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Film: How it All Started
|
 The motion picture today is the greatest
medium of expression the world has ever known. [It is] capable of giving life and
form to all ideas, practical and emotional ...Its only limitation [is] human ingenuity.
John Seitz, ASC, 1930 |
It
started with a $25,000 bet.
In 1877, that
was a lot of money.
Edward Muybridge,
an Englishman tuned American, needed to settle a bet. 
Some people argued that a galloping horse had all four feet off of the ground
at the same time at some point; others said this would be impossible. No
feet touching the ground; how could that be!?
The problem
was that galloping hooves move too fast for the eye to see. Or, maybe, depending
on your belief, just fast enough that you could see what you wanted to.
(By the
way, the horse in the above illustration should be in motion. If it isn't,
you may need to turn on the animation in your browser to see this and the other
animated illustrations in these modules.)
To settle the
bet definitive
proof was needed.
In an effort to settle the issue
once and for all an experiment was set up in which a rapid sequence of photos was
taken of a running horse. When
the pictures were developed it was found that the horse did indeed have all four
feet off the ground during brief moments, thus, settling the bet.
But,
in doing this experiment they found out something else — something that becomes obvious
from the illustrations below. When a series of still photos are presented sequentially,
an illusion of motion is created. That discovery would soon make that $25,000 look
like pocket change.
In the case of the animated illustration
above the series of eleven still photos shown below are presented sequentially
at 0.1 second intervals to create the appearance of continuous motion.
Later,
we would give impressive names to the two factors that created this illusion of
motion — the illusion that lies at the base of both motion pictures and television.
- The phi
phenomenon that explains
why, when your view a series of slightly different still photos or images in rapid
succession, an illusion of movement is created in the transition between
the images.
- Persistence of vision, which explains why the
intervals between the successive images merge into a single image as our
eyes hold one image long enough for the next one to take its place.
 In
actual fact, there is nothing moving in motion pictures. It's all an illusion
based on these two phenomena. Note in the illustration on the left that an
illusion of motion is created, even when successive pictures are presented at a
relatively slow rate.
Motion picture projectors present images much faster, at 24-frames
per-second, with each of those frames flashed on the screen twice. This high speed
makes the transition between images virtually invisible.
So, as a result of a $25,000 bet, the foundation for motion
pictures and television was inadvertently established.
But, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Although
the foundation may have been laid, watching a series of drawings or still photos
flip by is very different than sitting back and watching a movie. 
To see how the process got started we need to back up to 1822.
In that year, Joseph Nicéphore Nicepce in France was first able to produce a crude
photographic image. But, it was Lous Daguerre in 1839, who came up with a process
that could actually be considered photography.
His photos were referred to as daguerreotypes.
(Note: If you invent something, you can name it after yourself and be famous throughout
history!)
Even
so, there were obvious problems with this
process — in addition to everyone having to learn how to spell daguerreotype.
The only way to capture real-life images was to make metal plates
light-sensitive by painting them with a liquid solution while you were in a darkroom.
Then you would need to run out and exposing them one at a time in a camera
before they dried. And then you had to had run
back into the darkroom and develop them.
Not a simple or fun process.
A gentleman by the name of Hannibal Goodwin greatly simplified
the process in 1889, when he developed a transparent, pliable film base called celluloid.
The next step was to create long strips of film where a series
of still pictures could be captured in rapid succession. Cameras and projectors
were developed that could do this at a rate of 16 frames per-second. (The rate was
later moved up to 18, and eventually to 24 per-second.)
A few years later the concept was adopted by George Eastman
of Eastman Kodak fame. He added some of his own innovations and eventually
standardized the film for cameras and projectors.
Thomas Edison's Contribution
Once the principle of creating the illusion
of motion from a series of still images was realized, a host of devices were invented
to fascinate anyone who wanted (for a price) to watch "moving images."
Unfortunately, all of these devices had the disadvantage of
only allowing "an audience of one." Generally, a single peephole was provided behind
which a series of drawings or photos were presented in rapid sequence.
Thomas  Edison
of electric light bulb and phonograph fame liked the fact that only one person
at a time could see the images. Edison's company had devised the peephole
kinetoscope and he was making a bit of money selling these devices. Edison
thought that if he came up with a system to show motion pictures to a large audience,
then everyone would be able to see them at the same time and he wouldn't sell nearly
as many kinetoscopes.
