· HISTORY OF THE MOTION PICTURE
-(Including other important milestones)
Mr.Dans' Video Production Class
The San Francisco photographer Eadward Muybridge is the first to photograph motion(
1877), when he set up 24 still cameras along a racetrack. As a horse ran by the cameras, the
horse would break strings which were hooked up to each cameras shutter. When a string
broke, the shutter of that camera would open exposing the fllm.
Magic lanterns and other devices had been employed in popular entertainment for . generations.
Magic lanterns used glass slides with images which were projected. The use oflevers and other
contrivances made these images "move". Another mechanism called a Phenakistiscope
consisted of a disc with images of successive phases of movement on it which could be spun to
simulate movement. Additionally, there was the Zoopraxiscope, developed by photographer
Eadweard Muybridge in 1879, which projected a series of images in successive phases of
movement. These images were obtained through the use of multiple cameras. The invention of a
camera in the Edison laboratories capable of recording successive images in a single camera
was a more practical, cost-effective breakthrough that influenced all subsequent motion picture
devices.
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While there has been speculation that Edison's interest in motion pictures began before 1888, the
visit ofEadweard 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. Muybridge proposed
that they collaborate and combine the Zoopraxiscope with the Edison phonograph. Although
apparently intrigued, Edison decided not to participate in such a partnership, perhaps realizing
that the Zoopraxiscope was not a very practical or efficient way of recording motion. In an
attempt to protect his future inventions, Edison flIed a caveat with the Patents Office on October
17, 1888, describing his ideas for a device which would "do for the eye what the phonograph
does for the ear" -- record and reproduce objects in motion. Edison called the invention a
"Kinetoscope," using the
Greek words "kineto" meaning "movement" and "scopos" meaning "to watch."
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Edison's assistant, William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, was given the task of inventing the device
in June 1889, possibly because of his background as a photographer. Charles A. Brown was
made Dickson's assistant. There has been some argument about how much Edison himself
contributed to the invention of the motion picture camera. While Edison seems to have
conceived the idea and initiated the experiments, Dickson apparently performed the bulk of the
experimentation, le~ding most modem scholars to assign Dickson with the major credit for
turning the concept into a practical reality. The Edison laboratory, though, worked as a
collaborative organization. Laboratory assistants were assigned to work on many projects while
Edison supervised and involved himself and , participated to varying degrees. Ultimately,
Ed~son made the important decisions, and, as
the "Wizard of West Orange," took sole credit for the products of his laboratory.
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The initial experiments on the Kinetograph were based on Edison's conception of the
phonograph cylinder. Tiny photographic images were affixed in sequence to a cylinder, with
the idea that when the cylinder was rotated the illusion of motion would be . . reproduced via
reflected light. This ultimately proved to be impractical.
. The work of others in the field soon prompted Edison and his staff to move in a different
direction. In Europe Edison had met French physiologist Etienne-Jules Marey who used a
continuous roll of film in his Chronophotographe to produce a sequence of still images, but the
lack of film rolls of sufficient length and durability for use in a motion picture device delayed
the inventive process. This dilemma was aided when John Carbutt developed emulsion-coated
celluloid film sheets, which began to be used in the Edison experiments. The Eastman Company
later produced its own celluloid film which Dickson soon bought in large quantities. By 1890,
Dickson was joined by a new assistant, William Heise, and the two began to develop a machine
that exposed a strip of film in a horizontal- feed mechanism.
A prototype for the Kinetoscope was finally shown to a convention of the National Federation
of Women's Clubs on May 20, 1891. The device was both a camera and a peep-hole viewer, and
the film used was 18mm wide. According to David Robinson who describes the Kinetoscope in
his book, From Peep Show to Palace: The Birth of American Film, the film "ran horizontally
between two spools, at continuous speed. A rapidly moving shutter gave intermittent exposures
when the apparatus was used as a camera, and intermittent glimpses of the positive print when it
was used as a viewer-when the spectator looked through the same aperture that housed the
camera lens. "
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A p1atent for the Kinetograph (the camera) and the Kinetoscope (the viewer) was filed on
August 24, 1891. .
In this patent, the width of the film was ':
specified as 35mm, and allowance was
made for the possible use of a cylinder.
