The history of cinematography

The history of cinema begins in the 19th century. Although photography as a method of capturing still images appeared in the first half of the 19th century, in order for the process of capturing and reproducing movement to become possible, it was required that photography could take place with short exposures.

But even after the appearance of the corresponding types of photographic emulsions in the 70s of the 19th century, the art of cinema did not appear immediately. What seems obvious to us today, the inventors and pioneers of cinema did not immediately understand. Dozens of attempts were made to create systems for recording and reproducing moving images, in which even the famous Edison even took part, but his system turned out to be inconvenient, designed only for individual viewing, which made it impossible for Edison to succeed.

The inventors

As a result, the French, the brothers Louis and Auguste Lumiere, became the recognized inventors of cinema. Their apparatus turned out to be very convenient, with its help it was possible to easily shoot and show films on the big screen, which predetermined the success of their invention. “Cinematography” – this was the name of the device that was invented by brothers.

The birthday

The first public demonstration was given in Paris in March 1895, but the birthday of the cinema is considered a different date, December 28, 1895, when the first commercial film show took place (this happened in the basement of the Grand Café on Boulevard des Capucines).

In their sessions, the brothers demonstrated several short (only 50 seconds-long) videos, the first of which was “Workers leaving the factory”. The most popular of these videos, however, was called “Train Arriving.” The train on the screen seemed to be approaching the hall, which looked very realistic and made a strong impression on the audience.

The initial period of cinema development

After the ingenious invention of the Lumieres, a completely new chapter began. The pioneers who created systems for recording and reproducing images did not foresee all the possibilities of using cinematographic art. The Lumieres believed that the main function of their invention was the recording and preservation of newsreels for posterity.

Others considered the demonstration of moving pictures as just amusing entertainment. However, even in the absence of story-driven cinema, this genre was rapidly gaining popularity. The interest in the cinema of some influential people, heads of states, including the Russian tsar, greatly contributed to the spread of cinema throughout the world.

A little bit later, the director of one of the Parisian theaters, Georges Melies, became interested in cinematography. He was the first to appreciate the possibilities of cinema, seeing in it, first of all, an excellent means to greatly expand the possibilities of theatres. He was the first to make films based on scripts, using many film-specific tricks and special effects. In general, he became one of the main founders of cinema as an independent art form. One of Melies’ most famous films is called Voyage to the Moon (1902).

During the first decade of the 20th century, the length and variety of movie scripts have gradually and steadily increased. The attitude in society towards cinema has changed – from perceiving it only as a form of entertainment to perceiving it as a form of art. In 1908, the concept of “film d’art” appeared in France.

Sound cinema development

Until 1927, almost all films were “silent”, they contained only an image, without sound. In the early 1920s, the first system appeared that was capable of recording and playing sound films.

Development of color cinema

The introduction of color into cinema was slower than the introduction of sound. The technical possibilities of creating color films of a proper quality appeared back in the 30s, and in 1939 one of the first color films was shot in the United States, which gained immense popularity. It was called “Gone with the Wind”. Nevertheless, the stable preponderance of color films over black-and-white began to take shape only in the 60-70s.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, cinematography developed even more slowly than in the previous decade.

The aesthetic revolutionaries of the 1960s were gradually disappearing from the scene, the social Protestants of the 1970s were losing their fighting spirit, and they were not replaced by artists of comparable talent. So, there were no external factors that could stimulate cinema. New aesthetic and technical means practically did not appear either: multichannel sound recording, which made it possible to localize sound even behind the back of the viewer, did not create noticeable artistic possibilities, and the time of visual computer effects came a little later.

Our days

Since that time, the situation has changed. Nowadays, the possibilities of cinematography are endless. Diverse complicated effects are utilized to create a new reality for viewers.