History of film

Located at the site of the former Astoria Studios (now operating as the Kaufman-Astoria Studios) in the borough of Queens in New York City ( USA), the Museum of the Moving Image (originally named the Astoria Motion Picture and Television Center Foundation) was founded in 1977. Its mission statement is to educate "the public about the art, history, technique, and technology of film, television, and digital media and to examine their impact on culture and society." American Museum of the Moving Image"

Chronophotography is a Victorian application of science (the study of movement), and art ( photography). Chronophotography"

(Cinematographe) The cinematograph or Lumière Cinématographe was an early type film projector, an all-in-one camera, projector and developer, circa 1895. Cinematographe"

The electrotachyscope is an 1887 invention of Ottomar Anschütz of Germany which presents the illusion of motion with transparent serial photographs, chronophotographs, arranged on a spinning wheel of fortune or mandala-like glass disc, significant as a technological development in the history of cinema. Electrotachyscope"

A flip book is a book with a series of pictures that vary gradually from one page to the next, so that when the pages are turned rapidly, the pictures appear to animate by simulating motion or some other change. Flip books are often illustrated books for children, but may also be geared towards adults and employ a series of photographs rather than drawings. Flip books are not always separate books, but may appear as an added feature in ordinary books or magazines, often in the page corners. Software packages and websites are also available that convert digital video files into custom-made flip books. Flip book"

Film or cinema is one of the most rapidly moving artistic or communications media ever devised, as befits perhaps the first great mass medium of the modern era. Film has gone through a remarkable array of changes and developed a remarkable variety and sophistication in barely more than one hundred years of existence. History of film"

The Kinetoscope was a forerunner of the modern movie projector developed by William Kennedy Laurie Dickson during his employment with Thomas Edison. However, because Edison was said to have originally conceived the idea, there is debate on who the actual inventor was. Furthermore, the final product relied so heavily on the work of previous inventors, especially across the Atlantic, that Edison never bothered to apply for international copyright on the device, surmising that it would not stand up in European courts (Cook, 1990). This proved important to the subsequent development of cinema, allowing numerous imitations of and innovations on the Kinetoscope outside the United States. Kinetoscope"

The audience was reportedly frightened by the image of a train coming directly at them, screamed, and ran to the back of the room. Hellmuth Karasek of Der Spiegel wrote, "One short film had a particularly lasting impact; yes, it caused fear, terror, even panic... L'Arrivée d'un train en Gare de la Ciotat (Arrival of the Train at La Ciotat Station)....". This is a story that has been repeated numerous times in many publications and by word of mouth. The story implies a primitive audience that were absolutely fooled by the realism of the black and white moving image. L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de la Ciotat"

Arguably one of the world's first film studios, the Limelight Department was operated by The Salvation Army in Melbourne, Australia, between 1891 and 1910. The Limelight Department produced evangelical material for use by the Salvation Army, as well as private and government contracts. In its 19 years of operation, the Limelight Department produced about 300 films of various lengths, making it the largest film producer of its time. Limelight Department"

Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince, was a Frenchman who came to the north of England in 1866 in order to experiment with cinematography. In 1888 he patented a single lens camera with which he filmed what was almost certainly the world's first successful attempt to record 'moving' images. Louis Le Prince"

The magic lantern or Laterna Magica was the ancestor of the modern slide projector. Magic lantern"

The Manakis brothers, Yannis/Yannakis ( Avdela, 1878– Thessaloniki, 1954) and Miltiadis ( Avdela, 1882– Bitola, 1964) ( Greek: Γιάννης/Γιαννάκης and Μιλτιάδης Μανάκιας), were Vlach photographers and filmmakers born in the small village of Avdela in Ottoman Epirus. They made the first motion pictures in the Balkans in Monastir, Ottoman Macedonia (now Bitola) in 1905. They are also referred to as the Manakia or Manaki brothers. Manakis brothers"

MPPC stands for Motion Picture Patents Company, also known as the Edison Trust, also known as the First Oligopoly, fundend in December 1908. Motion Picture Patents Company"

Movie serials were short subjects originally shown in theaters in conjunction with a feature film. Known as "chapter plays," they were extended motion pictures broken into a number of segments called "chapters" or "episodes." A typical serial would consist of twelve to fifteen episodes. In all but the last episode, major characters would be in peril, which would be resolved at the beginning of the next episode. Often the reprised scene would add an element not seen in the previous close, but unless it contradicted something shown in the previous episode close, audiences accepted the explanation. (Though rare, a few serials did make an alternate to the previous close. These were called "cheats" by the audience.) Movie serial"

The Mutoscope was an early form of motion picture device. Like Edison's Kinetoscope it did not project on a screen, and provided viewing to only one person at a time. Cheaper and simpler than the Kinetoscope, it quickly dominated the coin-in-the-slot " peep-show" business. Mutoscope"

The National Museum of Photography, Film and Television (NMPFT) is part of the British National Museum of Science and Industry, and was founded in 1983. It is located in a former cinema on a hilltop location in the centre of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. National Museum of Photography, Film and Television"

:For the Nickelodeon Theatre in Columbia, SC, see the page on the Columbia Film Society. Nickelodeon movie theater"

* 1880 - Muybridge begins projecting his studies of figures in motion. Precursors of film"

The legacy of the United Productions of America animation studio, better known as UPA, has largely been forgotten in the wake of the era of modern U.S. animation; it has been overshadowed by the commercialization of the vast cartoon libraries of Warner Bros. and Disney. But the effect of UPA upon the medium of animation was as ground-breaking as that of Walt Disney. UPA pioneered the technique of limited animation, and though this style of animation was widely abused during the 1960s and 1970s, it was originally founded on an artistic vision of animation as a form of art. United Productions of America"

United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., 334 US 131 ( 1948) (also known as the Hollywood Antitrust Case of 1948 or the Paramount Case) was a landmark United States Supreme Court anti-trust case that decided the fate of movie studios owning their own theatres and holding exclusivity rights on which theatres would show their films. It would also change the way Hollywood movies were produced, distributed, and exhibited. The Court held in this case that the existing distribution scheme was in violation of the antitrust laws of the United States, which prohibit certain exclusive dealing arrangements. United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc."

Western Film Exchange was founded in Milwaukee in July 1906 by John R. Freuler and Harry E. Aitken for the purpose of mass producing and distributing Western films to movie theaters throughout the American midwest. One of over 100 such "exchanges," Western Film proved to be more successful than most, opening branch offices in several midwestern cities, including Chicago, St. Louis, and Joplin, Missouri. Exchanges would negotiate with film studios for the rights to a completed film production, and would distribute the product to nickelodeon movie theaters. Western Film Exchange"

Zoopraxiscope is a contraption that was important in the early technological development of motion pictures. Zoopraxiscope"