The Invention of Celluloid Film:
1885 - American inventor George Eastman introduces film made on a paper base instead of glass, wound in a roll, eliminating the need for glass plates. 1888 - By developing films in its own processing plants, Eastman Kodak eliminates the need for amateur photographers to process their own pictures. The Emergence of Motion Pictures: 1878 - British photographer Eadward Muybridge takes the first successful photographs of motion, showing how people and animals move. 1882 - Etienne-Jules Marey in France develops a camera, shaped like a gun, that can take twelve pictures per second. 1889 - Thomas Edison and W.K. Dickson develop the Kinetoscope, a peep-show device in which film is moved past a light. 1893 - Thomas Edison displays his Kinetoscope at the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago and receives patents for his movie camera, the Kinetograph, and his peepshow device. Edison constructs the first motion picture studio in New Jersey. 1894 - Coin-operated Kinetoscopes appear in a New York City amusement arcade. 1895 - Two French brothers, Louis and August Lumiere patent a combination movie camera and projector, capable of projecting an image that can be seen by many people. In Paris, they present the first commercial exhibition of projected motion pictures. 1898 - Edison files the first of many patent infringement suits, claiming that others are using equipment based on his Kinetograph camera. |
The Rise of the Motion Picture Industry:
1902 Henry Miles and his brothers set up the first film exchange, allowing exhibitors to rent films instead of buying them. 1903 Edwin S. Porter, chief of production at the Edison studio, helps to shift film production toward story telling with such films as The Life of an American Fireman and The Great Train Robbery, the first western. 1905 Harry Davis opens the first nickelodeon in Pittsburgh. Cooper Hewitt mercury lamps make it practical to shoot films indoors without sunlight. 1906 The first animated cartoon is produced. 1907 The Saturday Evening Post reports that daily attendance at nickelodeons exceeded two million. Chicago gives police authority to ban movies. 1908 Nine leading film producers set up the Motion Pictures Patents Company, and agree not to sell or lease equipment to any distributors who purchase motion pictures from any other company. Kodak agrees to sell film stock only to member companies. A scandal over bribery for licensing movie theaters and immorality in films leads New York City to temporarily shut all nickelodeons. 1909 There are about 9,000 movie theaters in the United States. The typical film is only a single reel long, or ten- to twelve minutes in length, and the performers were anonymous. Members of the Motion Picture Patents Company submit their films to the New York State Board of Censorship. 1925 The first inflight movie, a black & white, silent film called The Lost World, is shown in a WWI converted Handley-Page bomber during a 30-minute flight near London. |
All information on this page is specifically owned by Digital History and is for educational purposes only.
Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2013). Digital History. Retrieved (8/20/2013) from
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu
Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2013). Digital History. Retrieved (8/20/2013) from
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu
Revised August 20th, 2013