The Early Development and History of Movies - Essay Example

Early Pioneers of Cinema (fill in what you need to for school, ect In a day and age where movies are all around us, and motion pictures something most people see on a often occasion, we may forgot that there was a time before these moving pictures grasped, and held on to our attention.The history of film starts in the 1890's. While Thomas Edison was working on projecting moving images, Auguste and Louis Lomerie perfected the process in France. It took almost ten years however, and in 1902, that film was finally allowed to burst into people's lives.

Made by the French film maker Georges Melies, A Trip to the Moon, was a moving picture based on a novel. It took America a year to catch up, and Edwin S. Porter produced a twenty minute film, The Great Train Robbery. In these two early films, one can see the start of two of movie's most popular genres, the sci-fi movie, and the western film.( )D.W. Griffith was one of the leading filmmakers of his, and arguably in all of filmmaking. He first stumbled upon Hollywood in 1910, and filmed the first movie there, In Old California.

In his career, he filmed over 450 short films, a massive amount for any filmmaker to reach. (Griffith 2006)By 1912 Hollywood became the center of American film and cinema. D.W. Griffith made many leaps and bounds in the now growing field. He used such techniques as multiple cameras and different angels, as well as his use of cross fading, fading in and out, and even flash backs. These are techniques still used today in the film industry, and that greatly add to film as a quality and living art form. () One of his films, The Birth of a Nation, was a three hour long silent film about the American Civil War.

Although the film was a marvel technology wise, the portrayal of blacks in the movie help stimulate an already breeding negative image. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People tried to have the filmed banned, and when those efforts failed, they attempted to have certain scenes they found especially revolting censored. D. W. Griffith denounced prejudice in his next film, Intolerance, and it is said that he wished to make a tribute movie to African Americans, but it was never filmed.

( Griffith 2006)In this era of silent films, the director had to find creative ways to express and get across the messages inside the movie. The camera was not just a camera, it was an observer, as well as a gateway inside the emotions and feelings of the onscreen characters. Often, captions were also used to help, and even sometimes live instrumental accompaniment inside the theater. Some people believed that the addition of sound to film would ruin it as an art form. However, as we all can see today, film is still one of the leading art forms, and industries of this country.

Films take us places we never have been, and put in our heads dreams that may otherwise may not have been. Without the early pioneers of film however, out heads and dreams would be empty. Thanks to these early pioneers, we have the quality and enjoyable films we have today. ReferencesNo Author D. W. Griffith October 3, 2006 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._W._GriffithI did not have the information about the book you gave me, so you just need to add it in here. Also, add that information in the parenthesis I left at the end of the paragraphs where I used that information. Thanks. I would have done it myself if I knew the author of the text book and the other information.