Movies are so popular and intertwined with our culture that it is hard to imagine a time when they did not exist. The entire history of film spans over 100 years and has undergone much development during that time. The first era in film was the production of silent movies that began in 1895 and were produced for the next 30 years. After people managed to synchronise sound and images together in the 1920’s, the sound era began and has grown bigger ever since. From the 1980’s on the movie watching public have enjoyed the blockbuster movies which have become a huge international business.
The birth of film took place through a series of different discoveries in the late 1800’s. In 1878 a horse was captured in fast motion using a series of cameras, and this was the first successful experiment to capture a moving image. William Kennedy of Edison laboratories was the first man to invent a celluloid strip containing a sequence of images, and this became the film that we know today. In 1895 the film projector was born which allowed an audience to view these moving images. These films became popular very fast and the silent movie industry started to take of in the early 1900’s.
American, French, English and Italian film makers all made a mark on this early era of movie history. At the beginning movies were shown in small and specialised venues, but as their popularity grew they began to be shown in traditional and tent theatres so that more people could view the magic. In France the avant-garde tradition began as film makers began to experiment with the optical and pictorial effects that had been invented in the previous years. Hollywood also began to become a force in the 1920’s when names like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keating rose to the top. This American dominance was to continue well into the sound era of movie making and still exists today.
The element of sound entering movies meant not only changes to the creative nature of movies, but also changes to movie making as an industry as well. Once it began it was a quick change over and by the end of 1929 almost all Hollywood productions included sound. The 1940’s saw a rise in war dramas, for obvious reasons. The harsh reality of the war also had a backlash and many fantastical productions were made as well. 1941 saw the production of ‘Citizen Kane’, often labelled as the best movie of all time. Epic films had a revival in the 1950’s and movies like ‘The Ten Commandments’ and ‘Ben Hur’ made their impact. It was not until the 1970’s however that the period now known as the new Hollywood era began.
Sexual images and violence became more tolerated in the 70’s and the 1980’s saw the blockbuster era really make an impact. Science fiction movies like the ‘Star Wars’ trilogy made huge sales due to the advances in special effects and other movie making techniques. The 1990’s and 2000’s have seen a growth in these fields of computer generated special effects and animation. The advent of DVD and home theatre setups have had an impact on movies as people can now enjoy a theatre like experience in their own homes. Only the future will tell exactly what is in store for the world of movies, but it is sure to be as exciting as the past has been.