SILENT MOVIES
HOLLYWOOD’S GOLDEN AGE THE TELEVISION & THE COMPUTER AGE
1985
The French Lumière Brothers improved on Edison’s Kinetoscope and invented the cinémato-graphe, which was both a camera and a projector.
1897
The first cinema opened in Paris. Films were simply scenes of moving images- trains, parades, waterfalls... Georges Meliès, a French magician, introduced the idea of storytelling in films and was the first to use special effects.
The 1900s
There were 10,000 cinemas in the USA. An enormous amount of silent films were produced. Most were very short, lasting only a few minutes. In addition to a musical accompani-ment, piano playing for example, live actors sometimes improvised the dialogues.
The 20’s
Producers left for California where constant sunlight and varied landscapes (mountain, sea, and desert) made it possible to shoot all types of films. Hollywood became the film-making capital.
1927
Introduction of sound in the Jazz Singer, the first "Talkie"
1935
Introduction of colour
In the 60’s
With the increasing popularity of television, Hollywood’s Golden Age came to an end. Films began to reflect social changes of the times: some films criticized American attitudes towards Native Americans, (Little Big Man, 1970), or the US army intervention in the Vietnam (Apocalypse Now, 1979).
Since the early 80’s
Computers have made it possible to manipulate images and to create characters and things that seem real. The technique of morphing , in which objects change form before the viewers’ eyes, was first used in Terminator II (1990).
THE HISTORY OF THE CINEMA