Film History

  • Thaumatrope

    Thaumatrope
    In 1824, astronomer John Herschel, created the first Thaumatrope. The Thaumatrope is a piece of paper held together by two strings, and when it was spun it would show the two sides of the paper on the side you're viewing. Generally there was a design of the front and on the back.
  • The Zoetrope

    The Zoetrope
    In 1834, William Horner created the Zoetrope. It was an Improved version of its predecessor the Phenakishoscope. It was a cylinder with a group of images all lined up on the inside, when spun it moved.
  • The Praxinoscope

    The Praxinoscope
    In 1877, Charles-Émile Reynaud invented the Praxinoscope. The Praxinoscope was a big cylinder with images in a sequence all around the inside. With the help of mirrors and light while it spun around, it created the illusion of movement.
  • Chronophotographic Gun

    Chronophotographic Gun
    In 1882, French scientist Étinne-Jules Marey, Created the Chronophotographic Gun. Marey created this gun to study the movement of humans and animals. It was based off of Jules Janssen's Photo Revolver, and had a 12 frame per second rate.
  • Steamboat Willie

    Steamboat Willie
    Disneys Steamboat Willie was a very important thing for the history of film making, Why you may ask? Well, it was the first cartoon to have sound integrated into it. Leading disney to their path of domination through the film industry.
  • Drive in movies

    Drive in movies
    The first drive in movie is build in New Jersey. The drive in was a new success in the 30's as people didn't have to leave the comfort of their car. Often movie theater seats were not comfortable so the drive ins provided that sense comfort.
  • Film Noir

    Film Noir
    Following WWII, Studios started making films in Film Noir. The concept was that these suspense based movies like Crime or drama, would use Film Noir to help further sway the audience and pull them in. Film Noir was inspired by the German Expressionist and the French New Wave.
  • 3-D movies

    3-D movies
    3-D movies are made using overlayed films and red and blue shaded glasses. Combining both the films made it seem like something was coming at you. While This was not when the first 3-D movie was being made, its when it started picking up.
  • Motion Picture Ratings

    Motion Picture Ratings
    In 1968, MPAA Chairman Jack Valenti, Came up with the Motion Picture Ratings. Basically it guided parents about what the movies had in them that children could be sensitive to. It was basically saying, " You don't have to listen to me but like this movie really isn't for children."
  • The SteadiCam

    The SteadiCam
    The SteadiCam was invented in 1976 by Garret Brown. Whenever filmmakers used to Shoot handheld shots, it would be shaky and wouldn't look good. With the invention of the SteadiCam, it stabilized your shots.
  • Digital Projectors

    Digital Projectors
    In 1999, digital projectors were introduced to public theaters. With this projectors you didn't have to project using film anymore. Also without the film, it would be quieter since its digital.
  • The release of Avatar

    The release of Avatar
    The movie Avatar became the highest grossing film so far in the movie industry. Not only was this important because it used heavy cgi, It set the bar for future movies. That bar wouldn't be passed till Avengers Endgame came out almost ten years later.