Film History

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The Precine
The human being has always been concerned with capturing and representing the mo
vement. Bison with six legs in the prehistoric painted caves demonstrate this fa
ct. For centuries, different civilizations and people have sought to reproduce r
eality procedures. This is the case of representations with shadows, the first p
ublic performances in animated imaging. Used as early as the sixteenth century,
the "camera obscura projection of images allowed outside in a dark room. The pio
neer of photography. In the same way that a century later, the magic lantern wou
ld be the forerunner of the meetings of cinema in projecting images on a flat su
rface. In order to make it reach all the places, the showmen traveled with their
headlights leaving the audience speechless. Especially when used ingenious mech
anical devices were intended to manipulate or rotate circular windows, which mad
e moving images. A capital invention appears in the nineteenth century: photogra
phy. For the first time, it was possible to print and save a picture of the worl
d that surrounds us. But some photographers did not settle for still images and
tested with moving objects, such as
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in the case of Muybridge. Even one of them, Marey, became a sort of gun to use p
hoto can capture the different phases of a movement. A century long, a whole ser
ies of devices built inventors-half genius, half-toy, seeking the illusion of mo
tion. This is the Thaumatrope, the Fenaquistoscopio, the Zoetrope and Praxinosco
pe. A variant of the latter, the optical Theatre, built by Emile Reynaud, is wha
t comes closest to what will be the movies. In order to produce a sustained, lon
g strips were projected over 500 slides of drawings from a cylindrical device, t
ogether with the projection of a background image from a flashlight, provided th
e projection of the first cartoons. We have, therefore, the three elements that
constitute the cinema: the persistence of vision, photography and projection. Bu
t there were two more fundamental: the perforated film and the intermittent feed
mechanism that moves. And it was in the U.S. where, in 1890 solved the problem,
by the great inventor Edison and Dickson. In many entertainment facilities were
installed called Edison's Kinetoscope, boxes containing a series of coils that
allow a movie ... individually. And is that the famous inventor refused to scree
n it on a screen because he believed that people are not interested in film. How
wrong he was, as the time came to show ...! However,
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the invention of cinema can not be attributed specifically to anyone. It resulte
d from a series of inventions of different people.
The birth of cinema. The silent period
However, it is considered that the cinema was officially born on December 28, 18
95. That day, the Lumière brothers showed, in open court, his films to viewers o
f the Salon Indien in Paris. In one of his first films, "The arrival of a train
at La Ciotat Station", the effect of a locomotive appeared out of the screen was
huge. The apparatus with which they got what they called cinema. He was born ci
nematography. But the initial success died down by fatigue of the public. The fi
lms were always about everyday moments were made on the work or family life. And
the magic and imagination of another man, Georges Méliès, who saved the movie t
o end as an invention among many at that time. Méliès made the dreams of people,
to show images that are rendered on a screen. Finally, the fantasy could fly th
rough the light. Méliès is the first inventor of fictions. Moreover, science-fic
tion. "Journey to the Moon" (1902) and "Journey Through the Impossible" (1904) a
re among the best examples of the inventor of tricks. One of the most common was
to make things disappear or appear
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again. Others were the superimposition of an image over another double exposures
or the use of models. In the early twentieth century, film is already an indust
ry. He has gone from being an invention for fun to be a money machine. The film
spans the globe. In Catalonia, Gelabert Fructuós becomes the father of Spanish f
ilm (1897). Second Chomón Méliès follow the steps in his film "The hotel power"
(1905), where tricks are the best of the time. As the films were silent, some si
gns in the middle of the scenes were explaining the action or dialogue. And some
times,€a pianist gave musical touch to the show. The barracks of the early films
became elegant and spacious rooms where classes began to go well shelves and no
t just popular. To fill these rooms stable films, began to make films for this a
udience more educated bourgeois. In France, the project became known as Films d'
Art, titles based on literary works where famous actors acting in the theater. A
s Edison in the U.S., Charles Pathé in France mark the beginning of the industri
alization of cinema. The films produced by him have reached a good level of qual
ity under the direction of Ferdinand Zecca, who should be "The Passion" (1902) o
r "The Assassination of the Duke of Guise" (1904). Pathé debuted in the house on
e of the first great comic, Max Linder, who inspired Chaplin.
