Georges Melies Born Marie Georges Jean Méliès, Georges grew up longing to be an artist. His talents were first used in art and magic, which in much later years led him to the exploration of combining magic, art, (and a new medium) film. As a boy, he showed much interest in puppetry and painting. As he grew into a young man, his dream was to pursue a career as an artist, but his father owned a successful shoe making business and was forced to take over the company, although he had no intention of following in his father’s footsteps. After the passing of Georges’s father, he sold the shoe business and with the new funds, used the money to buy the Theatre Robert Houdin located in Paris, France. He performed magic shows and was perusing his desired career as an illusionist, but had yet to discover motion pictures which would be a catalyst for changing entertainment as we know it. Georges Melies was a talented magician, and one of the first great pioneers of motion pictures that has influenced modern American films profoundly. On December 28, 1895 Georges was an audience member of the first seen movie or “moving picture” made in the world. This was a very short single reel, one shot film documenting a train pulling into the station. When the image of the train started approaching the audience, the audience screamed thinking they would actually get run over by the train. This revolutionary new type of “magic” was discovered by the Lumiere Brothers, who used their invention, the Cinematographe, to capture the first movie ever made. Melies soon after asked to purchase a camera from the Lumiere Brothers, but they refused. In desperate attempt to utilize this new entertainment tool, he set out to build his own camera. Befor... ... middle of paper ... ...uster film: Hugo by Martin Scorsese showcased and resurfaced the life of Melies and re-ignited the publics interest in his films. Melies was portrayed in the beginning of the film as a sour, struggling old man that owned a toy shop in a train station, but was enlightened when his talents and films were finally noticed again by the French community. Georges Melies was a talented magician, and one of the first great pioneers of motion pictures that has influenced modern American films profoundly. His work is very significant to modern American cinema today, as we use the same techniques and elements Georges had pioneered more than 100 years ago. His moment in the limelight during his lifetime was short, but little did he know his legacy and work would be carried on so prominently and all over the globe. We have much to learn about from this extraordinary man.
Beginning the mid 1920s, Hollywood’s ostensibly all-powerful film studios controlled the American film industry, creating a period of film history now recognized as “Classical Hollywood”. Distinguished by a practical, workmanlike, “invisible” method of filmmaking- whose purpose was to demand as little attention to the camera as possible, Classical Hollywood cinema supported undeviating storylines (with the occasional flashback being an exception), an observance of a the three act structure, frontality, and visibly identified goals for the “hero” to work toward and well-defined conflict/story resolution, most commonly illustrated with the employment of the “happy ending”. Studios understood precisely what an audience desired, and accommodated their wants and needs, resulting in films that were generally all the same, starring similar (sometimes the same) actors, crafted in a similar manner. It became the principal style throughout the western world against which all other styles were judged. While there have been some deviations and experiments with the format in the past 50 plus ye...
Jacobs, Lewis. “Refinements in Technique.” The Rise of the American Film. New York: Teachers College Press, 1974. 433-452. Print.
Muybridge was instrumental in the development of instantaneous photography. To accomplish his famous motion sequence photography, Muybridge even designed his own high speed electronic shutter and electro-timer, to be used alongside a battery of up to twenty-four cameras. While Muybridge 's motion sequences helped revolutionize still photography, the resultant photographs also punctuated the history of the motion picture. Muybridge actually came close to producing cinema himself with his projection device the 'Zoöpraxiscope '. With this device, Muybridge lectured across Europe and America, using the Zoöpraxiscope
The start of special effects in film is largely attributed to Georges Méliès and his process of removing a section of a moving picture to place another moving part within.
The movie is also, in a sense, a biopic of Georges Melies – it is a tribute that touches the heart and evokes the much awaited empathetic connection to the movie. The recreation of his earlier movies, like the 1902 production ‘Man on the Moon’, and the final scene where he himself becomes a part of his beloved cinemas evokes a sense of wonder, respect and gratification. The movie is a success in that
Eadweard Muybridge was a director who made the first movie in 1878, The Horse in Motion. He used multiple cameras and put the individual pictures into a movie. Muybridge’s movie was just pictures of a galloping horse. Muybridge also invented the Zoopraxiscope,the first ever movie projector that made short films and movies. It was able to quickly project images, creating what is known as motion photography and the first movie to ever exist. To use the Zoopraxiscope a disc is put on the device and is turned. As the disc turns, the images are projected onto the screen and the movie starts ...
