GCSE Film Studies -History topic

first widely available camera?

Daguerreotype

Joseph Nicéphore Niépce

French inventor - who invented the camera, as we know it today in (around) 1816.

What is a camera obscura?

A darkened room with a small hole where an image is projected onto a surface opposite. (aka pinhole image)

when was the Phenakisticope introduced? and by who?

1833, by inventor Joseph Plateau

how was the Zoetrope different from the Phénakisticope? and when was it introduced?

It was a cylindrical version, made as a toy in 1866.

Kinetoscope

A device that enabled one person at a time to view a film.

when was the kinetoscope shown as a prototype? and by who?

In 1891 by The Edison Company

when were parlours for kinetoscopes established?

1893

when did the Daguerreotype become the world standard for taking photos?

1840 - 1860

when was the Hollywood Golden Age?

during the depression, 1920s - 30s

who invented the kinetoscope?

Louis Le Prince, but Thomas Edison made the first useable device.

what was the Black Maria?

A building designed to control light in order to capture clear images.

who designed and produced the black maria?

Thomas Edison

how did it work?

It was a building covered in black paper, it had a big window in the ceiling that opened to let light in to help produce clear images on film. The building was constructed on a giant turntable so that the window could rotate toward the sun throughout the day, so there was a constant supply of light for Edison to produce films.

when was the black maria made?

1893

who invented “the cinema”? and when?

The Lumiere brothers, in 1895.

how long was the average film during this time?

often less than 1 minute long

what was the first feature film WITH soundtrack? and when was it released?

Alan Crosland’s ‘The Jazz Singer’ in 1927

when was technicolour invented?

1916

what was the Cinematograph?

it was a camera and it could also project the images it had taken.