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A Pathé will also receive a French rival, Léon Gaumont, who employs the director
Louis Feuillade, who specializes in the horror genre. Following in the footstep
s galas in England appears the so-called School of Brighton, made by photographe
rs Smith, Williamson and Collins, who are interested in the themes of persecutio
n and war where they provide new technical resources essential to the film gramm
ar. But will the U.S. who get more out of the invention. In 1903, with the film
"Assault and robbery of a train," Edwin Porter film opened West. Gender ThinCan
continued later by the assembly, and used simultaneously. Viewers begin to learn
a new language, the movie: learning to relate the images stored on the understa
nding that a relationship of continuity. And the basis of this new language is t
he assembly. Seeing that it becomes a popular extravaganza that crosses language
barriers, social and immigration in a country composed of many languages and et
hnic groups-the business factor comes into play. In order to monopolize the film
market and kill their competitors, Edison sends his lawyers against film equipm
ent operators. This is the patent war (1897-1906) who, after a time of processes
, facilities closures, confiscation of equipment and moments of violence, gives
victory to Edison.
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This adversely affected independent producers, who, to escape the inventor-busin
essman, march across the country to California, where they founded Hollywood. He
re arise majors who will make the history of American cinema. Among the various
countries where cinema is a reality, Italy is one of the advanced conception of
cinema as spectacle. And films of large historical reconstructions will be the b
est way to gain public. The most prominent title was "Cabiria" directed by Giova
nni Pastrone in 1913. Great scenery and many extras to Romans or Carthaginians e
mbodying guarantees a huge production for the time. A conception of cinema that
will influence American filmmakers.
The masters of silent period
David Wark Griffith was the great fixer of film. His innovations in the way of n
arrating a film revolutionized the seventh art: In his masterpieces "The Birth o
f a Nation" (1914) and "Intolerance" (1915) divided the film into sequences show
ed parallel actions, changing the location and the camera angle, varied levels,
used the story of a flashback or already past. But above all, Griffith assumed t
hat the assembly was the most important means of expression which had the cinema
that served only to sort sequences and planes, but also to excite the viewer.
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Griffith influenced young filmmakers a geography so far from the U.S., as is Rus
sia. The triumph of the Russian revolution in 1917 led to believe their leaders
that the film could assume a role of indoctrination and propaganda. So few manag
ers commissioned the act of creating a new film in the country. In these first d
ecades of film appear more directors who realize that this new mass media can al
so serve as a means of expressing the most intimate of human beings: their desir
es, anxieties and fantasies. And expressing it with an innovative aesthetic of "
art." In Germany, the styles "expressionist" and surprised by their products Kam
merspiel set in futuristic or unrealistic scenarios. This film arose after the d
efeat of the Germans in the European War and the establishment of the humiliatin
g Peace of Versailles, reflecting their anxieties and contradictions. The countr
y lives under the instability of the Weimar Republic and a major economic crisis
, a situation which will build on the Nazis.€The work of the lighting-full of co
ntrasts of chiaroscuro, light and shadow will be one of the most innovative plas
tics. Unlike the Germans, the Nordic filmmakers fleeing inland make agonizing an
d exteriors, landscape, the natural setting for his plays. Stressed people like
Sjöström,
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Stiller or Dreyer, the latter directed the masterpiece "The Passion of Joan of A
rc" (1928). In the case of France, Louis Delluc was the main promoter of Impress
ionism Gallic cinema, current state of the art in which contributed L'Herbier, D
ulac and Epstein, the latter directed "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1927). A
part from this movement also highlights Abel Gance, author of "Napoleon" (1927),
film projection technique where anticipated the Cinerama, and Jacques Feyder, d
irector of "Atlantis" (1921). For its part, the style "surreal" seeks to express
the subconscious in a poetic way. In this film contributed two important Spanis
h avant-garde: the filmmaker Luis Buñuel and painter Salvador Dali. American cin
ema bid more for the material benefit for aesthetics or visual poetry. A small t
own in the American West, Hollywood, had quickly become the most prosperous indu
strial center cinema U.S. Big companies gathered up his studies where, in additi
on to filming the movies, are "constructed" to interpret the stars. A clever adv
ertising system creates an atmosphere of legend around the idols of the public,
the actors and actresses become myths. This is the case of Lilian Gish, Gloria S
wanson, John Barrymore, Lon Chaney, John Gilbert, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickfo
rd, Rudolph Valentino and Mae West. This is the Star System, production system b
ased on
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popularity of the actors by means of which got more benefits. During the First W
orld War and taking advantage of the decline in production in Europe for the sam
e reason, Hollywood was devoted to dominate world markets. The decade of the 20s
was the golden age of American silent cinema: show, great actors, variety of ge
nres ... These highlighted the slapstick or comic movies: cream pies, the crazy
chases, beatings, the swimmers ...; invention of Mack Sennett who discovered Cha
plin, Lloyd, Turpin, Langdon ... Perhaps a reaction to the difficult period mark
ed by the European War. But exactly who will be two comedians make universal art
of making people laugh on the screen: Chaplin and Keaton. Clowns great and, whi
le critical of their society dehumanized its gags have been laughing children an
d adults of different generations throughout the world. Chaplin's "The Gold Rush
" (1925) and Buster Keaton "The engineer of the General" (1926). Of the major st
udio big productions go, some of them quite spectacular as they did the director
Cecil B. de Mille, "The Ten Commandments" (1923) or "King of Kings" (1927). Or
masterpieces of foreign filmmakers who settled in Hollywood, as Erich Von Strohe
im, author of "Greed" (1924).
