Over the past century, there have been countless advancements in the film viewing experience, rendering the past largely irrelevant. Once only viewable in theatres and other designated locations, today thousands of films are available at any time, anywhere there is a computer and an internet connection. This article will highlight how the viewing experience changed over time.
At A Glance
- The Silent Era of Filmmaking
- The Talkies
- Televisions vs Studios
- Video Home System (VHS)
- Viewing in the MTV Era
- YouTube
- Cable TV
- Film Viewing with Netflix
- The impact of digital advancements on Cinema
The Silent Era of Filmmaking
The Kinetoscope, created by Thomas Edison in 1891, was an early motion picture exhibition device that showed silent films no longer than 30 seconds to a single viewer. Quickly after, the first “Kinetoscope Parlour” opened on Broadway in New York City. As a result, experimentation was conducted with more time spent recording, alternative projection methods, and additional cameras.
However, with the development of the Cinématographe, the era of experimentation proper commenced. The first film, titled La Sortie de l’usine Lumière, premiered in Paris in March 1985.
Once again, cinema took off in 1902, this time to the moon with Georges Méliès‘s Le Voyage dans la Lune. In an unreliable technological era, he used superimposition, fading, double exposures, and scale models. This set a new benchmark for quality of production and visual effects.
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