Selected Dates in Cinema Art, Science, and Technologyby V

by Vic Leeds
Selected Dates in Cinema Art, Science, and Technology
PERSISTENCE
OF VISION
The phenomenon of
the eye by which an
afterimage is thought to
persist for approximately
one twenty-fifth of a
second on the retina.
1826
FIRST PHOTOGRAPH
The world’s first
permanent photograph is
created by French inventor
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce.
Eight hours are required
to expose the image.
1834
ZOETROPE,
PHENAKISTOSCOPE,
STROBOSCOPE
William George Horner
introduces the Zoetrope,
a drum like device
combining pictures and
slots. When spun and
viewed through the slots,
the device produces the
illusion of continuous
movement. Similar
devices, known as the
phenakistoscope and the
stroboscope, are invented
by Joseph Plateau and
Simon von Stampfer at
nearly the same time.
1839
CELLULOID
William H. Fox Talbot
invents celluloid film.
1867
ZOOPRAXISCOPE
Zoopraxiscope is
developed by Eadweard
Muybridge. A rotating
series of drawings or
photographs were
viewed through a slit in
the device, effectively
simulating motion. Former
California governor
Leland Stanford had an
outstanding $25,000 bet
to demonstrate that a
horse did or did not have
one foot upon the ground
at all times while racing.
Muybridge’s sequential
photographs used with
the zoopraxiscope visibly
demonstrated quadruped
locomotion. Muybridge is
credited as the father of
the motion picture.
1882
FUSIL PHOTOGRAPHIQUE
Etienne-Jules Mary invents
Fusil Photographique,
a gun shaped device
that can take twelve
consecutive pictures per
second, using a rotating
photographic plate.
1885
ROLLED FILM
George Eastman
introduces celluloid film
on a paper base, wound
on a roll.
1893
KINETOSCOPE
Edison’s Kinetoscope
debuts: a peephole
viewing device creating
the illusion of movement
using a high speed
shutter, exposing a film of
sequential images drawn
over a light source.
1894
KINETOSCOPE PARLOR
First Kinetoscope parlor
opens in NYC, NY, on
April 14th. The Holland
Brothers charge .25
cents to view films in five
machines
1895
CINEMATOGRAPHE
Cinematographe, the first
portable motion picture
projector combining
animation and projection,
invented by the Lumiere
Brothers, shows the
50-second film La Sortie
des ouvrirs des l’usine
de Lumiere (Workers
Leaving the Lumiere
Factory) at Grand Café in
Paris, France. This event
is widely considered to
be the birth of modern
cinema.
1896
COLOR TINTING
Stencil-based film tinting
process is invented by
Pathé Frères in Paris,
France.
1905
STOP-ACTION
Segundo de Chomón,
a contemporary of
surrealists Luis Buñuel and
Salvador Dali, discovers
1914
DOLLY SHOT, I
Cabiria is filmed and
distributed. Director
Giovanni Pastrone and
cameraman Segundo de
Chomón mount a camera
on a cart, creating one
of the first examples of
technique beyond the
side-to-side or up-anddown movements from
a camera mounted on a
tripod.
DOLLY SHOT, II
Allen Dwan is credited
with inventing the dolly
shot by filming a scene
from a moving car. He
is also credited with
inventing a combination
crane/dolly, putting an
industrial crane on railway
tracks. The effect can
be seen in action during
the Babylon-era set
featured in D.W. Griffith’s
Intolerance (1917).
1922
3D FILM
First 3D feature film
Power Of Love shown at
the Ambassador Hotel
Theater, LA, CA. The
3-D format was not a
success at this time, and it
languished until the 1950s
in the US.
1923
SYNCHRONOUS SOUND
US Cinemas begin wiring
studios for soundtrack,
eventually replacing live
musical accompaniment
1925
MONTAGE EDITING
Sergei Eisenstein’s
Battleship Potemkin
released. Among
many noteworthy
accomplishments in this
Cinema
1903
1907
OLDEST EXTANT CINEMA
Korsor Biograf Teater
opens on August 7th in
Korsor, Denmark. Still
exhibiting films in 2012, it
holds the title of being the
world’s oldest operating
cinema.
1915
issue 9
BENSHI
Japan experiences
motion pictures.
Initially regarded as a
novelty from the West,
cinema grows quickly.
Theaters employed a
single narrator, benshi,
to explain the film to
patrons, and kowairo
setsumei, group narrators,
are used to voice over
the film. The popularity of
the benshi increased, and
the technique was refined
to an art form. Benshi
acted as narrator and
commentary, providing
mimetic dialog to the
film. Somei Saburo is
considered the first
benshi, and at its peak in
the 1930s, thousands of
benshi were employed.
The tradition of benshi
extended the life of silent
film in Japan, Korea and
Thailand into the 1940s.
stop-action film. While
he subtitled a film, a fly
crossed the sequence
during the process. Upon
developing the film,
the perceived display
of abrupt and jumpy
movements of said fly
gave birth to stop action
film. Chomón’s most wellknown example of this
technique was created in
1905, as El Hotel Electrico.
