Cinema History, Part TwoThe Wizard and The Magician

Edward Bowen

Introduction to Motion Pictures

History of Motion PicturesThomas Edison, "The Wizard of Menlo Park,” inventor of the electric light, the phonograph, and the movies.

True of False?

History of Motion Pictures1888 – January. Louis Le Prince, an French inventor who also worked in the United Kingdom and the United States, is granted an American patent for a 16 lens combination motion picture camera and projector. He is refused a patent for a single-lens system due to an “interfering previous patent.”

History of Motion Pictures1888 - On October 8, Thomas Edison, "The Wizard of Menlo Park,” inventor of the electric light and the phonograph, announces his plans for a moving picture device.

"I am experimenting upon an instrument which does for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear, which is the recording and reproduction of things in motion ...."--Thomas A. Edison, 1888

History of Motion Pictures1888 - On October 8, Thomas Edison, "The Wizard of Menlo Park,” inventor of the electric light and the phonograph, announces his plans for a moving picture device. He assigns the task to W.K.L Dickson.

History of Motion Pictures1888 - On October 14, Louis Le Prince films moving picture sequences using a single lens camera and Eastman’s paper film. They were publicly exhibited but not distributed.

History of Motion Pictures1888 - On October 14, Louis Le Prince films moving picture sequences using a single lens camera and Eastman’s paper film. They were publicly exhibited but not distributed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkUKC7xCO2Ahttp://youtu.be/L7saH58usq4

History of Motion Pictures1890 – On September 16, Louis Le Prince disappears while traveling by train and is never seen again. He was about to patent his 1889 projector in the UK and then leave Europe for his scheduled New York official exhibition.

History of Motion Pictures1891 – On August 24, Edison is granted patents for the Kinetograph, a motion camera …

There seems to no longer be an “interferring patent.”

History of Motion Pictures1891 – On August 24, Edison is granted patents for the Kinetograph, a motion camera … and the Kinetoscope, a peep show device for viewing the motion pictures.

History of Motion Pictures1891 – On August 24, Edison is granted patents for the Kinetograph, a motion camera, and the Kinetoscope, a peep show device for viewing the motion pictures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRIjUYh3MEs

History of Motion Pictures1891 – Mira Edison’s Women’s Clubs of America members are shown what Edison and historians will claim as the first true moving picture.•Edison: “Dickson Greeting”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVintjK5lKU

History of Motion Pictures1892 – The first full fledged movie studio, the Black Maria, is built as W.K.L. Dickson and Edison increase their movie output.

History of Motion Pictures1892 – The first full fledged movie studio, the Black Maria, is built as W.K.L. Dickson and Edison increase their movie output.

http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/entertainment/watch/v16138548dfCbP8TH

History of Motion Pictures1894 – Edison and Dickson take their invention, the Kinetograph, public and on April 14th the first “Kinetoscope Parlor” opens on Broadway in New York City. Edison and Dickson produce over 75 peepshow snippets for show this year.

History of Motion Pictures1894 –Edison: “The Sneeze” “Sandow” “Carmencita” “Leonard-Cushing Fight” “The Boxing Cats” “Sioux Ghost Dance” “Buffalo Dance” “Bucking Bronco” “Annie Oakley” “Imperial Japanese Dance”

History of Motion PicturesThomas Edison - The Films (1891 – 1918)

http://youtu.be/jBoyzwLBXpU Edison.mov

History of Motion Pictures1895 – French brothers Auguste and Louis Lumiere invent a hand-cranked camera and projector called “the cinematograph.” This invention showed films projected on a large screen for a sizeable audience and premiered at a Paris café in December 1895.

"The cinema is an invention without a future."-- Louis Lumiere

History of Motion PicturesAuguste and Louis Lumière – The CinematographeFilms (1895)

http://youtu.be/w1X-if5WPNU

History of Motion PicturesAuguste and Louis Lumière – The CinematographeFilms (1895)

History of Motion PicturesAuguste and Louis Lumière – The CinematographeFilms (1895)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrhVvp2IfYA

History of Motion PicturesAuguste and Louis Lumière – The CinematographePatrice Leconte (1995)

Lumière and Company - Patrice Leconte http://youtu.be/TqF_F386vNA

History of Motion PicturesAuguste and Louis Lumière – The CinematographeJohn Boorman (1995)

Lumière and Company - John Boorman http://youtu.be/WwXAWL11RA0

History of Motion PicturesAuguste and Louis Lumière – The CinematographeYusuf Shahin (1995)

Lumière and Company - Yusuf Shahin http://youtu.be/_sAaeeaZfQU

History of Motion PicturesAuguste and Louis Lumière – The CinematographeTheodoros Angelopoulos (1995)

Lumière and Company - Theodoros Angelopoulos http://youtu.be/-fomzTv49c0

History of Motion PicturesAuguste and Louis Lumière – The CinematographeLiv Ullmann (1995)

Lumière and Company - Liv Ullmann http://youtu.be/vNmOXkZo6yM

History of Motion PicturesAuguste and Louis Lumière – The CinematographeZhang Yimou (1995)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shjoomJXX_s

History of Motion Pictures1896 - Edison acquires the rights to a motion picture projection device, the Phantoscope, created by C. Francis Jenkins and Thomas Armat in 1895. He tweaks it and changes the name to Vitascope, which debuts in New York City on April 23, 1896.

