2012, 04-28:
Report on: PART 1 of the HISTORY of MOVING-IMAGES + the HOW &
“WHY” of FILM FESTIVALS =
Report # 02 on 28th CHICAGO LATINO FILM FESTIVAL
... At this time, using that Festival as a sort of “centerpiece”, I want to give you some information on HOW & “WHY” such Festivals are put-on & “handled”-- preceded (herein) by the “background” information offering =
A SHORT HISTORY OF “MOVING” IMAGES
... The world of entertainment goes back to dancing and theater performances, such as the performance of plays by
the ancient Greeks in amphitheaters...
... Eventually, technology started developing to “capture” such story-telling
elements:
...
Way back in 180 AD, a
Chinese man named TING HUAN invented a device we now call a “zoetrope”: vertical slits were cut in the side of a
cylinder. The cylinder’s inner surface
had a band of sequenced pictures. When
the outer section turned (which was accomplished by hot air convection),
looking thru the moving slits gave the impression of “MOVING” pictures...
... After the invention of
the “pinhole” camera, there
eventually came what was called “camera OBSCURA” (mentioned as a concept way
back in 1021 AD) which allowed for
the PROJECTION of images in “real time”...
... People were able to see more “modern” types of MOVING images
via revolving drums and disks thanks to various simultaneous independent
inventions: the “Phenakistoscope”
spindle viewer by JOSEPH PLATEAU in Belgium in 1832 (wherein
there was a disc featuring radial slits which was turned while images were viewed on a separate rotating wheel; see the images below)...
... And, the so-called “Styroboscope” by
Austrian SIMON
VON STAMPFER; & the “modern” version of what we now call a “zoetrope”
by British mathematician WILLIAM HORNER in 1833...
... In the 1860’s, an “updated” but crude “magic
lantern” zoetrope (eventually,
described as a “wheel of life”) was demonstrated. (Below, you can see a version of a
zoetrope)..
. There was a famous “study” done on June 19, 1872 to see whether a horse had
ALL its legs off the ground simultaneously
when running. That test (sponsored by
Leland Stanford) was done in front of the press in Palo Alto, California, by
English photographer EDWEARD MUYBRIDGE (shown below) who used his invention of 24 stereoscopic cameras tripped in sequence
via wires by the running horse...
... By the 1880’s, an improved version of the zoetrope called
a “praxinoscope”
was shown to the public... In 1882, to study locomotion, Frenchman ÉTIENNE-JULES MAREY invented the “chronophotographic
gun” which could shoot 12 consecutive frames a second, as shown
below in his photo of flying pelicans...
... Have you ever heard of LOUIS AIMÉ AUGUSTIN LE
PRINCE? This
Frenchman (shown in a photo below) is considered by many to be the real FATHER
of motion pictures. Born in
1841, he went to the U.S. in 1881 & patented a 16-lens camera
that could “capture” MOTION (although the images tended to “jump”
around)...
... In 1888,
he went to work in Leeds, England, & developed a single-lens camera
which used paper film from George Eastman. That invention helped produce what we know
today as “celluloid” film, which he used to film MOVING
picture images in an 1888 creation called “Roundhay
Garden Scenes”, a scene (-- the first still-existing motion
picture image --) of which is shown below...
(... Sadly,
this pioneer suddenly disappeared under mysterious circumstances from a
train in September, 1890, as he was preparing for a trip to PATENT his
new camera and projector inventions... )
... On June 21, 1889, a patent for a “chronophotographic” camera
was issued to Englishman WILLIAM FRIESE-GREENE, which was supposedly
able to film 10 photos per second using a celluloid
film. (There’s a photo of him below)...
... Around a year later, he sent a
newspaper writeup about his invention
to American THOMAS
ALVA EDISON, whose company was developing a motion picture system
called the “Kinetoscope”...
... Edison’s business (in the form of assistant
WILLIAM. K.
L. DICKSON – pictured below -- who worked under Edison’s direction) produced
the first completely successful filming device, which was patented in 1891
under the name “Kinetograph”...
... The camera used a transparent 35mm-wide
celluloid strip. Instead of its original
horizontal-feed system, a change was made so the filmstrip was fed vertically. As seen in the image below, a person would
view the moving image by looking down a peep-hole
located at the top of the cabinet.
... The first public
demonstration of the Kinetoscope was held at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and
Sciences on May 9, 1893...
... The world’s first commercial film THEATER occurred in CHICAGO, when the afore-mentioned EDWEARD
MUYBRIDGE used
his “zoopraxiscope” invention at the 1893 World Columbian Exposition to show a paying public his moving
pictures...
