| A Brief History of Moving Pictures |
The Magic of the Cinema -- The Evolution of Moving Pictures
Early moving pictures (as they were called) started with a gas flame and a circular turntable with still pictures it was called
a "Magic Lantern." No one would have ever thought that from that crude beginning we would have the movie revolution
that is going on today.
In 1867, M. Bradley (from England) and William E. Lincoln (from the US) filed virtually identical patents for The
Zoetrope. The Zoetrope used slots and pictures and they would spin around in a metal cylinder. This made the pictures
look like they were moving. Much like a flip-book (animation type style paper books I used to make when I was young).
The first person attributed in creating moving pictures was Eadweard Muybridge than anyone else. He took a number of
photographs of a horse named "Abe Edgington" in 1878 and made a device to sequence the photos. The device was called
a Zoopraxiscope.
1888 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. They designed their own moving picture device it was called
a "Kinetoscope," using the Greek Greek words "kineto" meaning "movement" and "scopos" meaning "to watch." See
the photos of this early moving picture device patented in 1892. Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope was the first equipment to
use 35mm film.
It had a peephole, which the viewer looked through to see the moving pictures. The cabinet (made of wood) was about 4
feet high. It had magnifying lenses in the top section and inside the box the film. There was a continuous band of film
(about 50 feet long) that went around a series of spools. See the photo of the inside of the "Kinetoscope." There was an
electrically driven sprocket wheel and corresponding holes punched into the edges of the film; this would pull the film
under the lens continuously. Underneath the film was an electric lamp. The film moved at a rapid pace through the
shutter located between the lamp and film, giving the appearance of a moving picture.
Early moving pictures (as they were called) started with a gas flame and a circular turntable with still pictures it was called
a "Magic Lantern." No one would have ever thought that from that crude beginning we would have the movie revolution
that is going on today.
In 1867, M. Bradley (from England) and William E. Lincoln (from the US) filed virtually identical patents for The
Zoetrope. The Zoetrope used slots and pictures and they would spin around in a metal cylinder. This made the pictures
look like they were moving. Much like a flip-book (animation type style paper books I used to make when I was young).
The first person attributed in creating moving pictures was Eadweard Muybridge than anyone else. He took a number of
photographs of a horse named "Abe Edgington" in 1878 and made a device to sequence the photos. The device was called
a Zoopraxiscope.
1888 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. They designed their own moving picture device it was called
a "Kinetoscope," using the Greek Greek words "kineto" meaning "movement" and "scopos" meaning "to watch." See
the photos of this early moving picture device patented in 1892. Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope was the first equipment to
use 35mm film.
It had a peephole, which the viewer looked through to see the moving pictures. The cabinet (made of wood) was about 4
feet high. It had magnifying lenses in the top section and inside the box the film. There was a continuous band of film
(about 50 feet long) that went around a series of spools. See the photo of the inside of the "Kinetoscope." There was an
electrically driven sprocket wheel and corresponding holes punched into the edges of the film; this would pull the film
under the lens continuously. Underneath the film was an electric lamp. The film moved at a rapid pace through the
shutter located between the lamp and film, giving the appearance of a moving picture.
| Inside of a Kinetoscope |
Kinetoscope
Movie Camera
Vitascope
In 1894, the Holland Brothers opened their original Kinetoscope Parlor in New York City and for
the first time, commercially exhibited movies, as we know them today. The patrons paid twenty-
five cents for a ticket to see five of the ten machines that were set up in two rows. Each machine
had a different film and only one customer could use a machine at any given time. Soon
Kinetoscope Parlors sprang up in many towns across the country, often as part of Phonograph
Parlors that were already in operation.
As you can see by the photo of a Kinetoscope we have come a long way from those early moving
pictures in 1894. I actually saw one of these. Years ago when I was very young probably younger
than 7 years old they had Kinetoscopes in Penny Arcades. They usually showed photos of ladies
dancing. At one time they were used for “Peep Shows.”
The Lumiere brothers, Auguste and Louis, produced what is arguably the first real cinema show
with the presentation of their Lumiere Cinematographe to a paying audience at the Grand Cafe
in Paris December 1895. I don’t think it matters who made the first one. It is amazing to see
how far we have come and how very inventive all these early cinema pioneers were.
Early films during this period were mostly actuality films. These were motion pictures taken of
everyday life and events as they occurred. The films contained scenes of vaudeville performers,
notable persons, railway trains, scenic places, foreign views, fire and police workers, military
exercises, parades, naval scenes, expositions, parades, and sporting events. A newly invented
mobile camera had made it possible to film everyday scenes in places outside the studio.
Business began to decline by 1900; Vaudeville theaters had begun to drop films from their
program, or to put them on as "chasers," the closing act that would play while patrons filed out.
