Film History Part 1: The Origin of Moving Photos

The Creation of Moving Images

2018 will be a year dedicated to film for us. So, each issue will circle around one particular film. But that’s not all. Even though the films we’ll look at are as different as can be, all issues will be connected by insights into the history of this exciting media. In this feature, we present you the creation of the moving image. Making pictures run was a huge challenge for numerous inventors and can be divided into equally numerous stages. Here, we present you the most important steps.

Every beginning is hard: The first presentations

Today, making movies is a universally accessible medium. Thanks to smartphones, the movie theatre got mobile. Just take out the phone from your pocket and you’re ready to start: shooting, cutting, and even playing is made possible by a mini-projector. There are no limits for film enthusiasts to give life to their images. Three centuries ago, all this was simply unthinkable. The first early forms of »films« resulted from stringing pictures together. In the 18 th century, those were painted pictures that made their first steps with the »laterna magica«.

This device, also called »skioptikon«, can be compared to today’s slide projector. While the box was illuminated by a candle or a gas lantern, the conductor moved a painted glass plate in front of the lens to project the image on a wall. During the 19th century, showmen presented their so-called »laterna magicaSHOWS« on fairs or exhibitions, thus contributing to its distribution throughout Europe. The shows were often accompanied by music and, later, were used for the so-called »national education«. The presentations mostly dealt with issues regarding geography, theatre or politics.

The illusionof movement

In 1832, the so-called »phenakistiscope« emerged independently in Belgium and Austria by the inventors Joseph Plateau and Simon Stampfer. The phenakistiscope causes the illusion of movement for the viewer. Certain phases of movement, like the ones of a dancing couple, are arranged in a circle on a rotatable round disc made of cardboard. Between the drawings are small slots. When the disc is placed in front of a mirror, it can be put into motion. When the viewer looks through the slots from behind, the motives seem to »move«. This is called the stroboscopic effect. The phenakistiscope spread through Europe like a virus. In trade, it had names like »Magic Disc« or »Fantascope« which made the little game become a huge success.

The invention of photography was essential to the further development of the moving image. When the Frenchman Nicéphore Niépce took the very first photograph in history in 1826, it was a milestone. The photo showed the view from the window of his study. Yet with the exposure taking eight hours back then, it was impossible to photograph people. The theatre painter Louis Daguerre was so excited about Niépce’s work that they collaborated to find a way of reducing the exposure time. However, only after Niépce’s death, was the endeavor successful and the so-called daguerreotype paved the way to photography and the moving image.

The Galloping Horse

The British photographer E a d w e a r d Muybridge had a breakthrough in this field in 1878, when he took a series of photos of a galloping horse. The background: In spring 1872, the railway entrepreneur Leland Stanford asked him to find out with his photo camera if a galloping horse always has at least one hoof on the ground or if all four hooves are in mid air for a moment. The first attempt failed. But five years later, Muybridge captured the individual phases of the motion sequence in a series of shots on a ranch in Palo Alto. The horse galloped in front of a white wall. Twelve cameras with lenses with the same focal length were placed in front of it. A contact wire lead from the track to every camera. By ripping the wire, the respective camera was triggered; the first photo series was the result. It was published in many newspapers and magazines under the name »The Horse in Motion«.

One year later, Muybridge also invented the zoopraxiscope, a projector for chronophotographically created images. This way, the photos of the galloping horse could run in a fast sequence. The illusion of a film arose that could be projected on a screen by using a light bulb.

The First Film in Film history and the Birth of Cinematography

The Frenchman Louis Le Prince developed the first film camera with only one lens in 1888. He was able to shoot the first moving images with it and the very first and oldest film in history was created: The Roundhay Garden Scene. After that, lenses became gradually brighter and the exposure time was reduced to 30 seconds. George Eastman started selling the Kodak box (today: Eastman Kodak Company) which could play 15 images per seconds. A revolution back then: cinematography. Cinematography means movement and includes the technology of recording and showing moving images. An essential step on the way of films becoming a mass medium.

Text: Jemima Oettler

Illustrations: Beth Walrond