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The sound era
On October 6, 1927 happens to a revolutionary film history: beginning to talk! "
The Jazz Singer," by Alan Crosland, stopped listening to the actor Al Jolson sin
ging. Began a new era for the film industry. Also for players, many of whom disa
ppeared as such to the public to know his real voice, nasty or ridiculous, which
did not correspond to physical appearance. The intertitles vanished! The studie
s had to rethink despite significant investments made to convert to sound. Also
the technicians and the filmmakers changed their way of doing and thinking. And
the actors and actresses had to learn to vocalize properly. In the Spanish State
, the first sound studies, the Orphea, opened in Barcelona in 1932. The implemen
tation of sound coincided with the economic crash of 1929 that caused a Great De
pression in the U.S.. Thousands of citizens were in the cinema moments to escape
from everyday problems. Hollywood was devoted to producing titles based on the
fantasy genre, comedy, musical or cinema black, to display products escapist. It
's time directors like Lubitsch-author of "To be or not" (1942) -; Capra-master
of American comedy, with titles like "It Happened One Night" (1934) or "Live as
you want" (1938); Hawks-director of Scarface (1932) -; Cukor, author of "The Phi
ladelphia Story" (1940) -; John Ford known for his westerns epic, like "Stagecoa
ch" (1939) or Josef von Sternberg 11
German filmmaker who directed "The Blue Angel" (1930) -. This general entertainm
ent film is the exception to the fact by King Vidor€filmmaker sensitive to the p
roblems of the working classes, as reflected in "our daily bread" (1934). "In Ge
rmany GWPabst who cultivates a social cinema. This aesthetic commitment to the d
isadvantaged was strongest in Europe. In France, coinciding with the Popular Fro
nt, Jean Renoir showed the daily life of workers, even from the authentic as pro
tagonists in some of his films, like "The Rules of the Game" (1939), a title whi
ch, in addition to its burden of naturalism, represented new aesthetic contribut
ions. Other filmmakers framed in what is called "poetic realism" were Jacques Fe
yder Jean Vigo, Marcel Carné and René Clair. Many of the new movie stars from th
e theater or musical. Names such as Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Claudette Col
bert, Olivia de Havilland, Gary Cooper, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Jean Gabin, Ed
ward Robinson and Humphrey Bogart have become myths of cinema. The color film ar
rived in 1935 with the film "Vanity Fair" by Rouben Mamoulian, although artistic
ally his fullness is achieved in the film by Victor Fleming "Gone with the Wind"
(1939).
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The animation film was implemented between the public taste, especially among ch
ildren. Walt Disney is the creator of beloved American even beyond the country i
tself. Optical work is one of the most frequently estimated by the public. The l
ocation of castles in landscapes where there have been, from painted glass, or t
he recreation of a giant gorilla from a small monkey or models, are examples of
the magic of cinema, which just gave the touch decoration, makeup or clothing. F
aced with directors with mainly commercial approaches, make an appearance other
new aesthetic concerns. This is the case of Von Stroheim, Hitchcock or Orson Wel
les, the latter made the masterpieces "Citizen Kane" (1941) and "The Magnificent
Ambersons" (1942). Meanwhile in Europe, the cinema of the countries with totali
tarian governments are directed towards a political propaganda film, often artis
tically unsuccessful in the case of fascism. Regarding the Soviet state, remains
an exception SMEisenstein cinema, as evidenced by the film "Alexander Nevsky" (
1938) and "Ivan the Terrible" (1945). When WWII broke out, the film is based on
nationalist propaganda war documentary or product escapist.
