What Was the Early History of Film?
In New York City, Thomas Edison and his assistant, William Dickinson, were worried that others were quickly gaining ground when it came to using the camera to its full potential. Just a few years after 1888, the pair became eager to unveil a primitive device that could record moving pictures in 1890: the Kinetograph.
Since the 1800s, the seventh art has changed dramatically. After the introduction of the Lumière brothers’ projections to modern computer-generated graphic films, traditional film practices have been reflected onto today’s popular altered patterns of film style.
Arrangements of shot durations, motion, and luminance are being constantly revolutionized to increase the engagement of a movie viewer. Cognitive psychology has proven that rapid changes in the visual field can attract our eye movements and attention.
“A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet.”
–Orson Welles
The Moving Image:
While shadow puppets acted as inspiration for some, magic lantern shows from the 1600s were an early version of modern-day projectors, which were crucial to the birth of cinema. Modern movies traditionally have more action than older films. Modern movies often increase shot durations and decrease motion by calculating how many pixels change from one frame to the next across the entire production because action sequences cause one's heart rate to increase and their galvanic skin to respond. The galvanic skin refers to a change in the electrical resistance of the skin that increases in hot flashes depending on the intensity of certain emotional states. Therefore, the interweaving of motion to shot changes maintains the viewers’ attention.
Triangle of Tolerability, James Cutting, Data From a Century of Cinema Reveals How Movies Have Evolved
The Thaumatrope of the 1820s:
The optical toy was introduced by the astronomer Sir John Herschel in 1824 and made popular by English physicist, Dr. John A. Paris. It was a disk with designs on the front and back of it that was attached by two pieces of string that were tied on the sides. When the strings were quickly twirled between the fingers, the pictures appeared to blend into one as if the picture was in motion. The persistence of vision acted not only as a shock value and source of entertainment, but also piqued people’s interest in animation and the moving image.
The Phenakistoscope of the 1830s:
A giant magnifying glass with disc pictures on the edges made it look like the images were moving when one looked through the slots at their reflection in the mirror. First invented by Simon von Stampfer in 1832 and renamed the phenakistoscope by Joseph Plateau, it was the first widespread animation device that created a fluent illusion of motion.
The Zoetrope of the 1830s:
In 1834, William George Horner invented the zoetrope, a rotating drum lined by a sequence of drawings or photographs that could easily be changed. Since it didn’t have mirrors, the progressive phases of motion could be viewed by several people at once. This was an improvement to the phenakistoscope because it created a fluent range and illusion of motion.
The Praxinoscope of the 1870s:
The praxinoscope was a successor to the zoetrope after being invented in France in 1877 by Charles-Émile Reynaud. Similar to the zoetrope, it used a strip of twelve frames for animation placed around the inner surface of a spinning cylinder. The design prevented distortion and revealed a ‘single image’ in motion, so it quickly replaced the other optical toys in the 19th century.
As the quality of the film industry has improved, films have also been improved to have a more dynamic range with the introduction of shorter shots, different patterns of shots, more motion, and changing of light. These advances are all seen with the pioneering of the following: projection, film, and cameras, film formats, development of tripods in the Silent Era, the production of sound through disk talkies, technicolor, Cinerama and Cinemascope, omnimax, and 3D movies. Other developments include animatronics, motion control, and optics.
The arrival of Technicolor allowed films to be recorded in color, which marked a turning point in history and led to today’s 3D animation, image digitalization, and computer-generated graphics. These can be seen in Pixar and Disney movies and through the CGI in Avatar and Jurassic World.
The Psychology of Color in Film according to No Film School:
RED – anger, passion, rage, desire, excitement, energy, speed, strength, power, heat, love, aggression, danger, fire, blood, war, violence.
PINK – love, innocence, health, happiness, contentedness, romance, charm, playfulness, softness, delicateness, feminineness.
YELLOW – wisdom, knowledge, relaxation, joy, happiness, optimism, idealism, imagination, hope, sunshine, summer, dishonesty, cowardice, betrayal, jealousy, covetousness, deceit, illness, hazards.
ORANGE – humor, energy, balance, warmth, enthusiasm, vibrancy, expansiveness, flamboyancy.
GREEN – healing, soothingness, perseverance, tenacity, self-awareness, pride, unchanging nature, environment, health, good luck, renewal, youth, vigor, spring, generosity, fertility, jealousy, inexperience, envy.
BLUE – faith, spirituality, contentment, loyalty, fulfillment, peace, tranquility, calmness, stability, harmony, unity, trust, truth, confidence, conservatism, security, cleanliness, order, sky, water, coolness, technology, depression.
PURPLE/VIOLET – eroticy, royalty, nobility, spirituality, ceremony, mysteriousness, transformation, wisdom, enlightenment, cruelty, arrogance, mourning, power, sensitivity, intimacy.
BROWN – materialistic tendencies, sensation, earth, home, outdoors, reliability, comfort, endurance, stability, simplicity.
BLACK – “No”, power, sexuality, sophistication, formality, elegance, wealth, mystery, fear, anonymity, unhappiness, depth, style, evil, sadness, remorse, anger
WHITE – “Yes”, protection, love, reverence, purity, simplicity, cleanliness, peace, humility, precision, innocence, youth, birth, winter, snow, good, sterility, marriage (Western cultures), death (Eastern cultures), cold, clinical, sterile
SILVER – riches, glamorousness, being distinguished, earthy, natural, sleek, elegant, high-tech
GOLD – precious, riches, extravagance. warmth, wealth, prosperity, grandeur
“If it’s a good movie, the sound could go off and the audience would still have a pretty clear idea of what’s going on.”
— Alfred Hitchcock
The role of cinema in everyday life is often dismissed as an escapism-related coping mechanism; but in reality, media and entertainment hold the power to transform the future through a display of culture, politics, and laws. More importantly, they can influence human behavior despite how young or old one may be. The rich tradition of cultural exchange in cinema provides catharsis into the virtual way of life. Today, we are able to open our eyes through a lens that contains new ways of thinking, feeling, and pursuing our lives.
With the surreal and tangled waves of deceit, cinema becomes “the most beautiful fraud in the world.” (Jean-Luc Godard)