Research

            To begin with, the materials used to record action on were plastic. By 1889, US inventor George Eastman developed the first role of film made of celluloid. A few years later William Dickson invented the Kinetoscope, this projected perforated celluloid at the rate of forty pictures per second. The celluloid is flexible so it could go round a reel and the images shown would appear to move. Only one person could view it at a time. In France 1895, the Lumiere brothers created a machine called the Cinematographe which recorded moving images and projected them on to a screen. This was very popular and the films were very short. In 1896, Georges Melies was the first to show stories through film. They were mainly based on fairy tales and science fiction; some included special effects they were said to be very beautiful.

            Early full length films had no sound but sometimes a piano or organ was played during the film to provide music. In 1927, a ‘talkie’ was released which is sound recorded onto discs and played at the same time as the film. For the first time, actor’s voices and sound effects could be heard. By 1950’s, most films were made in colour by a Technicolour 3 colour camera. By the late 1980’s, multiplex cinemas spread which are multiple screens within the same building.
Bibliography:
Film and Televison by Louise Wordsworth