
Inventing Entertainment: The Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/edison/
The American Experience: Edison’s Miracle of Light
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Black Maria, the first film studio 1893
The kinetoscope
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THE EARLY FILMS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQk5RftSdF8
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Experimentation with sound
and film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBMEt1SJbhQ
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In some countries, movie theaters were tents.
The ones shown in the pictures are from Mexico.
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The Corbett- Fitzsimmons Fight
1897
First Widescreen Film by Enoch Rector
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The Latham Loop
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Eugene Lauste and William Kennedy Laurie Dickson
GEORGES MELIES
1861-1938
A Trip to the Moon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FrdVdKlxUk
George Meliés
http://www.earlycinema.com/pioneers/melies_bio.htm
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•French magician who saw films as a means for entertainment
•Father of science fiction films and of special effects
•Introduced
narrative storylines
plot
character development
illusion
trick photography
A Trip to the Moon, 1902
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Martin Scorcese’s Hugo
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EDWIN S. PORTER
The Great Train Robbery, 1903
• first smash hit
• first action film
• first western
• first American film to
use editing.
http://www.wildwestweb.net/flicks.html
http://www.wildwestweb.net/great.html
The Great Train Robbery
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Alice Guy Blaché
1873-1968
• First female director
• Made films in France and the USA
• Worked with the Lumiére family
• Made one of the first color films
The Spring Fairy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8_fb3AtmVo
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Animation and Charles Emile Reynaud
(1844-1918)
• First projected
animation
cartoons (1892)
• Created the
Praxinoscope
• Theatre Optique
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Images from the Praxinoscope
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGRTEjTzgBc&index=7&list=PL93188DAA981BC98D
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James Stuart Blackton
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Father of American animation/ founded the Vitagraph Studio
Used stop animation and drawn animation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYDmH2B9XJw
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Other Animation Samples
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsXV0Lr2xqg&feature=related
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Fantasmagoire 1908
Gertie the Dinosaur 1914 by Winston
Mcay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEAObel8yIE&feature=related
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Quirino Cristiani
• Argentinian
• First feature
length animation
• El apóstol 1917
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=heHnP_JpLhE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=TG2L1KMDCu4
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Walt Disney
1901-1966
Newman’s Laughograms
• http://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=qaknqmbT99c
Steamboat Willie
• http://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=RexXDDA8RoI
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THE PATENTS WAR AND THE BIRTH OF HOLLYWOOD
• The
Motion Picture Patents Company pooled their patents
together to protect their profits and monopolize the industry
• Independent film makers had to pay for the use of equipment and
perforated celluloid tape
• The Patents Company would send thugs to break down production
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DAVID WARK (D. W.) GRIFFITH
1875-1944
• Father of American film
• Established the language
of film as we know it today
• Close ups
• Camera movement
• Cross cutting
• Fades
• Dissolves
• Changing angles
• Experimental lighting and
shading
• The Birth of a Nation (1915)
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/griffith_d.html
American Masters: D.W. Griffith
http://www.gildasattic.com/dwgriffith.html
D.W.Griffith
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THE STAR SYSTEM
Charlie Chaplin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoKbDNY0Zwg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAqI-M-vU3Y
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Warner Brothers and the Advent of
Sound
Vitaphone system
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The Jazz Singer 1927
Al Jolson in black face
http://www.youtube.com/watchv=PIaj7FNHnjQ&feature=related
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Busby Berkeley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oru2mqUN444
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Parallel Cinemas
Black Cinema
Hollywood in Spanish
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The Hays Code
Written in 1922 by Will Hays
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THE HOLLYWOOD PRODUCTION CODE
1930-1968
In 1934 the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America created a
set of standards to regulate what could be shown on the screen. This code
was replaced by our actual rating system In 1968. Below are the general
principles of the code. Click on the addresses to read more about this topic.
http://www.artsreformation.com/a001/hays-code.html
http://www.howstuffworks.com/question467.htm
No picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who
see it. Hence the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of
crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin.
1.
2. Correct standards of life, subject only to the requirements of drama and
entertainment, shall be presented.
3. Law, natural or human, shall not be ridiculed, nor shall sympathy be created for
its violation.
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Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious
Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman (1946)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEaR9aQZJwY
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Movie Ratings
The ratings are based on the amount of language, violence, nudity, sex
and drug use as well as overall movie theme.
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[G] General Audience. All ages admitted.
[PG] Parental Guidance Suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.
[PG-13] Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children
under 13.
[R] Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian (age varies in
some locations).
[NC-17] No One 17 and Under Admitted.
[Not Rated] Film has not been submitted for rating.
