Preconditions for Live-Action Moving Pictures (“Movies”) COM 320, History of Film

Preconditions for Live-Action Movies 1. Understanding the Persistence of Vision phenomenon

Preconditions for Live-Action Movies 1. Understanding the Persistence of Vision phenomenon 2. Photography (rather than hand-drawn images)

Preconditions for Live-Action Movies 1. Understanding the Persistence of Vision phenomenon 2. Photography (rather than hand-drawn images) 3. A short exposure time

Preconditions for Live-Action Movies 1. Understanding the Persistence of Vision phenomenon 2. Photography (rather than hand-drawn images) 3. A short exposure time 4. Ability to move film intermittently

Preconditions for Live-Action Movies 1. Understanding the Persistence of Vision phenomenon 2. Photography (rather than hand-drawn images) 3. A short exposure time 4. Ability to move film intermittently 5. A suitable film base

1. Understanding the Persistence of Vision phenomenon (Roget, Plateau, Wheatstone, Faraday). -We “lose sight of the gaps” between images, due to an interaction of functions of the eye’s retina and the brain (the “phi” phenomenon) -A good understanding of this, including an exploration of how many images per second are necessary to see smooth movement, and how separated the images should be, was achieved through experimentation with stroboscopic “toys.” Roget Faraday Plateau Wheatstone

Photography (to replace hand-drawn images of the stroboscopic toys). 2. Photography (to replace hand-drawn images of the stroboscopic toys). -Nicephore Niepce and Louis Daguerre (France) signed a contract for joint work in 1829, but Niepce died four years later. Daguerre continued the work, displaying his “daguerreotype” (an irreproducible positive picture on silvered copper plate) to the Paris Academy of Science in 1839. Niepce Daguerre

Photography (to replace hand-drawn images of the stroboscopic toys). 2. Photography (to replace hand-drawn images of the stroboscopic toys). Niepce 1826 photograph by Niepce: “View from the Window at Le Gras” 9

Photography (to replace hand-drawn images of the stroboscopic toys). 2. Photography (to replace hand-drawn images of the stroboscopic toys). Daguerre Daguerreotype of Edgar Allen Poe, 1848 10

2. Photography (to replace hand-drawn images of the stroboscopic toys). - Continued -Alternative forms were also introduced in 1839--Bayard’s paper positives, and William Henry Fox Talbot’s calotypes (which featured a paper negative, with exposure time down to about 30 sec.).

2. Photography (to replace hand-drawn images of the stroboscopic toys). - Continued -All these followed 18th century experiments with photosensitive silver chloride, coated on paper; the images were not permanent (Thomas Wedgwood, Sir Humphry Davy)

A shortened exposure time. 3. -Even the “wet collodion” process used by famed American Civil War photographer Matthew Brady (invented by Frederick Scott Archer, 1851, Great Britain) needed several seconds of exposure time

U.S. Civil War photography by Matthew Brady Confederate dead, Fredericksburg

U.S. Civil War photography by Matthew Brady

U.S. Civil War photography by Matthew Brady Action at Fredericksburg

The “Brady Stand”--Brady did not invent it, but it bears his name. . .

A shortened exposure time. -Continued 3. In 1871, the gelatin bromide process (invented by British doctor Richard Leach Maddox) brought exposure times down to a fraction of a second—”by mixing a solution of gelatin with cadmium bromide and silver nitrate, an emulsion of silver bromide was formed, suspended in the gelatin” (Rawlence, 1990) which was coated on glass or paper.

4. Ability to move film intermittently, rather than continuously, across a focal plane, in order to capture a crisp (not blurred) fraction-of-a-second image. -Many inventors worked on this problem, including Augustin LePrince. (Indeed, he may have been murdered for it– see Rawlence’s book The Missing Reel.)

4. Ability to move film intermittently, rather than continuously, across a focal plane, in order to capture a crisp (not blurred) fraction-of-a-second image. -Many inventors worked on this problem, including Augustin LePrince. (Indeed, he may have been murdered for it– see Rawlence’s book The Missing Reel.)

5. A suitable film base, strong yet flexible, to accommodate this intermittent movement. * - George Eastman (U.S.) in 1885 developed a paper-roll film—gelatin layer soaked in water and stripped off paper after exposure, allowing for mounting on glass or thick gelatin for printing.

5. A suitable film base, strong yet flexible, to accommodate this intermittent movement. -Continued. -Celluloid was invented in the U.S. by John Hyatt, who was trying to win a $10,000 award for finding a substitute for ivory in making billiard balls. He failed to win the award, but received a patent in 1870. It was used for film by 1889. Celluloid, “originally the trade name and now the common name of a synthetic plastic made by mixing pyroxylin, or cellulose nitrate, with pigments and fillers in a solution of camphor in alcohol” (Encarta Encyclopedia). [Eventually, celluloid’s disadvantages--high flammability (it explodes!) and reactivity (it falls apart over time)-- resulted in its replacement by cellulose acetate in the mid-1900's.]

Again, to summarize… Preconditions for Live-Action Movies Again, to summarize… Preconditions for Live-Action Movies..all these things had to come together for movies to exist: 1. Understanding the Persistence of Vision phenomenon 2. Photography (rather than hand-drawn images) 3. A short exposure time 4. Ability to move film intermittently 5. A suitable film base

So: Who invented movies?

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