The Kinetoscope was apparently
completed by 1892. David Robinson
writes:
It consisted of an upright wooden cabinet,
18 in. x 27 in. x 4 ft. high, with a peephole
with magnifying lenses in the top ..
.Inside the box the film, in a continuous
band of approximately_ 5_0 _ feet, was
arranged around a series of spools. A
large, electrically driven sprocket wheel
at the top of the box engaged corresponding sprocket holes punched in
the edges of the film, which was thus drawn under the lens at a
continuous rate. Beneath the film was an electric lamp, ~d between the
lamp and the film a revolving shutter with a narrow slit. As each frame passed under the lens, the
shutter permitted a flash of light so brief that the frame . appeared to be frozen. This rapid series
of apparently still frames appeared, thanks to the persistence of vision phenomenon, as a moving
image. (From Peep Show to Palace, p. 34)
At this point, the horizontal-feed system had been changed to one in which the film was fed
vertically. The ~iewer would look into a peep-hole at the top of the cabinet in order to see the
image move. The first public demonstration of the Kinetoscope was held at the Brooklyn
Institute of Arts and Sciences on May 9, 1893.
The Frenchman Louis Lumiere is sometimes credited as the inventor of the motion picture
camera in 1895'. Other inventors preceded him, and Lumiere's achievement should always be
considered in the context of this creative period. Lumiere's portable, suitcasesized
cinematographe served as a camera, film processing unit, and projector all in one. Re could shoot
footage in the morning, process it in the afternoon, and then project it to an audience that
evening. His first film was the arrival of the express train at Ciotat. Other subjects included
workers leaving the factory gates, a child being fed by his parents, people enjoying a picnic along
a river. The ease of use and portability of his device soon made it the rage in France.
Cinematographes soon were in the hands of Lumiere followers all over the world, and the motion
picture era began. The American Thomas Alva Edison was a competitor ofLumiere1s, and his
invention predated Lumiere's. But Edison's motion picture camera was bulky and not portable.
The "promoter" in Lumiere made the difference in this competition. For a good description of
these historical developments, read Erik Barnouw's Documentary: A History of the NonFiction
Film, 2nd revised edition, New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1993.
Although the technology for making movies was invented in 1895, a significant realization of the
potential for film as art occurs with the appareance ofD. W. Griffith's 1915 full-length epic, Birth
of a Nation. In,this film Griffith utilized crosscutting (parallel editing) effectively, particularly at
the climax, when a number of editing tracks playoff one another. He also portrayed battle scenes
magnificently, with action ip one set of shots moving from left to right, while action in another set
of shots moves from right . to left. But Griffith's work is diminished severely by the overt racism
employed in characterizations and plotting and the positive portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan. As a
sidelight, readers interested in films about Griffith should check Good Morning, Babylon (1987),
directed by the Taviani brothers. It tells the story of two Italian immigrants who become
carpenters on the set of Griffith's epic film Intolerance (1916). The English actor Charles Dance
plays Griffith. Other well-known Griffith melodramas include Broken
. ~!g~~o.~~ (1~19) an4 Way Dow,!_Ea.s! (1?-20).
Figure 6: Original movie marquee promotional
poster for The Jazz Singer (1927).
Warner Bros.' and director Alan Crosland's The Jazz Singer (1927) is an historic milestone film and
cinematic landmark. [Most people associate this film with the advent of sound pictures, although Don
Juan (1926), a John Barrymore silent film, also had a synchronized score and sound effects.)
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Although it was not the first Vita phone (sound-on-disk) feature, it was the first feature-length
Hollywood "talkie" film in which spoken dialogue was used as part of the dramatic action. It is,
however, only part-talkie (25%) with sound-synchronized, vocal musical numbers and
aC,companiment. [The first "all-talking" (or all-dialogue) feature picture was Warners' experimental entry the gangster film Lights of New York (1928).]
The commercialization of sound-on-film, a'nd the transformation of the industry from silent films to talkies
became a reality with the success of this film. In fact, Jolson's next part-talkie follow-up film, Warners' and
director Lloyd Bacon's The Singing Fool (1928), was an even greater hit and a superior film.
Fig.7 (top): A special inVitation for the demonstration of a "new" ,
process called cinemascope.
Figs. 8 & 9 (above and right): Theaters advertised the word "Cinemascope"
sometimes using greater impact than the actual movie title.
