Brief review on the evolution of films. From black and white to SPX.

1. Brief history
of
films
Rocío Torres Sánchez
José Antonio Alcalde López

2. Types of films
There are many types of films nowadays:
Horror Thriller Action Animated
Romance Comedy Sci-fi Adventure
Drama Biopic Musical Western…
But what is the origin of all of them??

3. Moving photographs
In 1878 photographer
Eadweard Muybridge was the first
person to show movement with
photographs (running horses).
Watch the video

4. The kinetoscope
In 1894 Thomas Edison invented
the first motion picture camera for
making silent films (kinetoscope)
and made the first film ever!
Watch the video
It was also the first
“THE END” in History!!

5. The first films
The first films were silent and black and
white. Actors made very exagerated
movements or mime and later title cards
were introduced.
In big cities an orchestra played some
music while the audience were watching
the film.
Watch the video

6. The three big comedians
Still in black and white and silent,
these three comedians made laugh
a lot of people:
• Harold Lloyd (vídeo)
• Buster Keaton (vídeo)
• Charles Chaplin (vídeo)

7. The coming of sound
The first commercial sound film
appeared in 1927. It was “The Jazz
Singer”. Before that, there were
some experiments with sound in
films in the USA.
Watch the video

8. Moving to Hollywood
The film industry was starting and
moved from New York to
Hollywood (Southern California)
because of the weather and the
proximity to Mexico.

9. The first cartoons
Walt Disney created his most famous
cartoon character Mickey Mouse in 1928
(still in black and white!). Then would
come Donald Duck, Pluto, Goofy, Daisy,
Minnie…
Watch the video

10. The coming of colour
Technicolour appeared in 1916 but was
especially common from 1922 to 1952. An
excellent example is “Wizard of Oz”
(1930) At first, it was very expensive to
make films in colour.
Watch the video

11. The majors
Major film studios appeared in
Hollywood and produced
many films in the Golden Age
of cinema (1930s-1940s) with
famous film stars.

12. And the Oscar goes to…
These internationally famous awards are
given every year since 1929 by the
Academy of the Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences. The ceremony takes place in
Hollywood around February with millions
of spectators around the world.
Link to the Academy

13. Computer animation
In 1995 “Toy Story” was the
first film completely made
with computer animation. It
used CGI (Computer
Generated Imagery). The
company Pixar is
responsible for famous
movies with this technique.
Watch
the trailer

14. SFX, SPFX, FX
In the last decades special effects are very
used to create new illusions and
possibilities beyond reality. Digital effects
helped a lot to produce new and special
films like “The Matrix” or “Avatar”. These
days 3D films offer new sensations.
Watch
Avatar trailer

15. People in the movies
• Film cast: the actors (sometimes
stunts!!) we see in a film
• Film crew: many more people are behind
the camera like technicians, producers,
directors, screenwriters, casting director,
unit managers, production assistants,
location managers…

16. Blockbusters
These are the movies with the biggest box-office in the
world:
1. "Avatar": $2.788 billion
2. "Titanic": $2.186 billion
3. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens": $2.068 billion
4. "Jurassic World": $1.670 billion
5. "Marvel's The Avengers": $1.519 billion
6. "Furious 7": $1.516 billion
7. "Avengers: Age of Ultron": $1.405 billion
8. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2": $1.341
billion
9. "Frozen": $1.276 billion
10. "Iron Man 3": $1.215 billion

17. Competence for Hollywood
Today Hollywood is still an important centre for the film
industry but not the only one.
Bollywood (in India) produces more films a year than
Hollywood and Nollywood (in Nigeria) is also the meca
of the film industry in Africa.

18. The future…
Films will have more and more advanced visual effects but…
we will always need a good story full of emotions (love,
action, hate, fear, adventure, compassion, etc.)

19. Brief history
of
films
Rocío Torres Sánchez
José Antonio Alcalde López