Brief History of Cinema
130 AD
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Ptolemy of Alexandria discovers the phenomenon of Persistence of Vision
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1250
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Leon Battista Alberti invents forerunner of the camera obscura
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Aug. 24,
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Heinrich Cremer finishes binding the first Gutenberg bibles, first books to be printed with movable type
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1800s
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Development of widespread literacy in England and elsewhere in Europe, and development as a consequence of mass media culture of books, magazines, and newspapers
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1810
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König’s steam-powered printing press
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1824
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Persistence of Vision |
Peter Mark Roget describes the characteristic of the human brain to keep pictures, which the eye saw, "in view" for approximately 1/20th to 1/5th of a second after they have been removed from the field of vision.
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March 16,
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The first African-American newspaper, Freeman’s Journal, appears
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1834
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Zoetrope is invented by George Horner
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1879
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Series Photography |
Invented by Eadweard Maybridge with his mechanism called "Zoopraxiscope" - he recorded live action continuously for the first time, with series of 12 cameras.
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1882
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Etienne-Jules Marey recorded the first series photography of live action in a single camera with his Chronophotographic gun.
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1884
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New York manufacturer George Eastman invents film on a roll, rather than on individual slides.
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1887
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Hannibal Goodwin first used celluloid roll film as a base for light-sensitive emulsions.
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1889
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George Eastman began mass-production of celluloid roll film.
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1891
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Kinetograph
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Invented by William Kenedy, Laurie Dickson is the first true
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1893
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"BLACK MARIA" |
Laurie Dickson builds up the first motion-picture studio:
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April 14,
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In a converted shoe store on 1155 Broadway in NY, Andrew Holland opens the first Kinetoscope parlor.
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1895
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Cinematographe
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Auguste and Louis Lumiere patented camera, projector and film printer all in one.
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March 22,
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"Workers leaving the Lumiere Factory" |
The Lumiere brothers projected their first film to french audiences.
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Latham loop |
To avert breaking of the film and to be able to use longer films, Gray and Otway Lathanm place a small loop above and below the projection lens, preserving it with extra set of sprocket holes.
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Dec. 28,
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The birth of cinema - Lumière brothers showed a short program of their documentary films (and the fictional one L’Arrosseur arrossé), to a paying audience in a room on the Boulevard des Capucines in Paris. These included the famous single shot film called The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station.
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1896
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Vitascope
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Edison buys a machine with Latham loop, powered by electricity, from Thomas Armat.
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April 23,
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"Butterfly Dance" |
The first color tinted film.
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June, 1896
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Censorship begins with the Russian authorities confiscating the film showing the tragic coronation of Tsar Nicholas II on March 18, 1896 from Francis Doublier.
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1896
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"The Cabbage Fairy" |
Alice Guy-Blache directed perhaps the first ever scripted film.
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1897
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"The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight"
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Enoch J. Rector extended film into another area: commerce.
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1898
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George Albert Smith was among the first to film action and then project it in reverse.
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1899
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In England, R.W. Paul built the first camera dolly.
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Georges Melies |
Is the First cinema artist with his manipulation of real time and real space.
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Alice Guy |
Is the cinema's FIRST FEMALE DIRECTOR working for Gaumont in France.
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1900
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"Grandma's reading glass"
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George Albert Smith inserts the first CLOSE-UPS - motivated by onscreen characters looking through keyholes or spectacles.
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1901
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Edwin S. Porter uses TIME-LAPSE when shooting Pan-American exposition by night - exposing a frame every 10 seconds
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1901
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"Fire!"
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James Williamson intercuts between interior and exterior shots of a building.
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1903
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"Life of an American fireman"
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Edwin S. Porter combines STOCK FOOTAGE from Edison archive with stages scenes.
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1905
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The first permanent movie theater - Nickelodeon (nickel theater) opens in Pittsburgh.
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1906
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"The True Story of the Kelly Gang" |
Australian John Tait makes the first feature-length film.
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1908
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Societe Film d'Art
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Freres Lafitte establishes the FIRST HIGHBROW MOTION PICTURE MOVEMENT in Paris, with the desire to generate cinema interest within the middle classes.