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The introduction of CinemaScope was a critically important event in mm history. It was
the first viable weapon in the effort to get audiences
back into theatres. Seen above is the special
CinemaScope marquee mounted at the front of the
courtyard at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in
Hollywood.
Figure 10 (right): Original movie marquee poster For the
movie "The Robe"
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Fig.ll: A squeezed frame from The Robe which used the full 1.33:1 silent fIlm
a pertu re size
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, Fig. 12: The same frame projected. This picture was photographed from the screen in a preview at 20th
Century-Fox. The slight curvature of the 'Miracle Mirror screen is evident. The projected aspect ratio was
2.66:1
One of the earliest, and best, examples of CinemaScope, Walt Disney's 20,000 Leagues
Under The Sea (1954). The illustration below (figure 13) shows the four magnetic
soundtracks. With the addition of sound on the picture fIlm, CinemaScope's original 2.66:1
aspect ratio was reduced to 2.55:1. The squarer "FoxHole" sprocket holes were used to
allow for slightly wider magnetic stripes than the conventional Kodak or Bell & Howell
sprocket holes would allow. The narrow track carried the effects channel sound. Control
tones turned the auditorium amplifiers on and off as required because the narrow track
tended to be "hissy" when no sound was present.
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gure 13: A section of film from
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea,
1954
, Figure 14 (below): Original
theatrical marquee poster
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History Of Television
Television was not invented by a single inventor, instead many people working together
and alone,' contributed to the evolution of TV. '
1831: Joseph Henry's and Michael Faraday's work with electromagnetism makes possible
the era of electronic communication to begin.
1862: Abbe Giovanna Caselli invents his "pantelegraph" and becomes the first person to
transl1)it a still image over wires.
1873: Scientists May and Smith experiment with selenium and light, this opens the door for
inventors to transform images into electronic signals.
1876: Boston civil servant George Carey was thinking about complete television systems and in
1877 he put forward drawings for what he called a "selenium camera" that would allow people to
"see by electricity." Eugen Goldstein coins the term "cathode rays" to describe the light emitted
when an electric current was forced through a vacuum tube.
Late 1870's: Scientists and engineers like Paiva, Figuier, and Senlecq were
suggesting alternative designs for "telectroscopes."
1880: Inventors like Bell and Edison theorize about telephone devices that transmit image as
well as sound. Bell's photophone used light to transmit sound and he wanted to advance his
device for image sending. George Carey builds a rudimentary system with light-sensitive cells.
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ages over wires using a rotating metal disk technology calling it the
"electric telescope" with 18 lines of resolution.
1900: At the World's Fair in Paris, the 1st International Congress of
Electricity was held, where Russian, Constantin Perskyi made the
first known use of the word "television. "
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Soon after, the momentum shifted from ideas and discussions to
physical
development of TV systems. Two paths were followed:
13. Mechanical television - based on Nipkow's rotating disks, and
1. Electronic television - based on the cathode ray tube work done
independently in 1907 by English inventor A.A. Campbell-Swinton and
Russian scientist Boris Rosing.
1906: Lee de Forestinvents the "Audion" vacuum tube that proved
essential to electronics. The Audion was the first tube with the ablity
to amplify signals. Boris Rosing combines Nipkow's disk and a
cathode ray tube and builds the first working' mechanicallY system.
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1907: Campbell Swinton and Boris Rosing suggest using cathode ray
tubes to transmit images - independent of each other, they both
develop electronic scanning methods of reproducing images.
American Charles Jenkins and Scotsman John Baird followed the mechanical model while
Philo Farnsworth, working independently in San Francisco, and . Russian emigre Vladimir
Zworkin, working for Westinghouse and later ReA, advanced the electronic model.
1923: Vladimir Zworykin patents his iconscope a TV camera tube
based on Campbell Swinton's ideas. The iconscope, which he called
an "electric eye" becomes the cornerstone for further television
development. He later develops the kinescope for picture display.
1924 - 1925: American Charles Jenkins and John Baird
from Scotland, each demonstrate the mechanical
transmissions of images over wire circuits. Photo Left:
Jenkin's Radiovisor Model 100 circa 1931, sold as a
kit. Baird becomes the first person to transmit moving
silhouette images using a mechanical system based
on Nipkow's disk (fig.1S left). Vladimir
Zworykinpatents a colorelevision system.