9
film, Eisenstein’s novel
use of the close-up and
montage sequence
editing provoke viewer’s
sympathies for characters
onscreen. The visual
medium of storytelling
on film is radically altered
with these effects.
1927
FULL TRANSITION
TO SOUND
The Jazz Singer released,
grossing over two million
dollars for Warner Bros.
studio as the first “talkie”
movie.
GLIMPSE www.glimpsejournal.com
10
1927
BIRTH OF THE
REALLY BIG SCREEN
The Roxy opens in New
York, advertised as “the
cathedral of motion
picture,” with 6000
seats and room for 500
standing, using and 18’
x 24’ screen. Venues and
screens of this size spur
the quest to create larger
and better pictures and
screens, continuing this
evolution to the present
day.
1927
HYPERGONAR
French Academy of
Sciences receives
Louis Lumiere’s debut
of astronomer Henri
Chretien’s anamorphic
device “Hypergonar,”
first practical lens design
for producing a correct
widescreen image. First
public viewing of device at
Paris International Expo,
1937.
1931
END OF SILENT FILM
IN THE WEST
City Lights released.
Widely considered to be
the last great silent film,
Charlie Chaplin ends the
era of silent movies in the
western world.
1933
DRIVE-IN CINEMA
Automobile Movie
Theater, the first drive-in
theater, opens June 6th
in Camden, NJ. Invented
by Richard Hollingshead,
it was initially conceived
of as an attempt to
accommodate an obese
relative. Hollingshead
experimented with setting
a projector on top of his
car, showing the film on
his garage. He developed
and commercialized the
idea, and soon each car
was charged 25 cents, and
an additional 25 cents per
person, with two showings
per night.
1943
EIDOPHOR
The black-and-white,
large-scale projection
system debuts, allowing
television programming
to be transmitted and
exhibited in movie
theaters. The machine and
process preserve “blown
up” image integrity
without loss of clarity or
intensity. Eidophor was
invented in Switzerland
at the Federal Institute of
Technology in 1939.
1947
CRAB DOLLY
The crab dolly is invented
by Steve Krilanovich for a
camera shot suggested by
Alfred Hitchcock, a long
travelling shot that turned
around and looked back at
the whole set.
mid-1950s
TODD AO, VISTAVISION,
CINEMASCOPE,
PANAVISION
These high-resolution
widescreen film formats
are competitively
developed by various
studios and technicians.
The craft of widescreen
continues to drive the
cinematic experience to
the present day, with Imax
and Sony leading the
technology.
1958
1972
STEADICAM
Steadicam camera
stabilizing system invented
by cinematographer
Garrett Brown. The most
well known stabilizing
MOTION-CONTROLLED,
COMPUTERIZED CAMERA
SYSTEM
John Dykstra invents the
first motion-controlled,
computerized camera
system for Star Wars
1985
VIDEO CAMCORDER
Sony Corporation offers
the first 8 mm consumer
camcorder, the CCD-V8
1985
JUMBOTRON
Sony Corp. Jumbotron
debuts during World’s Fair
in Tsukuba, Japan
1991
UNDERWATER DOLLY
James Cameron, director
of Titanic and Avatar,
invents and patents an
underwater dolly
DIGITAL CINEMA
PROJECTION
Digital Cinema Solutions
builds First Digital Cinema
Network, enabling digital
delivery direct to theaters,
effecting digital projection
as a preferred medium
over traditional film stock
distribution.
2005
4K PROJECTION
Sony Corp. debuts 4K
projection, allowing digital
media to be projected
in 4096x2160 pixels,
doubling picture quality
standards at the time.
Images can be projected
onto screens as large
as 85’, approximately 4
stories high, with little to
no loss of resolution.
2005
DIGITAL STEREO 3D
digital stereo 3D becomes
a successful market
with the Disney Studios
release Chicken Little and
culminates with the 2009
release of Avatar from
director James Cameron.
Cinema
1970
IMAX
IMAX films premiere at
the Fuji Pavilion during
EXPO ‘70 in Osaka, Japan.
Using 65 mm film frames
to increase resolution,
a projector capable of
displaying the technology,
and a screen height of
72’ x 52.8’ or more, the
viewing experience is
significantly altered. Rows
of seats are set at a steep
pitch, up to 30 degrees,
so that each viewer faces
the screen directly.
1977
2002
issue 9
VERTIGO SHOT
Irmin Roberts, second-unit
cameraman on the set of
Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo,
employs the camera in
a forward zoom with a
reverse moving dolly. The
novel technique disorients
viewers with the shifting
perspective, and “the
Vertigo shot” quickly
becomes iconic. This
technique can be seen in
movies like Jaws (1975)
and Pulp Fiction (1994).
system of the era, along
with camera systems he
made especially for the
1992 Olympics. A prolific
inventor, Brown created
MobyCam, an underwater
camera tracking system, as
well as the DiveCam, the
GoCam and the SkyCam.
His inventions are still
employed commercially
and privately in 2012.
11
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by Vic Leeds
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