Task 1: Editing in Early Cinema

Task 1

Lumiere brothers

The Lumiere brothers were French early film makers. Auguste and Louis Lumiere's father worked ran a photographic company from which both of the brothers worked for.Auguste being the oldest brother worked as the manager of their fathers company, while Louis worked as a physicist. They were known for creating very short films. Their first film was called La Sortie des ouvriers de l’usine Lumiere which recorded workers leaving the Lumiere Factory. This was speculated to be the first motion picture ever created. The brothers created a projected called Cinématographe which is French for Cinema, which is used for media today. Their films was recorded with a single camera and it consisted of 16 frames per second. Although the Lumiere brothers developed early cinema, they stated that Cinema had no future and decided to sell their cameras to other filmmakers, one including George Melies. Despite both of them known to invent motion-film, Louis the younger brother developed more technology towards motion-picture.

First film below

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Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison was an American Inventor and businessman. Edison is known for inventing several equipment used worldwide. He is greatly known for developing early motion picture, electric light bulbs and the Phonograph. The Phonograph is a device that is used for recording and producing sound, you may know it as the gramophone. Thomas Edison wasn't the first to invent a device that could play sound, however he was the first to develop a device that could play the sound it recorded. Thomas Edison developed the Kinetoscope which was a early motion picture invention that allowed you to watch short films looking through a peephole, the bad thing about this was, only one person could look at it at a time.
Thomas Edison's most famous quote was "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Thomas Edison is also speculated to be the first to create a motion picture camera and to have created a long lasting electric bulb.  He acquired a camera, built a studio and wrote scripts. Thomas Edison ran a film laboratory and a film production organisation called Edison studios during the time of Edison studios, it was known to produce 1,200 films. Thomas Edison also developed the 35mm film strip that became the industry standard.

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Georges Méliès

Georges Méliès was a French illusionist and filmmaker, he was known for his visually strange movie effects. His technologies was advanced for his time. He was known for the short film "The vanishing lady" He made a film called "voyage a travers l'impossible" which was one the first films with drawn colour. George Melies died in 1938, during his life he created around 500 films. His special effects made him very successful. In 1895 he saw moving pictures, it caught his attention so he started to create his own films. Georges also discovered that by using stop-motion photography he was able to apply visual effects. He was famous for, "The vanishing lady" as it showed a pause, then it cut to another scene, so show the women in the video vanish. Georges Melies was also an early pioneer of horror Cinema, his first horror film was The Haunted Castle (1896) Georges Melies also used hand-painted colour in his fllms, he also used transitions such as Dissolve, which gradually changed into another picture.

G.A Smith

G.A Smith was a British hypnotist and also a very successful film-maker and inventor. He was known for his successful development of colour film process called Kinemacolor. His first film was called the "The Haunted Castle" during 1897. His interest in film started when he went to see the Lumiere brothers at the Empire theatre. G.A Smith required his first camera and began making films, he also built the second film studio in Britain. He started getting popular during 1898 when he was creating his films, he was unique as he used his knowledge of illusions in film.   G.A Smith most famous films were "The kiss in the tunnel" and "The miller and the sweep" They were very important as they were considered to mark the beginnings of narrative editing, which advanced films to have dialogue. 

Edwin Porter

Edwin Stanton Porter was an American film pioneer, he worked for Thomas Edison's company "Edison Manufacturing Company". He invented the Simplex camera which used 35mm strips.  He later left Edison's company and formed his own company called "Rex Films" in 1911. His film "The Life of an American Fireman" was very advanced at the time, the film lasted for six minutes, that was a very long time for a film during the time. The film was famous for it's innovative technologies at the time, it had in total seven scenes, all together telling the story. Edwin Porter also created a film called "The great train robbery" the film was created in 1903 and was considered to be a milestone in film making, it was also known to be better than "The Life of an American Fireman" as it was more advanced. The great train robbery in parts, were hand painted in colour.  

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Charles Pathé

Charles Pathe was a French pioneer who worked on producing films, he also owns Pathé Records and Pathé which is a film studio that founded in 1896. He opened Pathé, determined to enter the motion picture production. In 1926 he sold his business and retired to Monaco. He made "The Runaway Horse" it was a comedy which meant the audience was introduced to a genre that they had never seen before, thus becoming very successful. He created Pathe Records his brother Emile which was actually a record company. Two years later he then formed Pathe which was the motion picture company, their famous Logo with the chicken can be recognized in some of the films of today. The company "Pathe" manufactured and sold Phonographs. The company also used Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope in their Cinemas. Charles Pathe also used cameras developed by the Lumiere Brothers. Charles Pathe's first produced film was "Les Miserables" which is still well known today with its 2012 re-make. 

 

D.W Griffith

D.W Griffith was an American film director, who's famous by his film "The birth of a Nation" He was born in Kentucky, 1875. His first film "The birth of a Nation" was a hugely successful but controversial film, as it was well made, but the film was around the KKK, and black slaves. The birth of a Nation" seemed to glamourize the KKK as D.W Griffith was a racist, that had an extreme hatred for black people, the black people portrayed in "The birth of a Nation" was played by white actors, as they didn't want black actors. D.W Griffith used Cross-Cutting editing, it was a film editing technique used in other films during the time, however D.W Griffith took Cross-Cutting editing to the next level, as he uses parallel editing for suspense and different filming locations. D.W Griffith was also one of the first to use editing techniques in full length films. D.W Griffith started making films in 1908 but wasn't well known until 1915, D.W Griffith's film "The Birth of a Nation" glamorized the KKK and the film itself was extremely controversial and was banned in most cities of America as there was riots in the theatre.