1926: John Baird operates a 30 lines of resolution system at S
frames per second.
1927: Bell Telephone and the U.S. Department of Commerce conduct
the first long distance use of TV, between Washington D.C. and New
York City on April 9th. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover
commented, "Today we have, in a sense, the transmission of sight for
the first time in the world's history. Human genius has now
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destroyed the impediment of distance in a new respect, and in a manner hitherto
unknown." Philo Farnsworth files for a patent on the first complete electronic television
system, which he called the Image Dissector.
1928: The Federal Radio Commission issues the first television
license (W3XK) to Charles Jenkins.
1929: Vladimir Zworykin demonstrates the first practical electronic
system for both the transmission and reception of images using his
new kinescope tube. John Baird opens the first TV studio, however,
the image quality was poor.
1930: Charles Jenkins broadcasts the first TV commercial. The BSC
begins regular TV transmissions.
1933: Iowa State University (W9XK) starts broadcasting twice
weekly television programs in cooperation with radio station WSUI.
1936: About 200 hundred television sets are in use world-wide. The
introduction of coaxial cable, which is a pure copper or copper-coated
wire surrounded by insulation and an aluminum covering. These cables
were arid are used to transmit television, telephone and data signals.
The 1st "experimental" coaxial cable lines were laid by AT&T between
New York and Philadelphia in 1936. The first "regular" installation
connected Minneapolis and Stevens Point, WI in 1941. The original L1
coaxial-cable system could carry 480 telephone conversations or one
television program. By the 1970's, L5 systems could carry 132,000
calls or more than 200 television programs.
1937: CBS begins TV development. The BBC begins high definition
broadcasts in London. Brothers and Stanford researchers Russell and
Sigurd Varian introduced the Klystron in. A Klystron is a high-frequency
amplifier for generating microwaves. It is considered the technology that
makes UHF-TV possible because it gives the ability to generate the
high power required in this spectrum.
1939: Vladimir Zworykin and RCA conduct experimentally broadcasts
from the Empire State Building. Television was demonstrated at the
New York World's Fair and the San Francisco Golden Gate International
Exposition. ReA's David Sarnoff used his company's exhibit at the 1939
World's Fair as a showcase for the 1st Presidential speech (Roosevelt)
on television and to introduce RCA's new line of television receivers some of which had to be coupled with a radio if you wanted to hear
sound. The Dumont company starts making tv sets.
1941: The FCC releases the NTSC
standard for black and white TV.
1943: Vladimir Zworykin developed a better
camera ube - the Orthicon. The Orthicon
(fig.16 Left) had enough light sensitivity to
record
outdoor
events at
oldmark, working for CBS, demonstrated, his color television system to the
FCC. His system produced color pictures by having a red-blue-green
wheel spin in front of a cathode ray tube. This mechanical means Of
producing a color picture was used in 1949 to broadcast medical
procedures from Pennsylvania and Atlantic City hospitals. In Atlantic City,
viewers could come to the convention center to see broadcasts of
operations. Reports from the time noted that the realism of seeing surgery
in color caused more than a few viewers to faint. Although Goldmark's
mechanical system was eventually replaced by an electronic system he is
recognized as the first to introduce a broadcasting color television system.
1948: Cable television is introduced in Pennsylvania as a means of
bringing television to rural areas. A patent was granted to Louis W.
Parker for a low-cost television receiver. One million homes in the
United States have television sets.
1950: The FCC approves the first color television standard which is
replaced by a second in 1953. Vladimir Zworykin developed a better
camera tube - the Vidicon.
__ .-!_9~6=-.~mp_~x intr:oduqt~_ tbe_ fLrsLpracticaL videotape_system of broadcast quality.
1956: Robert Adler invents the first practical remote control called the Zenith Space
Commander, proceeded by wired remotes and units that failed in sunlight.
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1962: The All Channel Receiver Act requires that UHF tuners (channels
14 to 83) be
included in all sets.
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1962: AT&T launches Telstar, the first satellite to carry TV broadcasts broadcasts , are now internationally relayed.
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1997-1999: Electronic manufacturers begin abandoning the laserdisc format with
Pioneer being the last company to support it with only one combination DVDLaserdisc
paler.
2000 - present: the popularity of HDTV increases. Some sets are EDTV and do not
supply true HDTV's full resolution of 720p and 1080i.