"Vintage Cartoons" and "Vintage Movies"

The Birth of Motion Pictures: A Timeline

Pre-Movie Era – Early Motion Experiments (Pre-1800s)

• Before movies, people were fascinated by creating the illusion of motion.
• Devices like the zoetrope (1834) and the magic lantern (1600s) used rotating images or projected images to create moving visuals.
• These were not "movies" as we know them, but they laid the foundation for motion picture technology.

Who Made the First Movie?

1. Eadweard Muybridge (1870s) – Motion Photography Pioneer

• Muybridge is often credited with making the first motion sequences.
• In 1878, he used a series of cameras to capture a horse running, proving for the first time that all four of a horse’s hooves leave the ground at once.
• His work created a "moving picture" when viewed in sequence, though it wasn’t a true film.

2. Louis Le Prince – The First Known True Film (1888)

• French inventor Louis Le Prince created what is widely regarded as the first true moving picture using a single-lens camera.
• His film, Roundhay Garden Scene, shot in Leeds, England, lasts about 2 seconds and features people walking in a garden.
• Le Prince mysteriously vanished in 1890 before he could showcase his invention widely, which is why he didn’t become a household name.

3. Thomas Edison and William K.L. Dickson – The Kinetoscope (1891)

• Edison often gets credit for early movies, though his assistant Dickson did much of the work.
• In 1891, they developed the Kinetoscope, a peep-hole device that allowed one person at a time to view short films.
• By 1894, Kinetoscope parlors were opening, where people paid to watch short films.

4. The Lumière Brothers – The First Public Screening (1895)

• French brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière are credited with creating the first public movie screening.
• On December 28, 1895, in Paris, they showed a series of short films using their Cinématographe, a device that could record, develop, and project films.
• Their famous film Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory is considered one of the first true movies shown to an audience.

The Early Days of Film (1890s - 1910s)

• Early films were very short — usually a few seconds to a few minutes.
• Subjects included everyday life, simple actions (people dancing, trains arriving), and early slapstick comedy.
• Georges Méliès, a magician turned filmmaker, introduced special effects and fantasy storytelling with films like A Trip to the Moon (1902).
• Edwin S. Porter, an Edison employee, pioneered film editing and storytelling techniques in The Great Train Robbery (1903).

The Transition to Modern Cinema (1910s - 1920s)

• Silent films became longer and more sophisticated.
• D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915) introduced advanced storytelling techniques, including close-ups, cross-cutting, and large-scale production.
• Hollywood emerged as the center of the film industry.

Key Innovations That Made Movies Possible

Summary

• First Motion Capture: Eadweard Muybridge (1878) – motion photographs.
• First True Movie: Louis Le Prince (1888) – Roundhay Garden Scene.
• First Movie Device for Viewing: Edison and Dickson’s Kinetoscope (1891).
• First Public Screening: Lumière Brothers (1895).....Now for a silent movie (Trip to The Moon)