Charles Urban first made his name through the Bioscope projector. It proved so successful and
popular an invention that it became a generic term for cinema itself. Urban was one of the major
figures of early cinema. Urban did much to establish the documentary, news, travel and
educational film, as well as being the producer of the world's first successful natural color motion
picture system, Kinemacolor.
the first time, commercially exhibited movies, as we know them today. The patrons paid twenty-
five cents for a ticket to see five of the ten machines that were set up in two rows. Each machine
had a different film and only one customer could use a machine at any given time. Soon
Kinetoscope Parlors sprang up in many towns across the country, often as part of Phonograph
Parlors that were already in operation.
As you can see by the photo of a Kinetoscope we have come a long way from those early moving
pictures in 1894. I actually saw one of these. Years ago when I was very young probably younger
than 7 years old they had Kinetoscopes in Penny Arcades. They usually showed photos of ladies
dancing. At one time they were used for “Peep Shows.”
The Lumiere brothers, Auguste and Louis, produced what is arguably the first real cinema show
with the presentation of their Lumiere Cinematographe to a paying audience at the Grand Cafe
in Paris December 1895. I don’t think it matters who made the first one. It is amazing to see
how far we have come and how very inventive all these early cinema pioneers were.
Early films during this period were mostly actuality films. These were motion pictures taken of
everyday life and events as they occurred. The films contained scenes of vaudeville performers,
notable persons, railway trains, scenic places, foreign views, fire and police workers, military
exercises, parades, naval scenes, expositions, parades, and sporting events. A newly invented
mobile camera had made it possible to film everyday scenes in places outside the studio.
Business began to decline by 1900; Vaudeville theaters had begun to drop films from their
program, or to put them on as "chasers," the closing act that would play while patrons filed out.
Charles Urban first made his name through the Bioscope projector. It proved so successful and
popular an invention that it became a generic term for cinema itself. Urban was one of the major
figures of early cinema. Urban did much to establish the documentary, news, travel and
educational film, as well as being the producer of the world's first successful natural color motion
picture system, Kinemacolor.
| Photo of a Bioscope projector 1900 |
Urban's Bioscope projector -- The original Bioscope as devised by Isaacs and Urban was an excellently engineered
machine, which employed the eccentric 'beater' movement for its intermittent, borrowing from the patent of the French
inventor Georges Demenÿ. It avoided flicker by having no shutter, with the consequent disadvantage of a blurred effect
known as 'rain', though increased illumination and rapid pull-down partly compensated for this. An attachable spool-bank
allowed for continuous projection if so desired. It had no belts or chains. The simple gate comprised two velvet pads. There
was no take-up reel, and the finished film simply fell into a basket. It was strongly promoted and warmly received for its
steady picture and absence of flicker, which for many seemed more than adequate compensation for rain. It was a fine
projector, whose significant defects were corrected by Cecil Hepworth in Britain in 1898 (he added a shutter, an improved
gate and a take-up device); further improvements were to be made by Alfred Darling. Practical and inventive features
were always to distinguish the Bioscope, establishing it as one of the most reliable and popular projectors on the market
for over ten years. The Bioscope in its modified form was destined to make the greatest impact worldwide.
A commitment to the actuality film, and especially in his earliest years as a film producer the travel film, meant a team
of traveling cameramen. Among these were the mountaineering cameraman Frank Ormiston-Smith, Jack Avery and
most famously Joseph Rosenthal, a leading cameraman during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. Urban had four
cameramen in South Africa in different places and at different times (Edgar Hyman, John Benett-Stanford and Sydney
Goldman were the others), but Rosenthal was the star name among them, and his special talent for securing the ideal
image for any corner of the earth under whatever difficulties was greatly cherished by Urban. The filming of the Anglo-
Boer War becoming a testing ground for the infant film industry in Britain, and the public enthusiasm for the
accomplished and regular diet of films supplied by Rosenthal and his fellow war film correspondents help to establish the
industry firmly in the public eye. In 1911 Urban (now a British subject) and a team of cameramen travel to India to film
the Delhi Durbar (in celebration of the coronation of King George V) in Kinemacolor. In 1912 "The Delhi Durbar" film
opens at the Scala Theatre on 2 February, and becomes Urban's greatest triumph.
By the 1920s, motion pictures had become the primary form of entertainment in the world, with 65 million Americans
going to the movies every week in more than 15,000 theaters -- styled then as luxury palaces.
Moving pictures celebrates 100 years. The type of film distributed and projected on screens for now is 35mm film, but the
digital wave is on its way.
Dolby, DTS and Sony are monitoring digital-cinema developments and working with different standards committees. This
year, DTS introduced a two-step analog and digital-audio processor and a cinema-subtitling system that project directly
onto the screen. Projection vendors Christie, Barco and Imax have announced DLP-based projectors. This spring, Kodak
opened its digital cinema Imaging Technology Center (ITC) in Hollywood, and the Entertainment Technology Center --
with the backing of the major studios -- unveiled its digital-cinema laboratory at the Hollywood Pacific Theater.
Boeing Digital Cinema transmitted "Spy Kids" at the annual ShoWest exhibition convention. In July, "Jurassic Park
III" was presented in digital cinemas at California's Universal Studios with THX Digital Services compressing and
burning the entire film with multichannel audio onto 13 DVD-Rs and loading them onto servers at each theater.
