History of Motion Pictures

Discover the History of Motion Picture with this presentation. This was a presentation I delivered for my Intro to Mass Communications & Media course I took at Reinhardt University.

1. Where It All Began
The Invention of Motion Picture

2. Since The
Beginning
of Time...
Mankind has attempted
capturing the movement of life
as early as cave-man time,
eventually doing so in temple
carving. Before advances in
technology, artists could only
record the feeling of motion
through art, never actually
capturing it until the mid to late
1800s.

3. Fascination with
movement led to these
inventions:
Camera Obscura,
Laterna Magica (Magic
Lantern), Thaumatrope,
Phenakistiscope,
Stroboscope, and the
Praxinoscope are just a
few of the technological
breakthroughs leading to
what we now have,
motion pictures.
HOW THE CAMERA OBSCURA WORKS
CAMERA OBSCURA

4. Thaumatrope
Invented by John Ayrton
Paris in 1824 to
demonstrate the
persistence of vision.
Also known as “the
wonder turner.”
When it is turned,
images on both sides
turn into one.
Could, quite literally, be
the first motion picture
made.
HOW TO USE THE THAUMATROPE:
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5. Phenakistiscope
In 1829, Joseph Plateau
invented a disk
displaying a deformed
image. When this image
was spun with a small
piece to view, it made
the image look normal.
Four years following this
invention, Plateau
invented the
phenakistiscope.
A
PHENAKISTISCOPE

6. Stroboscope
Shortly after Plateau’s
invention of the
phenakistiscope, Simon
von Stampfer created a
similar disc called the
stroboscope.
Both disks became
known as magic disks,
and were very popular
parlor entertainment.
SOMEONE USING THE PHENAKISTISCOPE

7. Zoetrope and
Praxinoscope
The Zoetrope was
invented by William
George Horner in 1834
using his existing
knowledge of the
phenakistoscope.
In 1877, Charles-Emile
Reynaud invented a
more advanced version
called the praxinoscope.
A PRAXINOSCOPE

8. The First Motion Picture
Projector
In 1853, Franz von
Uchatius used what is
described as a
combination of the
zoetrope and the magic
lantern to product the
first motion picture
projector.
A VERSION OF AN EARLY MOTION
PICTURE PROJECTOR

9. Helpful Inventions in
Photography
In the 1840s, Louis
Daguerre created the
daguerreotype - a
photograph printed on a
metal plate.
Shortly after the
daguerreotype the
Langenheim brothers
printed images on glass
plates, making the
projection of images
possible.
THE DAGUERREOTYPE PROCESS
A DAGUERREOTYPE PHOTOGRAPH

10. Muybridge’s
Photographs
In 1872, former governor Leland
Stanford hires photographer
Edweard Muybridge to photograph
the movement of horses.
Unsatisfied with the results,
Stanford then hired a railroad
engineer to set up 24 cameras with
trip threads to set them off.
The discovery from these
photographs is that horses have all
four hooves off of the ground in the
middle of galloping.
Muybridge had a traveling
exhibition of his photographs all
over the US and France
THE OUTCOME FROM MUYBRIDGE’S PHOTOGRAPHS

11. The “Shotgun” Camera
Muybridge’s exhibition gained
mass popularity.
The photographic collection
inspired Etienne-Jules Marey to
create the chronophotographe, or
the “shotgun” camera.
The reason behind this invention is
that Marey believed it necessary to
have the ability to shoot multiple
shots at once from the same
camera.
THE “SHOTGUN” CAMERA

12. The First “Movie”
In 1888 Louis Aime
Augustin Le Prince shot
a short film of traffic on a
bridge in Leeds,
England.
This is the first known
movie ever to be shot
and shown to the public.
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BRIDGE IN LEEDS, ENGLAND
FIRST KNOWN MOVIE SHOWN TO THE PUBLIC

13. Talking Phonograph
The Talking Phonograph was a
machine that made imprints on
waxed paper wrapped around a
cylinder.
Despite the fact that “movies” were
silent for the first thirty years,
Edison had other plans for the
future.
Eventually this machine was able
to record sound, and subsequently
replay that recorded sound.
This invention was astounding at
the time it was produced in 1877.
“The idea occurred to me that it
was
possible to do for the eye what
the phonograph does for the ear.”
-Thomas Edison
EDISON WITH HIS TALKING PHONOGRAPH

14. The Kinetograph
Under the instruction of
Thomas Edison, William
Kennedy Dickson built the
kinetograph in 1891.
The kinetograph was used
for Edison’s in-house film
experiments and eventually
for commercial use.
The film from a kinetograph
is exposed horizontally and
can be projected onto a
screen.
EDISON BUILT A KINETOGRAPH “HOUSE”
THAT WORKED ENTIRELY ON WHEELS.
USING THIS TECHNOLOGY, EDISON
WAS ABLE TO CAPTURE MANY SHORT FILMS.

15. The Lumiére Brothers
The Lumiére Brothers fashioned an
image capturing device very similar
to the already existing
chronophotographe.
Creating images that “seemed to
move”, the brothers began selling
tickets to the public projection of
their “films” in 1895.
While many attribute the rise in
fame of film to these two, some
speculate that the fame was
already well on it’s way due to
Edison’s promotion of the
kinetograph.
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ONE OF THE LUMIERE BROTHERS FILMS
“WORKERS LEAVING THE LUMIERE FACTORY”

16. The Nickelodeon
Theaters
The Nickelodeon Theaters were a
place people could go to watch
“peep-show” videos, or films
recorded on the kinetograph.
These theaters quickly became a
phenomenon, by 1908 there were
8,000 nickelodeon theaters.
One famous historian, Mr. Charles
Musser, even stated “it is not too
much to say that modern cinema
began with the nickelodeons.”
A NICKELODEON THEATER

17. From the
beginning
to now...
Regardless of motion pictures
humble beginnings, it is safe to
say that the founding pioneers
of this industry were a part of
history we truly appreciate.
Without them, who knows if we
would have ever been graced
with the great film classics we
so treasure today?

18. THE END
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