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The Hollywood Moguls
Samuel Goldwyn
The Warner Brothers
Louis B. Mayer
David O. Selznick
Irving Thalberg
Daryll Zanuck
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The Great Movie Studios
(MGM) “More stars than there are in Heaven”
(Nicholas Schenck/Louis B. Mayer)
*Irving Thalberg *David O. Selznick
http://seeing-stars.com/Studios/MGM.shtml
Warner Brothers (Jack Warner)
http://employees.oxy.edu/jerry/wb.htm
Universal (Carl Laemmle)
http://seeing-stars.com/Studios/UniversalStudios.shtml
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Paramount (Adolph Zukor)
http://seeing-stars.com/Studios/ParamountStudios.shtml
20th Century Fox (William Fox)
http://seeing-stars.com/Studios/FoxStudios.shtml
Columbia (Harry Cohn)
http://reelclassics.com/Studios/Columbia/columbia.htm
A History of the Motion Picture Studios of California
http://employees.oxy.edu/jerry/homestud.htm
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The End of the Studio System
Televisions were first mass-produced In 1947.
The film industry saw television as a threat to the film industry.
Attendance to movie theaters decreased.
In 1948 the Supreme Court found the studios guilty of
monopolistic practices and forced them to separate from their
theater chains.
 This last measure provided more space for independent
filmmakers.
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3D Craze
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From Filmstrip to Digital Technology
Is a film still a film if it were never shot on film? FilmSlate
http://www.filmslatemagazine.com/filmmaking/film-vs-digital
Digital Technology
Filmstrip
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• Expensive
• 35mm film is easily destroyed
or damaged
• No reels to carry or store
• A projectionist is needed
Simple and less expensive
Easy to store
Lasts longer
Makes adding special effects
and editing simpler
• Best image quality
• Changes the way a film is
exhibited/Imax
• Democratized the industry
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Great Movie Stars from the Past
Judy Garland
Elizabeth Taylor
Cary Grant
Marilyn Monroe
Marlon Brando
James Dean
Greta Garbo
Katherine Hepburn
James Cagney
Jimmy Stewart
Humphrey Bogart
Bette Davis
Clark Gable
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Puerto Ricans in American Cinema
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Influential Movie Directors
Stanley Kubrick
Luis Buñuel
Orson Welles
Ingmar Bergman
Billy Wilder
Alfred Hitchcock
John Ford
Federico Fellini
http://www.filmsite.org/directors.html
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More Great Directors
Alejandro
Gonzales
Iñarritu
Martin Scorcese
Woody Allen
George Lucas
Pedro Almodóvar
Steven Spielberg
Frances Ford Coppola
Tim Burton
Ron Howard
Tarantino
Jane Campion
Aménabar
Chris
Nolan
Oliver Stone
Penny Marshall
Spike Lee
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The Academy Awards
• Awarded by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts
and Sciences founded in 1927
• First celebrated in 1929
• First televised in 1952
• http://www.filmsite.org/oscars.html
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Cannes Film Festival
• Established in 1946
• Most Influential and prestigious award
• Louis Lumiere was the first president of
the festival
• Palme d’Or
http://www.festival-cannes.com/en.html
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Prestigious Film Awards
• Directors Guild of America
http://www.dga.org
• Globe Awards
http://www.goldenglobes.com/
• Screen Actors Guild
http://www.sagawards.org
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Bibliography
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
ANATOMY OF FILM. THIRD EDITION. BERNARD F. DICK. ST. MARTIN’S
PRESS,1996
LAS CLAVES DE LA HISTORIA DEL CINE. MIGUEL PORTER AND PALMIRA
GONZALEZ. ARAN, 1988
FILM: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORICAL OVERVIEW. ANDREA GRONEMEYER.
BARRON’S CRASH COURSE SERIES, 1998.
GREATEST FILMS BEFORE 1920
http://www.filmsite.org/pre20sintro.html
TEACH YOURSELF FILM STUDIES. WARREN BUCKLAND. HODDER &
STOUGHTON,1998.
Hispanic Hollywood http://americanaejournal.hu/vol9no2/lenart
The Slow Rise of Black Cinema
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/sep/21/slow-rise-black-cinema-african-american-hollywood
HAVE COMPUTER GENERATED IMAGES CHANGED THE DEFINITION OF
CINEMATOGRAPHY? http://nofilmschool.com/2014/01
/digital-technology-changed-definition-cinematography/
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http://www.atgetphotography.com/The-Photographers/Eadweard-Muybridge.html
YouTube Films
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Arrival of a Train
La sortie des usines Lumiére
The Kiss
Experimental Sound Film
The Great Train Robbery
A Trip to the Moon
Al Jolson-Toot Toot Tootsie 1927
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YouTube Films
• From Film to Digital
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGBeve5GG1A
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