Movies

Making pictures MOVE on the big screen The history of the big screen features an all-star cast of inventors, stories of success, and a happy ending.

Picture pioneers

English doctor P.M. Roget found that seeing an object in similar positions over a rapid sequence, like this one of a horse running, resulted in the object appearing to move. In 1824, he called this “persistence of vision.” Inventors wanted to create a better way to produce the illusion of moving images from still ones.

French premiere

The first to figure it out were the French brothers Auguste and louis lumière. They held the first public showing of projected moving images in a Parisian café basement in 1895. Their combined portable camera and projector, the cinematograph, recorded “moving pictures” on a strip of celluloid film. The premiere was a hit with the paying audience and hailed the start of the moTion picTure era. By the way... By inventing the cinematograph, we became masters of the short film, with more than 1,000 clips to our names.

Film f rsts...

Silent movieS were replaced by “talkies” (f lms with dialogue and music), starting with The Jazz Singer in 1927.

©A.M.P.A.S.® The annual movie awards ceremony called the Academy Awards, or oScarS, began in Hollywood in 1929.

The film passes through the projector, stopping for a moment on each frame.

The magic lantern provides a bright light that passes through the film.

In 1932, the Technicolor company released a camera that made color f lm possible. The Wizard of oz was one of the f rst releases. The first films by the Lumière brothers caused a sensation. One depicted people leaving a factory, while another showed a train arriving at a station (above). Although today’s blockbusters use new technology and special effects, movies remain just a series of separate images played in quick succession.

How it changed the world

Motion pictures led to the creation of the movie industry, which has enthralled audiences for decades and made stars of the actors appearing in its films. People around the world spend about $30 billion on movie tickets every year.

The lens focuses and directs the light onto a screen so the film can be seen.

DId you know? In the 1930s, movie theaters were decorated with chandeliers and carpets. They were so lavish that audiences called them “movie palaces.”

Now known as Bollywood, the Indian f lm industry boomed from the 1950s onward, with hundreds of new releases every year.