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Joseph Plateau
Joseph Plateau and sons introduce the Phenakistoscope. Like other toys of its kind, the Phenakistoscope was one of the more successful illusion toys. Pictures on one disc viewed through slots in the other, appeared to move when the two were spun and viewed in a mirror. -
William George Horner.
The Zoetrope used the same principle as Plateau's Phenakistoscope but instead of discs the pictures and slots are combined in a rotating drum. Zoetrope's were widely sold after 1867. -
Henry Fox Talbot
makes an important advancement in photograph production with the introduction of negatives on paper - as opposed to glass. Also around this time it became possible to print photographic images on glass slides which could be projected using magic lanterns. -
Emile Reynaud introduces the Praxinoscope
Similar in design to Horner's Zoetrope, the illusion of movement produced by the Praxinoscope was viewed on mirrors in the centre of the drum rather than through slots on the outside. -
Eadweard Muybridge
achieves success after five years of trying to capture movement. Muybridge was asked, in 1873, by the ex-governor of California - Leland Stanford to settle a bet as to whether horses hooves left the ground when they galloped. He did this by setting up a bank of twelve cameras with trip-wires connected to their shutters, each camera took a picture when the horse tripped its wire. Muybridge developed a projector to present his finding. He adapted Horner's Zoetrope to produce his Zoopraxinoscope -
Etienne Jules Marey
inspired by Muybridge's animal locomotion studies, begins his own experiments to study the flight of birds and other rapid animal movements . The result was a photographic gun which exposed 12 images on the edge of a circular plate -
Emile Reynaud
expands on his praxinoscope and using mirrors and a lantern is about to project moving drawings onto a screen. -
Etienne Marey
builds a box type moving picture camera which uses an intermittent mechanism and strips of paper film. -
Thomas A. Edison,
inventor of the electric light bulb and the phonograph decides to design machines for making and showing moving pictures. With his assistant W.K.L Dickson (who did most of the work), Edison began experimenting with adapting the phonograph and tried in vain to make rows of tiny photographs on similar cylinders. -
Edison and Dickson have their Kinetograph camera
inetoscope viewing box ready for patenting and demonstration. Using Eastman film cut into inch wide strips, Dickson punched four holes in either side of each frame allowing toothed gears to pull the film through the camera. -
Edison and Dickson
build a studio on the grounds of Edison's laboratories in New Jersey, to produce films for their kinetoscope. The Black Maria was ready for film production at the end of January. -
Reynaud holds the first public exhibitions of motion pictures.
Using his projecting Praxinoscope, Reynaud holds the first public exhibitions of motion pictures. Reynaud's device was successful, using long strips of hand-painted frames, but the effect was jerky and slow. -
The Lumière family
is the biggest manufacturer of photographic plates in Europe A Local kinetoscope exhibitor asks brothers Louis and Auguste to make films which are cheaper than the ones sold by Edison. Louis and Auguste design a camera which serves as both a recording device and a projecting device. They call it the Cinématographe. The Cinématographe uses flexible film cut into 35mm wide strips and used an intermittent mechanism modeled on the sewing machine. The camera shot films at sixteen frames per second -
The first film shot with the Cinématographe camera
La Sortie de l'usine Lumière a Lyon (Workers leaving the Lumière factory at Lyon). Shot in March it is shown in public at a meeting of the Societe d'Encouragement a l'industrie Nationale in Paris that same month. 1895 In March of 1895, R.W Paul and his partner Birt Acres had a functional camera which was based partly on Marey's 1888 camera. In just half a year they had created a camera and shot 13 films for use with the kinetoscope. The partnership broke up, Paul continuing to improve upon the -
The Lathams
too had succeeded in creating a camera and a projector and on April 21st 1895 they showed one film to reporters. In May they opened a small storefront theatre. Their projector received only a small amount of attention as the image projected was very dim. The Lathams did however contribute greatly to motion picture history. Their projectors employed a system which looped the film making it less susceptible to breaks and tears. The Latham Loop as it was dubbed later is still in use in modern motio -
British filmmaker James Williamson
"The Big Swallow" which demonstrated the ingenuity of the Brighton School (of filmmakers) of which he and George Smith were principle contributors. -
Georges Méliès
produces his magnificent "Voyage to the Moon", a fifteen minute epic fantasy parodying the writings of Jules Verne and HG Wells. The film used innovative special effect techniques and introduced colour to the screen through hand-painting and tinting -
George Smith
Mary Janes Mishap which was praised for its sophisticated use of editing. The film uses medium close-ups to draw the viewers attention to the scene, juxtaposed with wide establishing shots. The film also contains a pair of wipes which signal a scene change. -
American Mutoscope and Biograph Company
begin making films in the 35mm format rather that the 70mm which boosted their sales. The company went on to employ one of the most important silent film directors - D.W Griffith in 1908. -
Cecil Hepworth produced
with Lewin Fitzhamon "Rescued by Rover". A charming film in which Hepworth, his wife, child and dog, star. -
first
First nickelodeon opens in Pittsburgh, PA -
color
Technicolor is introduced. -
decline
Radio is invented and preferred over silent films by public. Film industry begins to decline. -
Warner Brothers
Warner Brothers produce full-length singing and talking film called The Jazz Singer with popular singer and stage actor during this time named Al Jolson. The audience loved it! -
peck
were at their peak during this time. -
peck
same as last -
Motion picture
industry was monopolized by film studios