Nuno Street Early cinema Project-Alice Guy Early Life In the year 1873 Alice Guys mother lived

in Santiago, Chile. While pregnant, Guys mother traveled to Paris, France, where she gave birth to Alice Guy. Following her birth, Guy was raised by her grandparents until the age of four. In 1877, her mother retrieved her from her grandparents and returned to Chile, where Guy met her father for the first time. In 1879, her father returned Guy to France where she was enrolled in boarding school with two of her sisters. While Guy was at boarding school, her fathers chain of bookstores became bankrupt. This forced Guys father to transfer her to a cheaper boarding school. After this both her father and brother died. Following her fathers death, Guy trained as a typist and got her first job as a secretary, starting her career. Work She was the first female director in motion-picture industry. She was one of the first people to direct fiction films. She was hired by Leon Gaumont, who worked for a still-photography company. When the company went out of business he created his own company (Gaumont Film Company) and took her with him. After being transferred to Gaumonts company she had produced over 700 fi lms. One of her most successful movies was the Life of Christ which had included 300 extras, and special effects using double exposure masking techniques and even running films backwards. She had worked for Gaumont until 1906 and in 1907 she had married Herbert Blache (production manager for Gaumonts operations in the U.S.A). Although in 1910 Guy and her husband created their own company with George A. Maige called Solax Company (the largest pre-Hollywood studio in America.). A huge turning point came in March of 1913 with the production of Dick Whittington and His Cat. With a length of three reels (45 minutes), a $35,000 budget and elaborate staging (including burning a boat) and costuming, it was Madame Blachs most ambitious Solax project and probably her masterpiece from her Solax period. She produced films with color tinting and with Gaumont's Chronophone , an early device for sound syncing. She also kept up with early advances in the field through Louis Lumire, whose work had been her introduction to the technology, as well as Thomas Edison and Path. In 1953 Guy was awarded the Lgion d'honneur, the highest non-military award France offers. Her first movie was in 1896, called La Fe aux Choux (The Cabbage Fairy), and that was the only one she produced that year but in 1900 she produced 51 films that was her most productive year. On March 16, 1957, she was honored in a Cinmatheque Franaise ceremony that went unnoticed by the press. She then died in 1968, at the age of 94. Comments- On her life Alice Guy was the first female film maker and is responsible for creating one of the first narrative films, which is very interesting because females at that time werent very acknowledged for their work in the film industry. Her success was very constant, and she always thought outside of the box. She was an old soul who deserved all the success she received. Comments-on work She thought outside of the box. Her movies were very unique against others. Every movie of hers had an interesting story line. For example the cabbage Fairy was very well directed but personally it was a bit disturbing and abnormal the way the actors acted towards the babies.