This, of course, turned out to be a major marketing miscalculation
— just
one of the many that would become a part of film, radio and TV history. (And
we might include the world of computers if we remember the IBM executive in the
early days of computers who said that a half a dozen computers would be all the
world could ever use!)
For a more complete outline of Edison's life and inventions,
 click
here.
Meanwhile, around the world, scores of inventors
had introduced their own "movie machines." In fact, so many motion picture devices
appeared at about the same time that no one person can truly be credited with the
invention. People in England, France, Germany, and the United States all came up
with motion picture devices at about the same time.
According to popular history, it was the Lumière brothers in
France who first did what Edison  initially
didn't want to do — devise a projector that could show motion pictures on a screen
for an audience. They called their invention cinematographe.
In 1895, they started producing a series of short films — as
in really short — 30 to 60 seconds. They started showing them in a Paris
cafe and charging a one-franc admission.
These films covered such blockbuster issues as a man falling
off a horse and a child trying to catch a fish in a fishbowl. (It didn't take much
to excite an audience in those days.)
Meanwhile, back in the United States, Edison
eventually saw the light and devised his own projector — but, not until some other
Americans forced his hand by introducing their own projector, the vitascope.
Edison then came up with the concept of a battery operated motion
picture camera. Interestingly, he didn't seem to have much confidence in the long-range
possibilities of either the camera or his kinetoscope. When he applied for patents,
he didn't pay the extra $150 required to secure an international copyright. That
little oversight would cost him millions in profits in the coming years. (On the
other hand, they also said TV would just be a passing fad!)
After George Eastman bought the rights
to make celluloid (film), he standardized the film gage (size) so that it could
be readily used in different types of production equipment. 
The film was 35mm wide and had sprocket holes on each side.
(Note illustration on the left).
Gear teeth fit into these holes, making it possible to pull the film through cameras
and projectors at a steady rate.
The images on the film were each 1 X 3/4-inch (2.5 x 2 cm) in
size. Later, a sound track would be added on one side of the film next to the sprocket
holes.
 The
celluloid film was wound on reels, as shown on the right. Since the reels
only held about 12 minutes of film, they regularly had to be changed during filming.
During viewing, if the production was longer than what could
fit on one reel, the projector had to be stopped and the audience given an intermission
while one reel was taken down and another loaded.
Later, two projectors would be used so that the film reels could
be alternated between projectors, making an instant switchover possible.
As we noted, the first film
gauge (size) to be standardized was 35mm. Today, some 120 years later, this
is still the standard film gage for motion picture work. Later, the 16mm and 8mm
(and super-16 and super-8) film gauges would be added.
Once a basic film gauge was adopted cameras and projectors
could be manufactured without fear of major incompatibilities in the marketplace.
At this point the foundation for motion pictures was in place.
Vaudeville and Nickelodeons
During this time, vaudeville
(small theaters that featured short dramatic skits, comedy routines, and song and
dance numbers) was quite popular.
In order get one-up on the competition and
fill in time between acts, vaudeville theaters started featuring short films.
As the 1900s dawned, vaudeville expanded into nickelodeons,
which were small storefront-type theaters that featured films (accompanied by piano
music and sound effects) along with one or two vaudeville acts. As the name
suggests, admission was one nickel, a price that appealed to working class citizens.
As the films got more popular and longer, the vaudeville acts
disappeared from the nickelodeons and the motion picture theater was born — if you
can call a small room with wooden benches a motion picture theater.
Since nickelodeons only
charged a five-cent admission fee, they had to depend on audience turnover to generate
profits. This meant that movies had to be changed regularly — sometimes even daily
— to
keep people coming back.
Obviously, early studios
had to turn out large numbers of films to meet the demand. The studios of the early
1900s were appropriately called "film factories." At that time they were primarily
located in New York and New Jersey. As we will see, this would soon change.
The First Narrative Film
It was an employee of Thomas Edison, Edwin
Porter, who in 
1903, created the first U.S. narrative film, The Great Train
Robbery.
With this film, a real story line involving
crosscutting between different narrative sequences and different camera positions
and distances were all introduced.
