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Eadweard Maybridge, a landscape photographer, was bet $25,000 he couldn't capture a horse with 4 hooves in the air. He set up his cameras and took photos in quick succession and compiled them together to create a moving image.
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First Kinetoscope parlor created to watch moving images, Downside was it was only a "one person audience" or only one person could view the moving images at once.
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The Lumiere brothers of france, started to create public cinemas where they could show 30-60 second videos of simple or comedic things. It only cost on franc to view these pictures at the time.
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The great train robbery became the first narrative film made, using 14 different scenes in about 12 minutes. It was owned and created by Thomas Edison and his company.
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Vaudeville, the popular sideshow, began to use short films inbetween different scenes and acts to engage the audience. the called them Nickolodeon's because these short films only cost a nickel.
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By this time Nickolodean theaters became a standalone entertainment style and had started to attract 26 million viewers in a week. This is when Thomas Edison created the MMPC and created a monopoly on film.
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The light and Weather on the East Coast were not suitable for film and the independent movie companies wanted to escape the MPPC which was located in New England. If they needed to flee to Mexico with there equipment to avoid the MPPC they could easily do so.
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Thomas Edison created the Motion Picture Patents Company or MPPC to monopolize and patent all aspects of film to fully profit himself. This involved owning camera companies, actors and actresses, and film technical equipment.
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People Like Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin rose to fame after there recurring roles in short films. Chaplin's comedy and silliness brought him an audience and through this audience he showed the themes of Good and Evil, Classlessness, and positive messages.
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Unlike other film studios, the MPPC did not want to credit or pay the actors or actresses in there films. They thought if people knew who they were they could rise to fame and become larger than the company itself. This would also cause the actors to expect more money. Many of these actors switched to other studios if they could for more money and credit
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By this time the Independent film companies had developed many pictures and created a name for themselves. The lead actors and actresses had casting space, money and fame for there roles in the films. This was seen as a tool for consistent movie-goers to see there favorite film stars.