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1909
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"The Jolly Germs"
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Emile Cohl becomes the father of ANIMATION, pioneering frame-by-frame line drawing, combined with puppets and ordinary objects.
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1910
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Carl Laemmle announces that Florence Lawrence and her leading man King Baggott will attend the St. Louis premiere of their first movie together "The Broken Bath" and thus creates the STAR SYSTEM.
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1911
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"The Loafer" |
The first “eye-line matching," and the very early use of rough reverse angle editing.
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1912
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Phi Phenomenon
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Max Wertheimer, observes the optical illusion that causes us to see a series of still images as moving.
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1913
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"Fantomas"
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Louis Feuillad becomes the pioneer of the mise-en-scene, because he creatively uses space and movement within the shot.
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1907-1913
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Many production companies move from the East coast to a rather small industrial town on the West coast called Hollywood, because of landscape diversity, better and warmer weather and access to theater actors/actresses.
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1914
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"The Squaw Man" |
The first feature-length Western made in Hollywood directed by Cecil B. DeMille
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1916
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"Intolerance" |
D.W. Griffith showed that a cut between shots could be a thematic tool, asking the audience to notice, not something about the action or story, but about the meaning of the sequence.
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1917
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"El Apostol" |
The first animated feature, which no longer survives. Directed by Frederico Valle (Argentina), used over 58,000 individual drawings and took twelve months to make.
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1917
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The first successful movie color system TECHNICOLOR is introduced.
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1918
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Thomas Ince pioneered the STUDIO SYSTEM of production when he builds his studio "Inceville" - the first modern Hollywood studio.
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Mack Sennett |
Creates the SLAPSTICK COMEDY, of the most crucial American movie approach of the silent era.
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1919
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The first film school is formed in Russia - Moscow Film School.
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Lev Kuleshov effect |
Every shot has 2 meanings:
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1920s
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Robert Flaherty creates "NARRATIVE DOCUMENTARY" genre of film production.
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1922
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"The Toll of the Sea"
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Directed by Chester Franklin is the first movie to use Technicolor.
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1924
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"The Last Laugh"
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F.W.Murnau for the first time moves the camera BACKWARD and FORWARD, as well as UP and DOWN and from SIDE TO SIDE.
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1925
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"The Joyless Street" |
G.W.Pabst first cuts between shots on character movement, called CONTINUITY EDITING.
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Schuffan process |
Glass plate with magnifying mirrored surface is placed at a 45-degree angle to the camera and miniatures are reflected onto it.
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1926
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The first studio to try sound was Warner Bros. and they are the first to build sound studio.
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1927
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"Metropolis"
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Fritz Lang uses the Schuffan process for first time.
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1928
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John Logie Baird in London demonstrates Television.
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1928
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"Lights of New York"
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Directed by Bryan Foy for Warner Bros. is the first all taking movie.
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1929
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"Hallelujah"
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Directed by King Vidor is the first film to use POSTSYNCHRONIZATION.
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1930
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"Murder" |
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock this film have the first improvised dialogue.
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1931
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"City Streets"
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Directed by Rouben Mamoulian, he for the first time uses
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1932
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The first film festival begins - Venice Film Festival.
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1933
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"The Private Life of Henry VII"
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Directed by Alexander Korda it starts the rage of the Historical Biography film.
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1934
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"La Cucaracha"
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A short live-action movie, which first uses three- color Technicolor process.
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Jan. 12,
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First American television network broadcast on WNBT-TV, New York, and WRGB-TV, Schenectady.
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1941
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"Citizen Kane" |
Orson Welles innovations are:
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1944
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Technicolor Monopack system first used for features.
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1945
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"Roma, Open City"
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Directed by Roberto Rossellini, this is the first neo-realist film to be shown outside Italy.
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1946
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Cannes Film Festival founded.
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1948
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"Macbeth"
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Directed by Orson Welles, the film has the first LONG TAKE of continuous dramatic action attempted on celluloid - 10 minute.