Porter's film had 14 scenes and lasted 12 minutes, a real epic
by the standards of the day.
Before that, films were shot from a single wide-shot camera
position while actors paraded in front of the camera — a stage play on film, only
you couldn't hear the actors speak, and the whole thing was in black and white.
(It would be many years before color film would be introduced.)
Before the The Great Train Robbery
people were starting to get bored with films. The novelty of the short films was
wearing off, plus audiences could see things — not to mention hear them — much
better in stage plays.
 Using
a motion picture camera like the one on the left, Porter not only introduced the
western as a film genre (which subsequently spawned a few thousand films of
the same ilk), he also demonstrated that suspense could be introduced into films
by alternating shots of "the bad guys" doing their illegal thing and "the
good guys" trying to bring them to justice. In this regard not much has changed
in the last century.
Actually, Porter had stolen some of his ideas from European
films — primarily from a Frenchman named Georges Méliès, a man credited with virtually
inventing special effects with his film, Trip to the Moon.
The film editor's job in those days was
simple; just take out the blank film leader at the beginning and ends of reels and splice
the whole thing together.
Strangely, during the early days of film,
some producers resisted the use of close-ups, arguing that they had paid
for the whole actor, so they wanted to see the whole actor at all times.
(With their eyes focused squarely on money, maybe they should have reasoned that
if close-ups were used, they should only have to pay about 1/4th the full actor's
wages.)
The Dawn of Film Censorship
 One
of the very first films produced in the United States, called The Kiss, was
based on a scene from the stage play, "The Widow Jones." Groups tried to
get the film banned because it showed a man and a woman kissing — something
that moralists of the time thought was obscene.
 Later,
kisses were deemed okay, as long as they didn't exceed a few, brief seconds
— after
which they were seen as immoral and had to be censored.
Interestingly, these same censors didn't seem to mind that in
The Great Train Robbery several men were shot and one was even thrown off
the top of a moving train.
Responding largely to the public and political
pressure of the day, the U.S. Supreme Court officially denied motion pictures the
same First Amendment freedom that was being given to the press, literature, and
the theater. In deciding against the Mutual Film Corporation, they used the
argument that films were amusements and not artistic works, a decision that would
seem to instantly elevate the theater and the press to art forms!
As a result of the Supreme Court decision film censorship boards
sprung up in most states to make sure that films shown in their area adhered to
their particular view of morality.
Almost 50 years later, the Supreme Court
reversed itself, finally allowing films the same First Amendment protection as the
other mass media. Even so, for several decades after this decision many state
censorship boards hung on to their power over film content. Many would
later redefine their purpose as being "advisory." We'll discuss the MPAA motion
picture rating system — PG, PG-13, R, etc. — later.
The Accidental Beginnings
of Editing
In the early days, film action resembled
a, simple, short stage play — continuous and not interrupted. This allowed
a new film to be churned out every few days.
It is said that the whole idea of instantly cutting from one
scene to a different scene resulted from desperation on the part of a director one
day when he had to stick to a very tight schedule. A mishap occurred while filming
a particular scene and he didn't have time to start the scene all over again from
the beginning — the normal price you had to pay for such problems in those days.
To keep from falling behind on the schedule the director just
ordered the camera to stop until things were sorted out and then to start the camera
and action again. Afterwards, the two scenes were spliced together.
 The
director apparently hoped that no one would notice, or at least not complain too
much.
But after viewing "the mistake," it was concluded that the "lost" footage
wasn't really necessary, and the jump in action actually speeded things along.
By the late 1800s, it had become accepted practice to stop and
reposition the camera and even to cut directly to a totally different scene in
telling a story. (To keep them from being confused, audiences had to be slowly
educated to these techniques.)
At this point there still wasn't sound
or color. Dialogue initially
appeared as full-frame text on the screen after actors spoke their lines.
Later, the dialogue was superimposed over the picture, as shown here.
There was one major advantage of this "silent" approach: it
was easy to change the dialogue into any language, which meant that the films could
readily be exported to other countries. As we will see, this issue represented a
major stumbling block when sound was introduced.
In the next section we'll talk about some
of the famous people and films of the early motion picture era, along with some
of the controversy that surrounded the industry. |
