1. Unit 2: Historical Foundations of Cinema & Television
2-1 “History of Cinema”

2. Earliest Years 17th -18th century:
Lantern slides
By 19th century saw vast proliferation of visual forms of popular culture
1880’s-1930’s
Industrial Era
Only the rich!
Books of photographs
Illustrated fiction
What about us?
Middle / Working Class:
Visit circuses, amusement parks, music halls, theater troupes, dioramas, stereoscopes

3. Diorama
Painted backdrops featuring 3-D figures depicting historical events

4. Stereoscopes
Hand-held viewers that created three dimensional effects by using oblong cards with two photographs printed side by side

5. Developmental Steps for Motion Pictures
First (1st) Step
Scientists had to realize, the human eye would perceive motion if a series of slightly different images is placed before it in rapid succession- minimally around 16 per second.
Phenakistoscope (1832)
Deceiving scope
Zoetrope (1833)
Life + Turn
Second (2nd) Step
these fast-moving images needed to be projected on a surface
17th Century “magic lanterns” projecting glass lantern slides (paintings illuminated by glass), but couldn’t flash large numbers of images fast enough to create illusion of motion.
Third (3rd)Step
Ability to use photography to make successive pictures on clear surface
BUT…
Speed up exposure time
the act of presenting rays of light to a photosensitive surface
First photograph had exposure time of 8 hours!!! (1839)
Motion pictures would require split-second exposure time
Won’t become feasible until 1878
Fourth (4th) Step
Photographs needed to be printed on a base flexible enough to be passed through a camera rapidly
1888: George Eastman devised a camera that made photographs on rolls of thin paper. Kodak! 
The next year, he introduced transparent roll of film creating a breakthrough in the move toward cinema
Fifth (5th) Step
Needed to find a suitable mechanism for cameras and projectors.  
the film strip had to stop briefly while light entered through the lens and exposed each frame; a shutter then covered the film as another frame moved into place
Shutter
a mechanical device for opening and closing the aperture of a camera lens to expose film or the like.
Aperture
an opening, usually circular, that limits the quantity of light that can enter an optical instrument
1st Moving Picture Film
Edward Muybridge (1878) and the running horses
Photographer
Row of 12 cameras, each making an exposure in one- thousandth of a second.
Lantern to project the images which were eventually drawings copied from the photographs onto a revolving disk

6. Invention of the Motion Picture
Thomas Edison developed Kinetoscope in the first motion picture system
What is it?
(peep show in a box)
Scottish-English immigrant William Dixon joined Edison’s team to help develop the technology that would combine pictures and sound
Looped in 30 sec vignettes, no story connecting them.
The viewer would look into the peep-holes of the Kinetoscope to watch the motion picture
Resulting film (but no sound… yet!)
Boxing Cats
To finish FILM w/ SOUND
Put a phonograph inside the cabinet
Listen through two rubber ear tubes connected to the machine.

7. The Bioscop Invented by Skladanowsky brothers in 1895
Held two strips of 3 ½” film running side by side-frames projected alternately
15 minute programs
the first moving picture show to a paying audience on November 1, 1895
Problems
Too cumbersome
Film kept slipping b/c no perforations on side of film

8. Lumiere Brothers
Louis & Auguste wanted to make better camera than Edison's kinetoscope, which did not have a projector.
Goal was to correct the flaws in the kinetoscope
Image
sharper images and better illumination.
Weight
weighed only 16 lbs!!!
manually operated by a hand-crank (less weight than motorized)
Usability
only one person at a time could use Edison's kinetoscope (peep show style)
the Cinématographe could project an image onto a screen for a large audience
Workers Leaving the Factory, 1895

9. American Developments
Mutoscope
invented by Winsor McCay
November 21, 1894
Did not project on a screen
Provided viewing to only one person at a time
Vitascope
Took ideas of kinetoscope and blew it up!
Invented by Thomas Armat in 1895
Becomes first modern film projector
Thomas Edison buys the concept b/c he knows his kinetoscope is now trash
Rough Sea at Dover

10. American Developments
By only 2 means of film exhibition
Peep show devices for individual viewing
Projection systems for audiences
At the same time, 3 Types of Cinema:
Scenics, Topicals and Fiction Films
Scenics-
Short travelogues offering views of distant lands
Topicals-
News events, recreations of key occurrences in studio
Sinking of battleship Maine during Spanish-American War (1898)
Fiction Films-
Brief Staged Scenes telling a story
Some shot outdoors, but most shot in front of painted backdrops
1904- became the industry’s main product
Camera set up in one position and action unfolded in one continuous take.
No credits, or music
Provided live by the “exhibitor”

11. Nickelodeon 1905- Nickelodeon-
Earliest version of a Movie Theatre
Admission was $.05 for a minute production
Audiences sat on benches, wooden seats
Actors stood behind screen and spoke dialogue synchronized w/ the action on the screen
Sound effects were made with noisemakers behind the screen (Folly Artists)
Warner Bros, Universal, Paramount, & MGM all got their start as Nickelodeon exhibitors!!!

12. American Cinema: Pre WWI
Industry professionals focused on quickly expanding the demand for film in America
Nickelodeon theaters were clustered in business districts and working-class neighborhoods
Cheap entertainment!
By Nickelodeons were the main form of exhibition / entertainment
Most films came from overseas
Movie Studio System born from the Nickelodeon boom
Time for America to get in the mix!

13. American Cinema: Pre-WWI
Quickly became 2 Company Competition
Edison Company
vs.
American Mutoscope & Biograph
Agree to stop fighting with each other and work together!
Create Motion Pictures Patent Company
owned and charged licensing fees on key camera and equipment patents.
Production companies had to pay MPPC licensing fees in order to exist.

14. American Cinema: Pre-WWI
MPPC’s Goal
Control all three aspects of the industry
production, distribution and exhibition.
That’s how you make the $$$
Only licensed companies could produce, distribute and exhibit films
Eastman Kodak only sold film to MPPC licensed movie companies, etc.
Creates an Oligopoly
Small group of companies work together to control the entire market
If any other firm attempted to shoot, distribute, or exhibit a film
MPPC would threatened to sue for patent infringement.

15. American Cinema: Pre-WWI
6,000 theaters agreed to pay the fees to MPPC
But…
The independents fought back!!
2,000 nickelodeons refused
A market for unlicensed producers and distributors was created
This portion of the industry was identified as the “independents.”
What we call, “Indi Films” today!
The Independent Movement
Independent Motion Picture Company &
New York Motion Picture Company
Rented films from European companies that MPPC had shut out.
Used Cameras that didn’t use Edison’s Patents

16. American Cinema: Pre-WWI
The MPPC retaliates & creates the General Film Company in 1910
Attempt to MONOPOLIZE all aspects of filmmaking.
GFC released ALL films made by MPPC producers.
Dirty Work
MPPC also hired detectives to investigate the Independents
claims in regards to Non- Edison Cameras
The courts ruled that earlier camera patents lead to INP’s cameras
No Violation!!!
This freed all Independents from the fear of law suits!!!
Key Loss leads to INP’s banding together
Leads to…
Birth of the Hollywood Studios System we know today!!!