I won’t even go into IMAX films and 3D film projection that is for another time. Also don’t forget Technicolor™ being
added to films that made movies even more enjoyable.
We used to have lots of drive-inn theatres, now there are only about 100 left in the US. When I was young you had to
drive a distance to get to a movie theater and there was only the one group of feature films. Of course you got two
feature films and cartoons, today you get one feature film…but oh what a difference in quality. Also, now there are
multiplex theaters that offer a variety of films for the movie-going public.
I am really amazed at how much things have changed since I was a young girl growing up in Hollywood and it does not
seem to be stopping.
Get your goodies, sit down, relax and remember all the work that goes into making your movie-going experience one you
will never forget. Seeing “Lord of the Rings” on a small screen in your living room is nothing like seeing it on the big
screen at a movie theatre. So go to the movies and enjoy a great experience…then buy the DVD!
machine, which employed the eccentric 'beater' movement for its intermittent, borrowing from the patent of the French
inventor Georges Demenÿ. It avoided flicker by having no shutter, with the consequent disadvantage of a blurred effect
known as 'rain', though increased illumination and rapid pull-down partly compensated for this. An attachable spool-bank
allowed for continuous projection if so desired. It had no belts or chains. The simple gate comprised two velvet pads. There
was no take-up reel, and the finished film simply fell into a basket. It was strongly promoted and warmly received for its
steady picture and absence of flicker, which for many seemed more than adequate compensation for rain. It was a fine
projector, whose significant defects were corrected by Cecil Hepworth in Britain in 1898 (he added a shutter, an improved
gate and a take-up device); further improvements were to be made by Alfred Darling. Practical and inventive features
were always to distinguish the Bioscope, establishing it as one of the most reliable and popular projectors on the market
for over ten years. The Bioscope in its modified form was destined to make the greatest impact worldwide.
A commitment to the actuality film, and especially in his earliest years as a film producer the travel film, meant a team
of traveling cameramen. Among these were the mountaineering cameraman Frank Ormiston-Smith, Jack Avery and
most famously Joseph Rosenthal, a leading cameraman during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. Urban had four
cameramen in South Africa in different places and at different times (Edgar Hyman, John Benett-Stanford and Sydney
Goldman were the others), but Rosenthal was the star name among them, and his special talent for securing the ideal
image for any corner of the earth under whatever difficulties was greatly cherished by Urban. The filming of the Anglo-
Boer War becoming a testing ground for the infant film industry in Britain, and the public enthusiasm for the
accomplished and regular diet of films supplied by Rosenthal and his fellow war film correspondents help to establish the
industry firmly in the public eye. In 1911 Urban (now a British subject) and a team of cameramen travel to India to film
the Delhi Durbar (in celebration of the coronation of King George V) in Kinemacolor. In 1912 "The Delhi Durbar" film
opens at the Scala Theatre on 2 February, and becomes Urban's greatest triumph.
By the 1920s, motion pictures had become the primary form of entertainment in the world, with 65 million Americans
going to the movies every week in more than 15,000 theaters -- styled then as luxury palaces.
Moving pictures celebrates 100 years. The type of film distributed and projected on screens for now is 35mm film, but the
digital wave is on its way.
Dolby, DTS and Sony are monitoring digital-cinema developments and working with different standards committees. This
year, DTS introduced a two-step analog and digital-audio processor and a cinema-subtitling system that project directly
onto the screen. Projection vendors Christie, Barco and Imax have announced DLP-based projectors. This spring, Kodak
opened its digital cinema Imaging Technology Center (ITC) in Hollywood, and the Entertainment Technology Center --
with the backing of the major studios -- unveiled its digital-cinema laboratory at the Hollywood Pacific Theater.
Boeing Digital Cinema transmitted "Spy Kids" at the annual ShoWest exhibition convention. In July, "Jurassic Park
III" was presented in digital cinemas at California's Universal Studios with THX Digital Services compressing and
burning the entire film with multichannel audio onto 13 DVD-Rs and loading them onto servers at each theater.
I won’t even go into IMAX films and 3D film projection that is for another time. Also don’t forget Technicolor™ being
added to films that made movies even more enjoyable.
We used to have lots of drive-inn theatres, now there are only about 100 left in the US. When I was young you had to
drive a distance to get to a movie theater and there was only the one group of feature films. Of course you got two
feature films and cartoons, today you get one feature film…but oh what a difference in quality. Also, now there are
multiplex theaters that offer a variety of films for the movie-going public.
I am really amazed at how much things have changed since I was a young girl growing up in Hollywood and it does not
seem to be stopping.
Get your goodies, sit down, relax and remember all the work that goes into making your movie-going experience one you
will never forget. Seeing “Lord of the Rings” on a small screen in your living room is nothing like seeing it on the big
screen at a movie theatre. So go to the movies and enjoy a great experience…then buy the DVD!
Vegas' Arts & Entertainment Corner
Lights -- Camera -- Action!
ZOETROPE