-
First Film Ever Made!
In the year 1872, a man named Eadweard Muybridge began experimenting on capturing moving images. This man placed twelve cameras on a race horse track, spread thread across the track, and attached the thread into contact with a camera's shutter. Once the horse ran across the track, it's legs broke the threads, causing the cameras to operate in sequence. The ending results were 12 photos showing a horse's gait. With an invention of his called the Zoopraxiscope -
Invention of Film
In 1885, two men named George Eastman and William H. Walker developed the very first reel of film. Film was sensitized paper created with a gelatin emulsion. One year later it was replaced by celluloid, which was a synthetic plastic material invented in the 1870's which was used in the chemical compound cellulose nitrate. -
Nickelodeon Era
Around the year 1905, an inexpensive way to view movies was created - the 5 cent movie theatre! The period of time in which these theatres were built was called the Nickelodeon era, due to the cost of 5 cents for viewing. No longer would people have to see a movie in an upscale vaudeville house. watch. -
Rise of Hollywood
The 1920's was a time for the movie industry to really blossom and expand. It was the beginning of the studio and the birth of the "star". The majority of film making actually took place in the Hollywood area. In fact, during the mid 1920's, around 800 movies were being created each year. Hollywood was the rise of a new cultural phenomenon. -
Documentaires
The 1930's were a revival of documentaries and other non fiction films. It was also the time of political up heal that was just asking to be recorded. With World War 2 on the rise, film makers were given plenty of opportunities to make documentaries. -
Bad Years
The early 1940's was not a promising time for the American film industry, especially during the attack of Pear Harbor by the Japanese. However, during the years 1943 to 1946, film production rebounded and found it's profitable peak of efficiency due to the decrease of technical challenges and advancements in technology (i.e. special affects, sound recording, the use of color, and cinematography). -
Good Years
The 1950's was a time of great change in the United States as well in other places of the world. It's been remembered in history for many things : increased post-war affluence , the rise of modern jazz, the inventions of the drive in theatres, the creation of fast food restaurants, the Korean War, conformity and the advent of television sets. In fact, around 10.5 million U.S. homes had a television set in 1950. -
Financial Troubles
The heralded film Cleopatra made in 1963 was directed by Joseph L. Manklewcz and was filmed on location in Rome. This film starred Elizabeth Taylor as the Queen of Egypt, and her future husband Richard Burton as Marc Antony. This couple brought about more headlines with their romance than the film's budget problems. -
Adult Themed Years
The 1970's started with a feeling of disillusionment due to the Viet Nam War. Movies seemed to portray this in their often violent military themes. Although the 60's ended with the downfall of Hollywood, the 70's was a decade of a creative high point in the U.S. film industry. Restrictions on language, adult content, sexuality, and violence had loosened up and these elements had become more wide spread. -
Cheap Years
The 1980's consolidated the gains made in the 70's instead of trying to initiate any new trends. Packaged and perfectly designed for audience appeal, few 80's films became classics. This decade was characterized by the introduction of high concept films with cinematic plots that could be easily characterized by 25 words or less. -
High Priced Years
During the first couple of years in the 90's decade, the economic recession of 1991 lowered the box office revenue greatly. For the most part, the cinema attendance was up due to the multi screen Cineplex complexes through out the United States, making the average movie ticket price about 5 dollars. Although the average film budget during this decade was around 54 million, the use of special affects in high budget films. -
The New Milenium
The new millennium was a turning point in film history with a strong use of special affects. Well into our second century of filmmaking, the medium of film has already documented remarkable achievements such as the invention of the blue ray disc and will continue to do so as time slowly ticks away. Unfortunately we cannot see into the future, so knowledge on what the new millennium will bring us in terms of film history will remain unknown for what seems like a long time.
