The History of Film

By dictionary definition, a movie is “a story or event recorded by a camera as a set of moving images and shown in a theater or on television; a motion picture.” or “motion pictures generally or the motion-picture industry.” The origins of “the movie” are difficult to tell, as it wasn't just one person who invented cinematography. 

One of the earliest cinema presentations was from the Edison Company, as they successfully created a device known as the kinetoscope. In 1977, Edison invented the phonograph, a device that could capture sound and play it back. After the success of his invention, Edison was determined to create images to accompany his phonograph, so he went to Dickson, a young laboratory assistant. Dickson designed a “type of peep-show viewing device,” a significant step in cinematography. This device allowed one person at a time to look into it and see moving pictures. It was a huge hit, and by 1894, there were multiple kinetoscopes worldwide for public use. 

Similarly, the Lumiere brothers, Auguste and Louise, created the Cinématographe device. The two French brothers were heavily involved in photography from a young age, as their father had a photographic business. Louise developed a highly sensitive photographic plate at 17, which his father’s company mass-produced. In 1894, the brothers created the device, which was different from the kinetoscope as it did not rely on electrical power but, most notably, was portable. The device could shoot film and project wherever it was as long as it had a magic lantern lamphouse with a gas or limelight illuminant. The device was finally patented in February 1985 and the brothers are accredited with inventing cinema. 

Early Films 

Early films were often very short, only a few minutes. They were presented at fairgrounds, music halls, or any dark space (as dark spaces are best for projection). They were sometimes comedic and fictional, other times more serious, covering news events. Furthermore, early films were often engaging due to the amount of audience participation. The audience engaged with the film live, creating an enjoyable viewing atmosphere. 

The first film to reach worldwide distribution was Le Voyage dans la Lune in 1902. Le Voyage dans la Lune, or A Trip to The Moon in English, was a 12-minute film, also regarded as the first science fiction film in cinematic history. The film is about astronomers who travel to the Moon in a cannon-propelled capsule, explore its surface, escape from underground Selenite inhabitants, and return to Earth with one captive. The film's success drove the French film industry and inspired those worldwide. 

Adding Color!

Seeing black-and-white movies today feels like a novelty since we’re so used to color. But when was the first color film made, and how did it evolve after color photography? Color film has a history spanning over 100 years, using various chemical processes to create images. Despite common belief, The Wizard of Oz was not the first color movie, the first commercially produced color film was A Visit to the Seaside (1908). It was an eight-minute British short using the Kinemacolor process to capture seafront scenes. The journey to color film began with color photography. Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell proposed the three-color method in 1855, and Thomas Sutton produced the first color photo in 1861. As photography advanced, people sought to bring color to film. When it comes to color in film, black-and-white films were first colored using hand coloring, tinting, toning, and stenciling. 

By the early 1930s, most feature films had synchronized sound, and by the mid-1930s, some were in full color, securing Hollywood’s dominance in its "Golden Age." During the 1930s and 1940s, cinema was the main form of entertainment, with many attending twice a week. Ornate "super" cinemas or "picture palaces" offered extras like cafés and ballrooms, accommodating over 3,000 people. In Britain, cinema attendance peaked in 1946, with over 31 million weekly visits. Film has evolved from early kinetoscopes to sound and color, shaping modern cinema. Its history shows the impact of technology on storytelling.