History of Motion Pictures1896 - Edison’s Kinetoscope production, “The Kiss,” featuring popular stage star May Irwin, becomes the first screen kiss in cinematic history and for the first time cries for film censorship arise.•Edison: “The Kiss” “Watermelon Eating Contest” “A Morning Bath”

History of Motion Pictures1896 - Edison’s Kinetoscope production, “The Kiss,” featuring popular stage star May Irwin, becomes the first screen kiss in cinematic history and for the first time cries for film censorship arise.•Edison: “Watermelon Eating Contest” “A Morning Bath”•Lumiere: “Leaving Jerusalem by Railway” “Demolition of a Wall”

History of Motion Pictures1896 - Edison’s Kinetoscope production, “The Kiss,” featuring popular stage star May Irwin, becomes the first screen kiss in cinematic history and for the first time cries for film censorship arise.•Edison: “Watermelon Eating Contest” “A Morning Bath”•Lumiere: “Leaving Jerusalem by Railway” “Demolition of a Wall”•Georges Melies’s First Films: Subjects: Trick Films and Actualities

History of Motion PicturesGeorges Meiles – The First Auteur (1890-1902)

http://youtu.be/7_Q0m0ouIWw

History of Motion Pictures1897 – Entrepreneurs realize the potential of film and begin making the first commercials and product placements.

Edison: “Admiral Cigarette” Subjects: Cuban War

http://youtu.be/_KmjYs1UcaY

History of Motion Pictures1900 – Edison hires Edwin S. Porter, the man who takes films from short scenes to an actual narrative with a beginning, middle and end. •Edison subjects: Boar War, Pan-American Exposition, Eiffel Tower, Trick Films, “Watermelon Eating Contest (Remake)”

History of Motion Pictures1900 – Edison hires Edwin S. Porter, the man who takes films from short scenes to an actual narrative with a beginning, middle and end. •Edison subjects: Boar War, Pan-Amercian Exposition, Eiffel Tower, Trick Films, “Watermelon Eating Contest (Remake)”•Melies: “The One-Man Band” “The Triple Conjurer and the Living Head”

History of Motion Pictures1901 – Edison’s first studio, the Black Maria, shuts down. •Edison subjects: President McKinley

History of Motion Pictures1902  •Edison: “Jack and the Beanstalk.” Porter strings together several scenes to tell a story.

History of Motion Pictures1902  •Edison: “Jack and the Beanstalk.” Porter strings together several scenes to tell a story.

•Melies had done this in 1899.

History of Motion Pictures1902  •Melies: “A Trip to the Moon”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wdEnlOcqNA

History of Motion Pictures1902  •Melies: “A Trip to the Moon”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CoOdCV18Vo

History of Motion Pictures1903 – The Black Maria is demolished.•Edison: “Life of an American Fireman”•Edison and Porter’s 12 minute film “The Great Train Robbery” becomes America’s first blockbuster film.

History of Motion PicturesThomas Edison, Edwin S. Porter – “Life of an American

Fireman” and “The Great Train Robbery” (1903)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmsCtNq29Go

History of Motion PicturesGeorges Melies - Over 500 films from 1896 to 1914

http://youtu.be/Y04KFNBC_5o

History of Motion Pictures“Hugo” 2011

http://youtu.be/Y04KFNBC_5o

History of Motion Pictures• 1904 Edison: “Cohen’s Fire Sale”

History of Motion Pictures1905 – Successful films make possible the development of store front movie theaters. By 1906 there are between four and five thousand Nickelodeons across the country, entertaining 2 million customers a day. •Edison: “The Watermelon Patch” “Laughing Gas”

History of Motion Pictures1908 – Edison founds and heads the Motion Picture Patents Company, known as “the Trust.” By 1910 the Trust controls half of all U.S. theaters.

http://mtmedia.mtsu.edu:8888/ebowen/MAMS EP 1 Edison Trust.mov

History of Motion Pictures1908 – Edison founds and heads the Motion Picture Patents Company, known as “the Trust.” By 1910 the Trust controls half of all U.S. theaters. Nickelodeon” (1976) Peter Bogdanovich

http://mtmedia.mtsu.edu:8888/ebowen/Nickelodeon 1910 Patents Spy.mov

History of Motion Pictures1908 – Edison founds and heads the Motion Picture Patents Company, known as “the Trust.” By 1910 the Trust controls half of all U.S. theaters. Nickelodeon” (1976) Peter Bogdanovich

http://mtmedia.mtsu.edu:8888/ebowen/Nickelodeon 1910 Story Conference.mov

History of Motion Pictures1908 – Edison founds and heads the Motion Picture Patents Company, known as “the Trust.” By 1910 the Trust controls half of all U.S. theaters. Nickelodeon” (1976) Peter Bogdanovich

http://mtmedia.mtsu.edu:8888/ebowen/Nickelodeon 1910 German Bage.mov