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Postwar
After the war, in an Italy torn, you see the movie called "neorealist," a film t
estimonial about the reality of time, made with few material resources but with
great humanity, concerned with the problems of the individual on the street. Thi
s is the case of "terra trema (1947), Visconti, pose a look at the problems of t
he poorest subsistence. This type of film school established throughout the West
and even the Americans became addicted to film stories out of the studio, takin
g advantage of natural settings, the "black film" "police" was one of the genres
most shot in the cities. In the U.S., movies or denote a pessimistic tone in wh
ich the characters reflect the suffering and anguish over past war or as a resul
t of, or are inspired by the comedy or musical as the public-both - needs to "fo
rget." When in 1947 began the "cold war" between the West and the USSR, in the U
.S. begins a period of political conservatism that comes to affect Hollywood, es
pecially the leftist filmmakers, who are persecuted, denounced and condemned. In
this period, which lasted until 1955, is known as "McCarthyism" or "witch hunt.
" Some filmmakers, like Chaplin or Welles, chose exile.
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50 years for Americans represent a new era of wellness lifestyle change, especia
lly in regard to leisure. The acquisition of television is a strong contender fo
r the film. The decreasing number of viewers and let us find ways to recover it.
The best way is giving the public what the small screen can not: spectacular. T
his is when the screen increases, is projected in color and stereo sound becomes
. Imposing the musical-like "Singing in the Rain" (1952), S. Donen and G.Kelly-a
nd blockbusters. They appear new myths of the screen that break the conventional
social behavior patterns, such as Marlon Brando, James Dean or Marilyn Monroe.
Young people become an important potential audience, is the time of rock. It is
also the decade of the great melodramas and the consolidation of the genera, as
in the case of the thriller, a good example of the latter we have in the films o
f Hitchcock,€"Vertigo" (1958) or "Rear Window" (1954). Obviously, in addition to
West, in the rest of the world cinema has existed, depending on the production,
in each of mainly developed countries, their economic potential and its colonia
l or postcolonial ligámenes with
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European metropolis. While some African countries such as Egypt and India have b
een characterized by its production capacity, Japan has distinguished-besides th
e quality of many of its titles, the work of great filmmakers such as Ozu, Mizog
uchi and Kurosawa, the latter is the author of "The Seven Samurai" (1954). In al
l surprised by the concept of cinematic time and planning. In the late '50s, and
following the innovative directors like Rossellini, French cinema was stalled b
y the classic products that came from his studies. A new generation of filmmaker
s provide oxygen to the movies, under the name New Wave, a film made even with m
odest means but strong aesthetic innovations, as demonstrated by the Godard film
, "À bout de souffle" (1959), which marked a break with the usual cinematic lang
uage. Other directors such as Resnais, Truffaut, Resnais, Chabrol, Malle and Roh
mer followed the same steps, but each from their personal style. Concurrently, t
he cinéma verité, documentary trend that seeks to capture life as it is. Elsewhe
re along the 60 new cinemas also arise: In Sweden, Ingmar Bergman film assumes a
n introspection, psychology of people, their anxieties and existential questions
, it becomes the main reference.
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In Italy, Antonioni, Pasolini, Bertolucci, Visconti and Fellini opt for a kind o
f poetic cinema. While Antonioni-author of "The Adventure" (1960) - investigates
the behavior of the characters, Fellini film is distinguished by its rich and d
reamlike fantasy proposals, one showing the film "Eight and a Half" (1963) or "
Amarcord (1974). In Britain, the Free Cinema falls into a rebellious aesthetic,
critical for its puritanical and classist society, raises the social misfits tha
t causes life in the big industrial cities and loneliness of modern man in them.
