Roman Haberstock

Professor Cian

French 1

May 7, 2018

The First Motion Picture Camera & the Lumiere Brothers

The first motion picture camera was actually invented by the French. The Lumière

brothers are widely considered the first filmmakers. Although a type of projector was already

shown to the world by Thomas Edison, the brothers did something different. They showed their

invention to the world in 1895. (1)

Auguste Lumiere was born on October 19th, 1862 and his brother Louis was born on

October 5th, 1864. While they were in school, they exceled in science. Louis got monetary aid

from his father to start a business. His factory produced photographic plates and was instantly

successful. Auguste soon entered the company and produced around fifteen million plates

yearly. (2)

The inspiration for the camera was Thomas Edison’s invention, the Kinetoscope. The

brother’s dad came home after the premiere of Edison’s machine. Their dad would not stop

talking about how mind-blowing the experience was. The Lumiere brothers were inspired by

what their dad said. They set out to do something virtually impossible at the time, doing a better

job at combining animation with projection. (2)

 The brother’s films were presented in the year 1896. There were more than forty films

made just in that year alone. The films did not have any plot or characters. The films were

instead less than 15 second and were about daily activities (catching a train and marching

soldiers). Their first of these films was titled Sortie des Usines Lumière à Lyon. The film just

consisted of workers walking out of the previously mentioned Lumiere Factory. (2)

The films were first presented at the Marlborough Hall of the Royal Polytechnic

Institution. The Lumiere brothers originally did not want their camera or films being shown so

soon, but their father did it against their wishes. It was a very successful night that would start

the history of film. After that night, the brothers would go around the world showing their

machine to countries like Russia and Japan. (4)

The films were only filmed with one camera. The art of filming with multiple cameras

wouldn’t exist for another decade. The same camera was also used for projecting. It would run at

fifteen frames per second. This was titled the Cinematographe. (1&2)

The Lumiere brothers were credited for making the first newsreel. It was an inside look

of a French Photographic Society Conference. They also made several documentaries about the

Lyon fire department. They also inspired a filmmaker to create one of the most revolutionary

films ever put on screen, or projection in this case. (2)

There is a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese titled Hugo. The film tells the story of

this exchange very well and it is very accurate. A magician named Georges Melies saw a film of

a train arriving into the station. It had such an influence on him that he decided to create his own
camera and make his own film. The film was titled Trip to the Moon. It is simply about a few

men getting into a rocket ship, going to the moon, seeing aliens, and going back to Earth. This is

widely regarded as the first science fiction film and even consists of one of the most recognized

shots in cinematic history. The moon has a face and the rocket ship lands right in its eye. This is

off topic from the Lumiere brothers, but it shows how great of an impact they had on film

culture. (3)

The Lumiere’s are also credited with filming the first comedy. The film was called

L’arroseur Arrosé. The film was only about a minute long but was impressive at the time. The

film just consisted of a young boy pranking a gardener by firing a hose at him. The gardener then

chased the small boy and spanked him. (3)

The Lumiere brothers had a massive impact on the world with their invention. The

movies we see today are there because of the inventor brothers. They inspired future directors

like Georges Melies. They were able to create something better than the projector invented by

Thomas Edison, the man who created the light bulb! Many people believe that the Lumiere

brothers are among the greatest French inventors of all time. The motion picture camera is also

one of the most revolutionary inventions ever created.

 Work Cited

https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-motion-picture-4082865 (1)

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lumiere-brothers (2)

https://sites.google.com/a/wgstudent.k12.ia.us/mediastuff/lumiere-brothers-georges-melies (3)

https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/the-lumiere-brothers-pioneers-of-cinema-and-

colour-photography/ (4)