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Eadweard Muybridge
In 1872, an arguement took place between a group of people based on whether or not all of a horses feet were above the ground at some point in time. Muybridge set out to prove that the horses feet did not touch the ground by taking pictures of a horse running. He discovered that if you flip through a group of similar images, it looks like the object in them is moving. -
Kinetoscope Parlor
The first Kinetoscope Parlor is opened in New York. This invention allowed someone to pay for and view a short motion picture. Because Tomas Edison wanted to make more money off of them, he made it only possible for one person to veiw them at a time. -
Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison enters the film industry in 1894, when he invents the peephole kinetoscope. While this invention does help support the fact that he was a good inventor, it also shows that he was more focused on profits than anything else. Edison also helped create the MPPC, which goes to show you that he was not necessarily the nicest of people. -
Cinematographe
The Lumière brothers from France developed one of the first projecters that could display motion pictures in front of entire audiences. They called their invention the cinematographe, and with it, they could show 30-60 second films. Topics of these films included things like a train coming straight for the camera and a man falling off of his horse. -
Lumiere Brothers
The Lumiere brothers were in France and together, they created short 30-60 second films to show on their cinematographe. While Edison already had the idea to make a projector, he didn't want to because it would cost his customers less money. However, the Lumiere brothers believed differently, and they charged people one franc for admission. Compared to Edison's way, this was a whole lot cheaper. -
Vaudeville
Short films that you payed a nickel to see. They would have musical acts and orchestras, and since the movies were usually silent, they would have people make sound effects and sometimes have piano playing to liven up the movies. Vaudeville had expanded into nickelodeons. -
Mary Pickford
Became famous in the early days of film history and became known as, "America's Sweetheart." She is an example of how filming studios in California used their actors' names to keep customers coming back for more. She and Charlie Chaplin would help pave the way for the modern filming industry. -
First Narrative Movie
The first film that had narration was called The Great Train Robbery, and was made by Edwin Porter, an employee of Thomas Edison. It lasted 12 minutes, which was quite long compred to previous 30 second and 60 second films. This film had different camera angles and introduced crosscutting. -
Nickelodeons
Nickelodeons gained popularity, and every week they attracted 26 million viewers. In the next 5 years, that number doubled, and Thomas Edison and other businessmen thought of a way to control and raise the profits that they could recieve. They would create a monopoly. -
MPPC
The monopoly that Edison and others had formed was called the MPPC, and they controlled almost everything in the movie making industry. It was very dangerous for indepandent film companies that tried to compete, because the MPPC would come after them. The MPPC would raid their studios and smash all of their equipment. -
California
The film industry starts to move to California for two reasons. The first reason is because, unlike New York, California has more light a better weather, which is better for filming. The second reason the film industry started to move to Cslifornia is because California is close to Mexico, and people could escape the MPPC more easily if they could travel to Mexico. -
Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin was the first 20th Century superstar, and by 1917, he was making more than a million a year. He was a comedian of the silent era, and he often tried to comunicate messages to the audience about things like society. He also made fun of dictators and world leaders, which made him a very contraversial character.