Through most of the characters’ passion for filmmaking, this movie teaches the audience the great significance of film history. Many people in modern day tend to take film and its history for granted, but they do not realize the depth and effort that mankind has put into such a development. In Hugo, the theme of film history revolves around the entire production, and the audience sees flashbacks of Georges Méliès’ past that reveal his vital role in movie-making. By investing a deep meaning to the tale, viewers start to understand the great emotional and intellectual characteristics of movies. Additionally, Hugo himself delivers a message to his counterpart characters, which also serves as a lesson for the onlookers. He shows the audience that everyone has a part and purpose in this world. Protagonist Hugo Cabret says that “everything has a purpose, even machines. Clocks tell the time, trains take you places. They do what they’re meant to do.” Voicing through Hugo, the filmmakers illustrate how every individual has a reason to live and discover their calling. With a statement about the forgotten grandeur of film history and a valuable message to the crowd regarding one’s purpose, Hugo inspires and presents itself as a noteworthy and unforgettable
In this essay the following will be discussed; the change from the age of classical Hollywood film making to the new Hollywood era, the influence of European film making in American films from Martin Scorsese and how the film Taxi Driver shows the innovative and fresh techniques of this ‘New Hollywood Cinema’.
Philippe Petit was born on August 13, 1949 in Nemours, France. He started practicing magic at the age of six. At age sixteen Philippe spent a year training on the tightrope. Somewhat of a rebel, Petit was kicked out of five schools by age eighteen. Petit found out about the construction and planned his tightrope walk by sneaking into the buildings with various disguises (“Philippe Petit Biography”
And finally the entertainment changed with a man named Harry Houdini. Harry Houdini was around for a while but from 1919-1926 he did silent movies like "the master mystery". Then from 1920-1926 he did magic and fortune telling. He got his stardom from shameless self-promotion & sincere commitment to the public good. Houdini finally died in 1926 October 31st.
D. W. Griffith is widely recognized as a pioneer and father of early filmmaking, though in reality he was just a creature of circumstance. In 1907, Griffith departed his theatrical career as failed playwright and somewhat accomplished stage actor to work for the Biograph Company with his first role as the Father in Rescued from an Eagle’s Nest. Griffith entered the American film industry at crucial moment that would shape and define his career. During this time Edison Company was waging a war to monopolize the American film industry through lawsuits against other American companies using versions of Edison’s patented Kinescope without paying royalties. These lawsuits ravaged and prevented the industries growth as film’s popularity was increasing in the United States. In 1907, to meet the growing popularity of nickelodeons (early movie theaters that would charge a nickel for admission and show case 3-4 short films), 1,200 films were released in the United States, of those only ...
In the early 1900’s Georges Melies introduced his film “A Trip To The Moon” to audiences in France. This film, when first seen by viewers at this time, was jawdropping. Melies who happened to be a magician, and illusionist before becoming a filmmaker, made one of the first-ever narratives in motion picture history. Similarily throughout “Trip To The Moon” and many of his later films, Melies, who also worked in theatre, took full advantage of what is known as Mise-en-scene. Mise-en-scene is defined as: All the elements placed in front of the camera to be photographed: the settings and props, lighting, costumes and make-up, and figure behavior. In “Trip to the Moon” Melies created a world to which no one had ever seen on film, and utilized all the characteristics to which mise-en-scene is based upon.
The protagonist, George Valentin undergoes the rediscovery of his passion and willingness to perform. The film’s unique adoption of the black-and-white silent film cinematography explores the significant impact of the introduction of the ‘talkies’ for silent films. Hazanavicius’s revival of the silent film form allows him to convey the impact of developments in film as actors lost jobs and fame in the process. The film opens with the premiere of Valentin’s film where he takes the stage to accept praise for his performance. Hazanavicius utilizes spotlight and tracking shot to follow Valentin’s movements, displaying a sense of dominance and confidence within the character as he asserts himself joyously with the audience.
Hes most famous for La Voyage Dans la Lune (1902) a sci-fi film that follows the surreal journey of astronomers on their way to the moon. Along with the horror short Le Manoir du Diable (1898). Being the creator of special effects as we see them today, he could produce comical and fantastical illusions on screen. Over his life time he made over 400s films, but was forced out of the industry as it grew. Non-the less he is remembered for his imaginative concepts and passion for
‘Then came the films’; writes the German cultural theorist Walter Benjamin, evoking the arrival of a powerful new art form at the end of 19th century. By this statement, he tried to explain that films were not just another visual medium, but it has a clear differentiation from all previous mediums of visual culture.