The History of Film

1878 A horse was ‘photographed’ using 24 stereoscopic cameras.

14th October, 1818 Roundhay Garden Scene was filmed which is usually considered to be
earliest surviving film.

The Silent Era

During the first few decades of film, technology was inadequate for sound to be produced alongside film.
Therefore, cinemas usually accompanied films with live music performances who played music that was
specifically written for the film in question.

1918 Silent film, Cupid Angling, the first motion picture to feature full colour.

April, 1923 The first, commercially produced, film with sound was screened in New York
City. Such films were called ‘Sound Films’ (as opposed to ‘Silent Films’ or
often dubbed ‘Talking Pictures’ (Talkies)

February, 1927 Paramount, MGM, Universal, First National, PDC agreed to choose one
sound conversion provider. This standardized the technical intricacies of
sound used in the industry.

May, 1927 A sound film was produced of Charles Lindbergh’s flight take off to Paris,
claimed to be some of the most acclaimed sound films to date.

They're Coming to Get Me, the first fiction film with sound.

October, 1927 The first major commercially successful ‘feature-length’ film, The Jazz
Singer, was screened with synchronous sound.

May, 1928 United Artists and other Hollywood studios signed for numerous cinema
upgrades, enabling all facilities to hold the capability for sound films.

Hollywood, Film and Sound

Many studios were slow to take up sound in their film productions, with the exception of Warner Bros.
who released several ‘talkies’ that were profitable. Many directors feared that dialogue and story would
take precedent over the creativity of cinematic technique. However, due to the popularity of sound many
studios hastened the pace and sound had become standard by the end of 1929.

July, 1929 Warner Brosʼs On with the Show, was the first ever film to be released
commercially in both full sound and full colour.

August, 1929 The final Hollywood totally silent film, Hoot Gibson Oater Points West, was
screened.
 The History of Film
Originally the movie studios dominated the film and cinema market owning everything from the production
aspects to the distribution systems and theaters, known as the ‘studio system’. This system was in place
right from the 1920s through to the early 1950s.

In 1938, in United States vs. Paramount Pictures, the United States Supreme Court decided that the major
film studios dominated the market in a monopoly. After two years, the antitrust initiative forced the studios
into agreeing to stop buying theaters and to get rid of blind booking distribution systems (requiring theaters to
rent films without seeing them first).

However, studios still had major control of the industry four years later, when another antitrust initiative was
launched. This time, though, the studios had to sell off all of the theaters which they owned. Consequently,
one of the main sources of revenue for the studios had vanished and banks were increasingly reluctant to
lend money in order to finance new films and so the studios had to stop producing films and thus, leaving
behind the financial risk.

This gave way to a new system, where outside producers who were independent of the major studios
produced films on a project by project basis. This was generally believed to be a much better, long-term
system as the level of competition was seen to be healthy in keeping Hollywood alive.