First Public Screenings
The year of the first public exhibition of films.
What is 1895?
Lumière fiilms were produced primarily under these conditions.
What is filming on location?
Unlike the Lumière brothers, Georges Méliès filmed primarily in this type of controlled environment.
What is a studio?
Pathé Frères remained financially stable in the early years thanks to this related business venture.
What is the phonograph business?
Ferdinand Zecca began his film career by remaking the works of this early cinema pioneer.
Who is Georges Méliès? (trick films and fantastic narratives)
The average length of films until roughly 1900.
What is 60 seconds?
This term describes the overall style of the Lumière brothers’ film output
What is documentary realism?
Méliès worked in a variety of styles, including magician acts, Lumière imitations, phony newsreels, and these narratives.
What are fantastic narratives or féeries?
Like Edison, Pathé Frères were initially more interested in selling this than in producing films.
What is film equipment?
Ferdinand Zecca borrowed material from music hall skits, sports, dance, wax museums, etc.—an example of this creative practice of assembling from varied sources.
What is bricolage?
This Lumière was involved in directing the first films.
Who is Louis Lumière?
Louis Lumière’s films often had these elements of a coherent temporal structure.
What is a clear beginning, middle, and end?
Méliès’s trick films were closely related to his earlier career in this theatrical profession.
What is a theatrical illusionist?
Before making original films, Pathé Frères copied these early motion pictures from the U.S.
What are Edison Kinetoscope films?
Zecca’s greatest genre success came from these types of films, including Histoire d'un crime/Story of a Crime.
What are dramatic and realist films?
These were the common subjects or “genres” of the very first wave of films, including everyday life scenes, factory workers, and domestic scenes.
What are train arrivals?
Louis Lumière’s background in this field influenced his careful attention to visual composition and proper lighting in his films.
What is photography?
Méliès pioneered several special effects techniques, including dissolves, superimposition or multiple exposures, and this disappearance/reappearance effect
What is substitution splicing?
Charles Pathé's former phonograph clients became the first important exhibitors of movies.
Who are fairground entrepreneurs?
At Pathé, Zecca wore many hats, contributing as director, producer, and this creative role.
What is actor?
The film company that did not survive beyond 1905
What is the Lumière company?
Louis Lumière photographically composed his subjects with particular attention to this framing perspective.
What is the diagonal?
Georges Méliès was a pioneer in many areas: he was the first film star, created the first film publicity, and built the first of these structures.
What is the world’s first film studio?
Instead of inventing his own camera, Charles Pathé first sold counterfeit Kinetoscopes, then used a prototype by this inventor.
Who is Henri-Joseph Joly?
Zecca’s Histoire d’un crime/Story of a Crime was based on a series of tableaux from this venue.
What is the Musée Grévin wax museum?