The history of European cinema EARLY PIONEERS

„everyday” characters Dialogue packed A guess-game Somewhat slower Purple Noon The Talented Mr. Ripley „everyday” characters Dialogue packed A guess-game Somewhat slower Stars Action packed Entertainment Fast, dynamic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GkuhBEA-Lw

European film Mainstream Hollywood Seen as art National cinema, smaller schools Small home market Small to middle-sized corporations Small-scale, low budget marketing Low volume Nationwide distribution Seen as entertainment Powerfully capitalized industry Large home market Large corporations with shares in all kinds of leisure activities Large-scale marketing High volume Worldwide distribution

The European film pioneers (1895-1910) Europeans were the pioneers of the motion picture industry, with several innovative engineers and artists Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince – Roundhay Garden Scene is believed to be the oldest surviving film in existence (1888) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knD2EhjGwWI

The Skladanowsky brothers Max and Emil Skladanowsky: they invented the bioscop, an early movie projector. They used it to display the first moving picture show to a paying audience on 1 November 1895. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NG39MDk0KM Between the years 1895 and 1905, the brothers directed at least 25 to 30 short movies. In 1995, the German filmmaker Wim Wenders directed a drama documentary film Die Gebrüder Skladanowsky 

The Lumière brothers The Lumière brothers established the cinematograph, which initiated the silent film era, a period where European cinema was a major commercial success.  The Lumières held their first private screening of projected motion pictures in 1895. This first screening on 22 March 1895 took place in Paris, at the "Society for the Development of the National Industry", in front of an audience of 200 people. The main focus of this conference by Louis Lumière were the recent developments in the photograph industry, mainly the research on polychromy (colour photography). It was much to Lumière's surprise that the moving black-and-white images retained more attention than the coloured stills photographs

The Lumière brothers The Lumières gave their first paid public screening on 28 December 1895, at Salon Indien du Grand Café in Paris. This history-making presentation featured 10 short films, including their first film: Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nj0vEO4Q6s

Georges Méliès On 28 December 1895, Méliès attended a special private demonstration of the Lumières brothers’ cinematograph Méliès immediately offered the Lumières 10,000 francs for one of their machines; the Lumières refused, anxious to keep a close control on their invention and to emphasize the scientific nature of the device. Méliès, intent on finding a film projector turned elsewhere; numerous other inventors in Europe and America were experimenting with machines similar to the Lumières' invention, albeit at a less technically sophisticated level. Finally he ended up buying an animatiograph from Robert W. Paul. Méliès modified the machine so that it would serve as a film camera. As raw film stock and film processing labs were not yet available in Paris, Méliès purchased unperforated film in London, and personally developed and printed his films through trial and error.

Georges Méliès In total, Méliès made more than 500 films He covered every genre of film: Lumière-like documentaries, comedies, historical reconstructions, dramas, magic tricks, and „fairy stories” In May 1902, Méliès made the film A Trip to the Moon. At 14 minutes, it was Méliès' longest film up to that date and cost 10,000 francs to produce. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_KOpg-zNjA In the film, Méliès stars as Professor Barbenfouillis, a character similar to the astronomer he played in The Astronomer's Dream in 1898. Professor Barbenfouillis is the President of the Astronomer's Club and proposes an expedition to the Moon. A space vehicle in the form of a large artillery shell is built in his laboratory, and he uses it to launch six men (including himself) on a voyage to the Moon. The vehicle is shot out of a large cannon into space and hits the Man in the Moon in the eye. The group explores the Moon's surface before going to sleep. As they dream, they are observed by the Moon goddess Phoebe, played by Bleuette Bernon, who causes it to snow. Later, while underground, they are attacked and captured by a group of Moon aliens, played by acrobats from the Folies Bergère. Taken before the alien king, they manage to escape and are chased back to their spaceship. Then, with the aid of a rope attached to the spaceship, the men, along with an alien, fall from the Moon back to Earth, landing in the ocean (where a superimposed fish tank creates the illusion of the deep ocean). Eventually the spaceship is towed ashore and the returning adventurers are celebrated by the townspeople.

Georges Méliès vs the Lumière brothers Méliès directed over 500 films between 1896 and 1913, ranging in length from one to forty minutes. In subject matter, these films are often similar to the magic theatre shows that Méliès had been doing, containing "tricks" and impossible events, such as objects disappearing or changing size the Lumière brothers had dispatched camera operators across the world to document it as ethnographic documentarians, intending their invention to be highly important in scientific and historical study Thus the two main purpose of film is born: entertainment and science

Assignment for 19 March, 2019 Watch Cinema Europe (1) – Where It All Began and think about the followings: What is the role of cinema? What is the relationship between politics and cinema? How would you regard the role moving images play in: Entertaining people Informing people Influencing people (if you are interested in the early European cinema, you can also watch Hugo by Martin Scorsese (2011) – it is on a voluntary basis !)