Discussion History of Film – Era of Invention

The Question to Answer in Your Original Discussion Post:

100 minimum is the word count which i am ok with it being just above the minimum

In the span of 40 years, film developed from a documentation device into an art form. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why do you feel the way you do?

Use at one example from the film clips above in your response. Then, comment on you think the addition of actor dialogue (talking) added to or took away from (pick one) the idea of film as art.

You need to watch several film clips to complete the assignment. Most are videos embedded in the class. If one does not work, please email me immediately.

The first known film recording was made in England. The Roundhay Garden Scene (1888) is just a few seconds long (or at least what remains of it today), but shows the first steps in silent filmmaking.

In 1895, Thomas Edison made some of the first attempts at special effects as an American filmmaker. Watch closely as he utilizes stop-motion photography (stopping the camera, moving things around, and restarting filming)

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In 1896, the Lumiere Brothers worked in France to develop their own filmmaking techniques. They were actually banned from showing this film because it scared audiences who saw its premiere and believed

Again, in France, in 1902, Georges Mlis (pronounced mil-lay) took his own ideas about special effects to the theater with his

If you want to learn more about Mlis, watch the 2011 film Hugo.

In Germany, the horror movie movement emerged in the era following The Great War. Why? Because the Germans wanted to strike back against the world after their devastating loss in The Great War and the fact that they were forced to take the blame for a war they didn’t start. FW Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922) is one of the most famous German films to come from this era. Painfully silent (the music you hear was added later), the story is a variation on the Bram Stoker novel Dracula. Despite the horror and German bitterness, it is beautifully made, with many scenes looking more photographic than cinematographic.

you have here is just one part of the film, when Hutter (the guy with the knife) realizes he is in the company of a vampire.

Bram Stoker’s family sued the production company that made the film and won, bankrupting it. The film was believed to have been cursed, with the actor playing the vampire, Max Schreck (Schreck means “fear” in German, by the way) believed to have actually drunk blood on the set and refusing to work during the day. People thought he was a real vampire! The film was eventually banned in Germany.

Sergei Eisenstein was considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all times as well as a pioneer of the Russian Revolution. You read about him in the book. Oddly, he got his start as a maker of Russian propaganda films that were shown to the people on the country’s trains. His 1925 film Battleship Potemkin was a far cry from those films, as it featured the story of a mutiny by the Russian Naval fleet in The Great War. You can find the most famous scene here,

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Don’t get caught up in how many times he changes camera angles, but notice that it happens an awful lot and brings a new sense of storytelling to film.