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Horse in Motion
Motion photography is born! First film ever! British photographer Edweard Muybridge used multiple cameras and assembled individual pictures into a single-motion picture. -
American Movies Influence Mass Culture
Realistic stories were the composition of early movie-making. "The Great Train Robbery" by Edwin S. Porter along with Thomas Edison helped establish how stories were told with film. -
Birth of the Blockbuster
"The Birth of a Nation",D.W.Griffith, 1st feature-length film cost $110,00. was blatantly racist signifying the atmosphere of the times and criticized by many. -
Hooray for Hollywood!
Movie making expanded from the East Coast to Hollywood, CA. because of sunny weather and more locations such as ocean, desert and mountains to film. -
1920's - Pre-Talkies & Silent Era
The decade between the Great War and the Depression following the Stock Market Crash. Wide range of subject matter including melodramas, biblical epics, westerns, gangsters, horror, romance, mysteries and comedies(Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd). "The Jazz Singer" (1927) was the first "talkie", a silent film with two segments - talking and singing. Color was used in Hollywood, near the same time sound was added to the movies. -
1930's * The Golden Age of Hollywood Begins
1930's was a decade of turmoil and economic problems with widespread popularity of fantasy and escapist fare. Monsters, remakes, sequels, musicals flooded the movie screens. Advances in color film included Technicolor and Kodachrome. Movie hits included Dracula, Frankenstein and Dr, Jekyll and Mr, Hyde (1931); 42nd Stree (1933); Top Hat (1935); Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937); Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz (1939) -
1940's The War Years / 1950's Age of Conformity
In the 1940's and 1950's audiences were looking for movies with mystery, romance, patriotism, musicals, and animation. The Philadelphia Story, Fantasia, Pinocchio and The Grapes of Wrath (1940); Casablanca (1942); It's a Wonderful Life (1946); Cinderella (1950) High Noon and Singin' in the Rain (1952); White Christmas (1954); Some Like It Hot (1959) -
1960's Anti-establishment 1970's "New Wave"
1960's were filled with reactionary youth, fun, fashion, rock 'n' roll, civil rights, transitional cultural values. Psycho ('60); West Side Story, Blue Hawaii ('61); To Kill A Mockingbird ('61); Sound of Music ('65); The Graduate, Bonnie & Clyde ("67). 1970's - America's "New Wave" with the hippie movement, civil rights, free love, changing gender rolls and drug use making an impact. M*A*S*H ('70); Cabaret ('72); Star Wars, The Matrix ('77); Deer Hunter, Grease, The Wiz ('78). -
1980's Blockbuster 1990's Disney Renaissance
1980's featured Pop Culture, war, coming of age, sci-fi and more. ET the Exrta-terrestrial('82); Flashdance('83); Back to the Future('85); Platoon('86); Die Hard('88). 1990's brought the rise of independent film and CGI seen in Jurassic Park('93), Forest Gump('94) and Toy Story('95) which was the 1st full length feature film to be completely computer animated. The Disney Renaissance which began late 1989 with The Little Mermaid, hit a peak with Lion King('94) and ended with Tarzan('99). -
21st Century Movie Series
In the past 2 decades movie goers have been fascinated with franchise series adapted from books or pure imagination, filled with technology and special effects such as: Star Wars epic(1977-2017); Toy Story animation (1995-2019); Mission Impossible espionage (1996-2018); Harry Potter fantasy(2001-2011); Lord of the Rings epic (2001-2003); Pirates of the Caribbean action/comedy (2003-2017); Madea comedy (2005-2019). -
We Need A Hero !
You don't need a mask or cape to be a hero! Audiences have been cheering and jeering at the screen with such emotion for these Super Heroes. Some are: Spider-Man (2002); Hellboy, Incredibles, Spider-Man 2 (2004); Batman Begins (2005); Superman Returns (2006); Iron Man, The Dark Knight (2008); Captain America, the First Avenger (2011) Iron Man 3 (2013); Big Hero 6 (2014); Thor Ragnarok, Wonder Woman (2017); Black Panther (2018); Avengers: End Game. -
From Broadway to the BIG Screen !
Since 1933's 42nd Street, Broadway musicals have been adapted to movies dealing with joy, pain, romance, racism, civil rights and more. Just in the past 20 years, audiences have enjoyed Chicago (2002); Phantom of the Opera (2004); The Producers, Rent (2005); Dreamgirls (2006); Hairspray (2007); Nine (2009); Into the Wood (2014); Newsies (2017); Cats (2019); Hamilton (2020).