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1951
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Lucille Ball’s "I Love Lucy" sets the model for television situation comedy;
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1952
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"Bwana Devil"
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Directed by Arch Oboler is the first 3–D movie.
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Jan.
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Francois Truffaut publishes his essay "A Certain Tendency in French Cinema" in Cahiers du Cinema, with which he establishes the "AUTEUR THEORY."
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1955
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"La Pointe-Courte"
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Directed by Agnes Varda is the first feature French New Wave film.
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1957
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First demonstration of laser device, by Hughes Aircraft Co.
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1961
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"Ersatz"
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Directed by Vatroslav Mimica and Dusan Vukotic is the first Foreign animated film to win an Oscar.
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1963
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Super-8 mm film format introduced for amateur market.
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1964
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"Fistful of dollars" |
Directed by Sergio Leone, the movie starts the
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1967
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"Bonnie and Clyde"
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Directed by Arthur Penn, the film starts the New American cinema.
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1970
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"M*A*S*H" |
Directed by Robert Altman - It was the first mainstream American film to ridicule religion and reputedly the first to use the word “fuck.”
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1970
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Video movement begins with half-inch portable videotape system hitting the market - Portapak. Made by Sony.
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1971
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Intel introduces the 4004, first microprocessor chip. Computer memory chips can hold
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1975
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The Altair 8800 is the first personal computer offered to the public for sale in the U.S.
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1976
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"Futureworld" |
Directed by Richard T. Heffron, the film is the debut of 3-D computer animation-wireframe hand for display on a monitor.
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1978
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The popular newspaper film critics in Chicago, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, appear on the first PBS film review show, establishing the critical trend for the 1980s. |
1981
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Paramount’s syndicated Entertainment Tonight becomes first national entertainment
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1982
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"Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan"
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The first extensive sequence of photorealistic computer animation - dead planet is transformed by missile blast into vibrant place in 60 sec. The first DIGITAL MATTE PAINTING. Directed by Nicholas Meyer.
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1984
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"The Last Starfighter" |
The first feature to simulate ALL of its special effects - 27 minutes of deep-space sequences - 230 separate scenes. Directed by Nick Castle.
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1984
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Michael Jackson’s Thriller (directed by John Landis) is the first music video to list
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1985
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"Young Sherlock Holmes"
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Directed by Barry Levinson, in this movie the stained glass knight is the first COMPUTER-GENERATED CHARACTER using LASER SCANNING - Dennis Muren used laser recorder to scan the knight directly onto the film stock.
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1988
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Sony introduces the Mavica, first DIGITAL STILL CAMERA, but few consumers are ready to switch from film, and it fails quickly. Success comes eight years later.
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1989
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"The Abyss"
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Directed by James Cameron, introduced the DIGITAL SET- Dennis Muren in ILM creates digital environment within which he controls lighting, camera position, movement, and the movement of objects on the set.
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1990
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"The Hunt for Red October" |
Directed by John McTiernan, this movie first used PARTICLE animation software.
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1991
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"Photocopy Cha Cha"
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Directed by Chel White, is the first animated movie created on a copy machine.
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1994
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"Toy Story" |
Directed by John Lasseter is the first fully computer-animated feature.
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1995
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Hollywood majors commit to single standard format known as DVD.
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1995
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"Casper" |
Directed by Brad Silberling, this movie has the first completely computer generated character.
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1995
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Dogme 95 |
Lars von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg, Soren Kragh-Jacobsen and Kristian Levring made the Dogme95 manifesto together with a set of rules called "The Vow of Chastity" which were designed to liberate the cinema from its bondage to illusionist dramaturgy and bourgeois romanticism.
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1996
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"The English Patient" |
Directed by Anthony Minghella and edited by Walter Murch, who won an Oscar for Editing, the film is the first Oscar film to be cut entirely on digital equipment.
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1999
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“Cambrure” |
Directed by Eric Rohmer this movie is the first digital showing at the Cannes Film Festival
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2003
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"Cold Mountain" |
Directed by Anthony Minghella and edited by Walter Murch, the film is entirely edited on a standard Power Mac G4 computer using Apple's Final Cut Pro software.
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