History of Filmmaking

1891 – Kinetograph designed and patented by T. A. Edison and W.K. Dickson
1893 – Kinetoscope designed by Dickson shown in public ( a box with a peephole to show
images after inserting a coin....didn´t have much success)
1895 – pictures projected to the audience for the first time in Paris with a Cinematograph
made by Lumiere brothers. First films showed one scene which took about a minute.
1898 – Robert Paul´s company used cut to longer the film.
1901 – developement of new techniques G.A. Smith invented the basic technique of breaking a
filmed scene down into a number of shots taken from different camera positions ( The
Little Doctors)
1902 – James Williamson developed the movement of action through series of shots taken in
various locations (Stop!, The Thief. )
1903 – chase films : characters pursude through more and more different scenes
1905 – Nickeldeon in Pittsburgh : the first cinema running fulltime (before, there was no special
place for presenting movies)
1908 – MPPC : a Motion Picture Patents Company established. ( intended to control the film
business, succeeded only for 2 years)
1908 – new company in France : Film d´Art with a programme using artistically recognized
writers, musicians and actors.
*D.W. Griffith : actor, playwright and director. He used and invented acting gesture,
moved his actors from space to space, developed the technique of crosscutting between
parallel actions.
1912 – Western shots in California develops : the use of reverse-angle shots and POV a
point of viev shot.
1909 – Mack Sennet intensified comedy effect by undercracking : speeding up the actions. Comediants created a more naturalistic character ( Max Linder, Charlie Chaplin)
1913 – feature films ( La Caduta di Troia). A basic feature of a wellmade play was a task for
the hero: to overcome the challenge and get the girl aswell.
1914 – new technical devices as flashback and tracking shot : moving the camera while
filming.
1919 – Hollywood becomes the major center of production. United Artists is a company made by prominent figures: Charlie Chaplin, Mary
Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith
1920 – major am.

production and distribution companies were consolidated with Metro –
Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), Warner Bross, Columbia, Fox, Paramount and United
Artists.
Comedies and grotesques with Ch. Chaplin and B. Keaton were influenced by german
film makers – renewed intrest in camera movement.
1920 – systems for synchronizing recorded sound with films
1926 – Warner Bross introduced amplifiers comercially
1930 - sound movies also in Western Europe and other countries, film uses greater amount of
dialogues and script scenes. European films are shot from a greater distance from
actors, shots are longer, more talk than action. 1930s- economic depression – reduced cinema income – produced bankruptcy
With coming of sound 3 new genres were developed: musical, genres dealing with
gangsters and newspaper men.
Most of the time unpleasant social issues were avoided. WB sometimes produced films
about prison, labor conditions...
1930 – system of full color cinematography Technicolor. Very expensive, first used with Gone
with the Wind.
1940 – trend to shoot exterier scenes on real locations rather than in studios, trend to shoot
scenes with long takes ( A. Hitchkock : only 5 shots in 80 minutes)
1941 – new construction of screenplay : story told in monochronical flashbacks from the
viewpoint of different characters ( Citizen Kane, Orson Welles)
1948 – americ. government asked for more room for independent film production. Cinema,
Cinemascope and stereoscopic films were introduced. More American filming was
done in full color and on foreign locations. 1951 – the Technicolor process replaced by Eastman Color based on Agfacolor system
1960 - young filmakers get a chance, filming of ordinary scenes with telephoto and room
lenses, jump cuts, mood within the scenes.
1970 - Huge growth of the sale of video cassette recordings of cinema films ( directors
Robert Altman, Woody Allen). Sales for television accounted almost half of the sales. From 1970s a main trend in Hollywood production is : extremely expencive , big-
budget, all action pictures, sci-fi subjects, special effects play a big part, storylines
are simplier. Trend began by George Lucas´ Star Wars (1977).

Most succesfull film-
maker is Steven Spielberg.
1980 – encrease of pace of cutting (films contain 2000 shots)
Major technical developement : Steadycam (device for moving camera around on
flexible arm atteched to a harness onto the cameraman. Computer animation is used.
1995 – total cinema box-office gross for USA was 5,5 billion dollars.