... The coin-operated Edison “Kinetoscope”
viewing device by DICKSON (which was shown by Edison at the same Chicago
WORLD’S FAIR) was not a commercial success, & CHARLES FRANCIS JENKINS demonstrated his own
projector invention, the “Phantascope”, in June of 1894...
... The first real “screening” of what we now think of as “FILM” occurred on
February 5, 1894 in New York City,
when French photographer JEAN AIMÉ "ACME" LE ROY used the
occasion of his 40th birthday to show 20 or so men in show business
his "Marvellous Cinematograph" invention...
... That brings us to December, 1895, & France’s LUMIÈRE brothers, LOUIS & AUGUSTE (shown in a photo below)...
... They showed their invention of a device they called
the “Cinématographe”
which took, printed & projected film (as shown in images below)...
... The Lumières found a ready audience
for their work (including at viewing PARLORS set up around Europe), & they kept
producing short films, such as one (shown below) of a group of photographers
arriving at a convention in
Neuville, and another of people riding in horse-drawn wagons near Lyon’s La Place
de Cordeliers (also shown below)...
... Edison’s company (which had initially been “indifferent”
towards projectors) in time created its OWN form of projector (as shown
in a 1913 version below), including one called a “Vitascope”...
... And, other people also experimented with their
individual inventions (some of which are shown below)...
... As time went on, it became “standard” to use the Lumière projection speed
of 16-frames-per-second, linked with
the 35mm width of Edison’s film...
... In November of 1895, the world’s first real public
PRESENTATION of a “full” motion-picture film occurred in BERLIN,
Germany, when MAX
& EMIL SKLADANOWSKY used their flicker-free duplex-construction
“Bioscop”
projector to conduct the production...
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The “parlors” showing films eventually expanded into so-called “NICKELODEONS”, which were permanent venues (usually
store-front theaters) for showing movies (usually, at a cost of a nickel = 5
cents each, hence the name)...
... They, and Vaudeville live-entertainment theaters
which also showed movies, were the
main outlets exhibiting films to the public from around 1900-1914...
... In time, movies became
more and more wide-ranging in their
scope, utilizing multiple cameras, longer run times, and more sophisticated
techniques (which eventually led to a wider public interest in films):
... One of the pioneers in techniques was French illusionist GEORGES MÉLIÈS (the main subject of Scorsese’s “HUGO”
film; a photo of him is shown below)...
... Georges
happened to be present at the first (Dec. 28, 1895) public screening in Paris
of the Lumière’s films. He offered to buy a CAMERA from them. They refused, so he bought an “Animatograph” film projector from its British
inventor ROBERT
W. PAUL, & Georges used it to get ideas for designing & building
his OWN equipment...
... He was a pacesetter in SPECIAL EFFECTS. For example, in 1896, he discovered
the effect called the “STOP-TRICK” by accident (wherein
you film an object, turn off the camera, REMOVE the object, & restart
the camera, making the object appear to have “DISAPPEARED” in front of
your eyes)...
... Méliès was one of the first
directors to use time-lapse photography, multiple exposures, dissolves,
and hand-colored frames...
... As shown by his 1896 film “Le Manoir du Diable”, he was a leader
in making “HORROR” films...
And, he also pioneered in SCIENCE-FICTION / FANTASY movies,
as shown by his classic 1902 film “A
Trip To the Moon” & his 1904 “The
Impossible Voyage”...
... In 1903, British director FRANK MOTTERSHAW released a film called “A Daring Daylight Burglary”. It was innovative in the way it tracked a
single action thru various changing
LOCATIONS for its action...
... That film influenced
the far better-known 1903 American film
called “The Great Train Robbery” starring BRONCHO BILLY ANDERSON (& there’s a poster &
an image from the movie shown below)...
... Along with later filming documentaries, EDWIN S. PORTER directed
that film-- which is considered a “milestone”
because of the way it utilized techniques such as double exposures, cross-cutting, camera movement, composite editing, some hand-colored scenes in certain
prints, & shooting “on LOCATION” (in
Milltown, New Jersey)...
... By 1908, American director D. W. GRIFFITH (shown in a photo below) was making movies for the “Biograph”
company, including the first “gangster”
movie, “The Musketeers of Pig Alley” (1912)...
... In time, he made long-length
epic films such as the first “blockbuster” movie, “The Birth of a Nation” (1915),
“Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages” (1916),
& “Broken Blossoms” (1919)...
... Griffith’s films showed
his ability to use film as an “expressive language”
(utilizing such methods as special lighting & camera placement)...
His work helped move the public towards seeing movies as an ART form rather than just mere “entertainment”...
... The growth of appreciation for films helped lead to the growth of groups who gathered to value films, & that eventually led
to Film FESTIVALS-- but, that part of the “story” will be
found in the upcoming separate PART 2 of this Report...
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