The most representative filmmakers have been Lindsay Anderson, Tony Richardson,
Karel Reisz. In Federal Germany, the "new German cinema" generated filmmakers l
ike Fleischmann, Kluge, Schlöndorff, Straub, Fassbinder, Herzog and Wenders. We
must take into account all the influence of "May 68." In Latin America, the new
film goes hand in hand with social awakening of the Third World: in Brazil, Glau
bert Rocha, Pereira Dos Santos and Ruy Guerra, in Cuba, Gutiérrez Alea, Octavio
Gómez y Humberto Solas, and in Argentina, Solanas, Getino, Torre Nilsson Birri a
nd make the alliance between aesthetics and social commitment. This film, togeth
er with that in the rest of the underdeveloped countries of other continents as
a result of the decolonization process of the 60 -, is known as "Third World cin
ema." In those European countries under non-democratic regimes, a number of film
makers libertarians also provide creative products. A. This is the case Ford, Wa
jda, Munk,
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Kawalerowicz, Zanussi or Polanski in Poland, Meszaros, Gabor Szabo and Jancsó Hu
ngary, Forman, Menzel, Nemec or Txitylova in Czechoslovakia or Txujrai Kozintsev
in the USSR. Or Buñuel (from exile), Bardem, Berlanga y Saura in Spain in this
country must include the new aesthetic trends that appear in Catalonia, with the
"School of Barcelona." In the U.S., from the 60s, the new generation of directo
rs are on television. These are a few restless filmmakers also make a new indepe
ndent film narratives that traditionally produced by Hollywood directors like Ca
ssavetes, Lumet, Mulligan, Penn or Nichols. Many of them operated from New York
and created the underground film, anti-commercial, and cutting-edge antihollywoo
d. Similarly, some genres that require large investments, such as blockbusters o
r musicals, they offer their last big hits.
The last decades
In the late '70s, and after several years of dramatic film based on catastrophis
m, perhaps reflecting the return of the nuclear threat ", is imposed over-recove
ry from the point of view of quality and profitability. Specifically, the hand o
f George Lucas, author of "Star Wars" (1977) - and Steven Spielberg,
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director of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977) -. In parallel,€other fi
lm directors have opted for a commercial, but also dealing with a very personal
style and creative achievement, as Ford Coppola, Scorsese, Brian de Palma, Burto
n, Lynch ... They are years in which questions everything or as in the case of f
ilms on Indochina, or return to the past with nostalgia and remakes abound fanta
stic. In the 80s, the emergence and introduction of the video, and the increase
of television channels in different ways, make the public see more movies than e
ver, without leaving home. We must look back spectacle: movies with many special
effects to try to attract viewers to the dark room. Muscular actors become hero
es of the screen when not reactionary violent titles. Faced with this film consu
merist authors are more concerned with political issues and, above all, the U.S.
interference in other areas. The globalization of the economy affects the Ameri
can cinema that is allied with the Eastern electronics industry. They are also t
imes of great melodramas and recovery of the comedy in the latter emphasizes Woo
dy Allen. In Spain, the political transition made possible the launch of a new u
ncensored movies that influenced the emergence of the so-called Madrid's nightli
fe. " Pedro Almodóvar film enriches the scene through his films and postmodern a
bsurdity, a genre which also worked Berlanga. The film also brings significant a
uthors Basque Spanish cinema.
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Started the 90s, the crisis of ideas took hold of American movies, so I decided
to draw inspiration from the comic book heroes, taking advantage of the new proc
edures for creating special effects. Also some historical TV series will be vers
ions for the big screen. Genres such as the classic comedy, great drama, cartoon
s, the fantastic or the western have returned with force; traditional genres to
which they have been to add sexuality as an important ingredient in several film
s and the emergence of a new group young actors known as "Generation X" as well
as child actors interpreters of family movies. Moreover, the Spanish comedy and
the resurgence of Latin American cinema over the years have marked the film spea
king. Some European countries react to the massive presence of American cinema b
usiness under laws that favor their own markets. In Spain, new authors are appea
ring, such as Julio Medem, Alejandro Amenabar, Fernando Leon, Benito Zambrano, I
cíar Bollaín, Isabel Coixet ... At the centennial of cinema, based on the photoc
hemical procedure is combined with the new electronic technologies and studies o
ut movies where the computer has had much to do in the process of obtaining or m
anipulating images. Men of flesh and blood men becoming cybercrimes, giant lizar
ds walking in the twentieth century, players shaking hands with dead people for
decades ... From the hand of the electronic virtual reality appears: soon we wil
l become individual viewers of the movies?
Source: http://www.xtec.net
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