The following will show five pioneering moments in early cinema pre-1930s including Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope, the first narrative film, D.W. Griffiths the competitve director and two of the first most famous silent movie stars, Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin.
The First Moving Picture
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| Thomas Alva Edison February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931 |
It is hard to believe that the first movie was in the form of silent moving images in a wooden box which could only be watched by one person at a time at funfairs. The Kinetoscope was created by an American born inventor Thomas Alva Edison (Thomas_Edison) and launched in 1894 in New York and he opened the first filming studio costing $700 but soon made this back by charging $200 per kinetoscope which became popular filling arcades. The video below shows the inside workings of the Kinetoscope and 'The Serpertine Dancer' movie. It was filmed on a single reel, approximately 50 feet long and lasting 1 minute on 35mm film still industry standard today. The Lumiere Brothers (Lumiere Brothers), Paris were the first to project images onto a projection screen in 1895.
Source : http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011k4vx
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0IJZAAAAMAAJ&dq=the%20cinema%20book%2C%20cook%20and%20bernink&source=gbs_book_other_versions (Page 1)
The First Narrative Film
The Great Train Robbery was the first narrative film in 1903, a milestone in film history. It was produced by the Edison Company, directed and photographed by Edwin S. Porter (Edwin S Porter). The film was 10 minutes long with 14 scenes, shot at various locations in New Jersey including Edison’s film studio. It was based on a true event in 1900, with the Butch Cassidy 'Hole in the Wall' gang who stopped a train in Wyoming, Dick Turpin style forcing the uncoupling of the carriage with the loot, escaping with $5,000. This film used many new techniques for the first time including ‘parallel editing, minor camera movement, location shooting and less staged camera placement. The film also included jump-cuts, cross-cuts, sophisticated editing techniques, showing 2 separate lines of action or events happening continuously at identical times but in different places.' (Film Review)
Sources : http://www.filmsite.org/grea.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011k4vx
Competitive Directors
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| D.W. Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) |
D.W. Griffith (D W Griffith) was the most competitive director of his time who always wanted to be the first to create any new innovations in filmmaking. Griffith was an unsuccessful stage actor and playwright who stumbled into directing in 1908 when a director at Biograph Films never turned up and Griffith shot his first film 'The Adventures of Dolly'. At Biograph, Griffith was restricted to 12 minute films and was jealous when Cecil B DeMille (Cecil B DeMille), Hollywood's famous director made the first feature length film of 80 minutes,'The Squaw Man' in 1913 (BBC2: The Birth of Hollywood).
In 1915, Griffith filmed his first feature length film 'Judith of Bethulia' but is more famous for the very controversial racist film. 'Birth of a Nation' in 1915. At 3 hours long, it was based on the 'The Clansman' by Thomas Dixon (The Clansman), the American Civil War and slavery which caused a huge outcry in the African American community being left feeling 'uncounted' and it led the to revival of the Kuk Klux Klan which was dorment for a decade.
Sources :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011k4vx
http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_clansman.html?id=5vbDqpn8maoC&redir_esc=y
http://www.filmsite.org/birt.html
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| Mary Pickford (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979) |
The first famous silent film actor was Mary Pickford who helped to shape the film industry. In 1909, she started work with Biograph in New York where she became famous but no one knew her name, she was only known as the 'Biograph Girl'. Mary was quite a good business women and knew she should be paid more money ($5 per day) and recognition. Biograph did not agree and in 1911, Carl Laemmle tempted her away to Independent Movies receiving more money and recognition on all advertising (BBC2 : The Birth of Hollywood). In 1910, D.W.Griffiths took her to Hollywood with him and made 42 films together paying her $10 per day which included the 'New York Hat' (1912) which gave us some of the first close-up shots.
Source : http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011k4vx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Pickford
Charlie Chaplin
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| Charlie Chaplin (16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977) |
Charlie Chaplin must have been the most famous silent movie actor pre-1930s with his slapslick comical skits and his baggy pants, big shoes, derby hat, moustache and twirling walking stick which although was created for a previous film, Chaplin used the same costume for 'The Tramp' in 1914 (The_Tramp). Chaplin was not happy with having no creative control as actors were seen as expendable in those days. So in 1919, Chaplin, along with D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, and her husband to be Douglas Fairbanks made history by forming the independent film production company, United Artists giving them creative control of their movies and became world famous millionaires (BBC2 : The Birth of Hollywood).
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