The History of Film - Alex

First Motion Picture Ever Made

Mar 22, 1872

Eadweard Muybridge began experimenting on capturing moving images. He placed 12 cameras on a horse track to try and see if a horse's 4 hooves came off the ground at the same point in time. His invention, the Zoopraxiscope , was able to quickly project the images. Just to win a bet, he created motion photography and the first movie to ever exist.

First Commercial Movie Screened

Dec 28, 1895

This was the first commercial movie to be screened. It was showed in the Grand Cafe in Paris. The Lumiere Brothers were the ones who invented the short movie. The brothers screened a series of short scenes from everyday French life, and charged admission for the first time.

Nickelodeon Theaters

Mar 22, 1905

The 5 cent theater was invented. The theaters greatly increased films' popularity. People didn't have to go to a vaudeville theater to see a movie anymore.

The Rise of Hollywood

Mar 22, 1920

The 1920s were the beginning of the studio. The majority of film making took place in Hollywood. During the mid-1920s, around 800 movies were being created each year.

The Golden Age of Hollywood

Mar 22, 1930

During the 1930s, films took a big turn with the use of sound in movies. Known as "talkies," the movies were a big success in the box offices, but were bad quality. The 1930s were also the birth of new film genres, such as gangster films, musicals, westerns, comedies, horrors, newspaper-reporting films, historical biopics, and social-realism films.

Film's Role in WW2

Mar 22, 1940

Hollywood aided the war in showing propaganda, and documentaries, they also help educate people and held found-raisers to help financially. Some films, like The Hollywood Canteen, were made to entertain off duty service men, as well as to help them with free meals and necessities.

Influences on the Teenage Population

Mar 22, 1950

During the 1950s, the teenage audience wanted new and more exciting movies. Hollywood became very influential on the younger populations when they started answering their demands. They also introduced the rock 'n roll film. Hollywood decided that the young population could easily be exploited, so they started making movies with stories about alcohol, drugs, gangs, and rock 'n roll.

Financial Disaster

Mar 22, 1960

They lowered admission prices to $1 in hopes of appealing to the audiences, but instead lost a lot of money. In 1963, the movie Cleopatra was a huge financial disaster, and left 20th Century Fox in a lot of debt. The Longest Day 1963 and The Sound of Music 1965, helped get them out.

The Revolution of Home Videos

Mar 22, 1970

VHS, laser discs, and video cassettes greatly increased the profits of movie studios. They helped movie studio profits and revenue at the same time. Theaters attendance decreased, which was a huge downside to the sudden revolution.

First Star Wars Movie

May 25, 1977

Episode IV - A New Hope opened doors to many new things. This movie was a huge blockbuster, and the beginning of one of the most popular movie series. It was the beginning of the original trilogy.

An Unexpected Successes

Mar 22, 1980

During the 1980s, there were many movies that were unsuccessful and unexpected successes. Great examples of unexpected successes were Terminator and Batman. They were so successful that they were sequels and modern remakes.

Kong: Skull Island

Mar 10, 2017

This is the newest movie released in 2017. It's also the newest remake of the original movie King Kong. It's only been in the theaters for a few days, but is rapidly becoming more and more popular and is gaining a large amount of money at the box offices.