Professional Documents
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Early Cinema
Early Cinema
elements. These factors necessarily help explain how a particular movement began,
what shaped its development, and what affected its decline. This material will also
provide a context for particular films ws've already discussed; for example, the fol-
lowing section on early cinema situates Lumibre and M6lids in their period.
Needless to sa], what follows is drastically incomplete. The writing of serious
film history is in its early stages, and we mLlst often rely on secondary sources that
will eventually be superseded. This chapter reflects only current states of knowl-
edge; there are doubtless important films, filmmakers, and movements that await
discovery. Moreover, there are many unfortunate omissions. Important filmmakers
who don't relate to a movement (for example, Tati, Bresson, and Kurosawa) are ab-
sent, as are certain important film movements, such as French populist cinema of
the 1930s and Brazll's Cinema NOvo movement of the early 1960s. What follows
simply seeks to show how certain possibilities of film form and style were explored
within a few typical and well-known historical periods.
12.3 The hinged portion of the Black Maria's roof, at the centel, swung open for filming.
Earlr Cirterrtc (I c393-l 90J) 443
scenes, sLrch as one copyri-qhted 1893 in which a clmnken ntillt stnr_g_gles briefly "ln conjuring you work under the
witlr ir policentiu-I. The Lumibres made a poplrlar short L'Arrosertr (trru)se (The Wa- attentive gaze of the public, who
terer Wutered, 1895)., etlso a cotnic scene, in which rr boy tricks a -gerrdener into never fai! to spot a susptctous
sqLrirting himself with a hose (4.7 ). movement. You are alone, their eyes
Aftcr the initial succcss of the new rneclium, filrnnrakers had to find nlore coln- never leave you. Failure would not be
plex ot'interesting fbrmul properties to keep the public's interest. The Lumieres sent tolerated. . . . While in the cinema . . .
crilltlcl'it operatclrs all over the world to shclw films arnd to photograph important you can do your confecting quietly,
events uncl cxotic locules. But afier marking a hu-ee nutnber of films in their first few far from those profane gazes, and
yeitrs. the [-utnidrers reduced their outpnt, and they ceased filmnrakin-g altogether in you can do things thirty-six times if
r 905. necessary unttl they are right. This
ln I 896, Geor._9es Me lies purchased il projector frorn the British inventor allows you to travel further in the
Robcrt Williarl Paul and soon built a camera based on the san-re mechanism. domain of the marvellous."
Melibs's first filnts resernhlecl the Lunridres' shots of everyday activities. But as we George Melies, magician and filmmaker
-
hitve seen (pp. I l3-l l5). Melies wels also a rnagician, and he discovered the possi-
bilities of simple special effects. In 1897, M6lies built his own studio. Unlike Edi-
son's Bluck Muriit. MeliCs's studio was -glarss-sidecl like ir greenhouse, so that the
stuclio did not have to lnove with the slllt (12.4).
Melies also be-ean to huild elaborate settings to creerte fantasy worlds within
which his nra-gical trurtsformutions coLrld occur. We have already seen how Mdlies
thereby becurne the first rnnster of rnise-en-scene technique (4.3-4.6). From the
sinrple filnting of a nta-gician perfornrin.-9 a trick or two in a traditional stage settin..g,
Melies progressed to longer narratives with a series of tableaux. Each consisted of
one shot, exce;lt when the transfornrations occurred. These were created by cuts
desi-enecl to be inrperceptible on the screen. He also adapted old stories,, such as
Cirtdet'ellu (1U99). or wrote his own. All these factors made Melids's films ex-
tremely popular and widely inritated.
During this early period, filrls circulated freely from country to country. The
Ft'ench phonograplt corrpany Pathe Freres rnoved increasin,_ely to filmrnakin-g from
190 I on, esti-rblishing production and distribution branches in melny countries. Soon it
\vils the largest filrl concern in the world, a position it retained until 1914, when the
beginnin-9 of World War I forced it to cut back production. [n En-9land. sevel'ill en-
treprer"leurs nrana-siecl to invent or obtain their own filmrnerking eqlripment atnd rnade
scenics, nurratives. ancl trick filnrs from l895 into the early years of the 20th century.
I
I
*
'*
fr
12.4 Mc{lics's glass-siclecl stuclio itclrnittecl sunli-uht frorn ar variety of clirections.
444 CHAPTER 12 Fihn Art ar-rc{ Filrn History
Members of the Brighton School (primarily G. Albert Smith and James Williamson),
as well as others like Cecil Hepworth, shot their films on location or in simple open-
air studios (as in 12.5). Their innovative films circulated abroad and influenced other
filmmakers. Pioneers in other countries invented or bought equipment and were soon
making their own films of everyday scenes or fantasy transformations.
From about 1904 on, narrative form became the most prominent type of film-
making in the commercial industry, and the worldwide popularity of cinema con-
tinued to grow. French, Italian, and American films dominated world markets.
Later, World War I was to restrict the free flow of films from country to country, and
Hollywood emerged as the dominant industrial force in world film production, con-
tributing to the creation of distinct differences in the formal traits of individual na-
12.5 G. Albert Srnith's Sortct Clous tional cinemas.
( 1898r.