1895-1918

The first film made by the Lumiere Brother was ‘La Sortie des ouvriers de l’usine Lumière‘ [Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory] in June 1895.

The ‘Phantom Ride’ is an early genre of film where a vehicle moves forward whilst the camera is attached to the front, creating a ghostly tracking shot

The film ‘The sick Kitten’ used the very first close up shot as the camera came closer to the kitten as it ate, allowing all the details of the kitten to be seen by the audience.

The film ‘Life of an American Fireman’ used continuity editing, cutting between locations in order show the audience what was happening both inside and outside of the building, aka continuous editing is used

The first ‘film star’ in Hollywood was Florence Lawrence as she was the first actor whose name was used in order to promote films

1903-1918

Films began to be produced in Hollywood rather than the East Coast of America as Thomas Edison had an infringement which cost a lot of money so film production was moved in order to escape this. Along with that, warm and sunny weather which was useful for film backdrops.

The Scandinavian film industry was described as ‘the best in the world’ in the 1910’s, specifically Sweden and Denmark.

‘The Birth Of A Nation, D.W. Griffith [1915]‘ was a 3 hour long silent film that’s considered controversial due to it’s incredibly racist views and positive portrayal of the KKK, having been referred to as “the most reprehensibly racist film in Hollywood history”. Despite this, several critics still consider the film a masterpiece as it’s got good editing and technical quality and as it was the longest film ever made at that time.

Influential Actors

Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd were all film makers and actors that specialized in comedic films. They all had specific trademarks:

• Keaton used a deadpan face, using no reaction as a reaction. Some of his films include ‘The Cameraman’ [1928], ‘Steamboat Jr.’ [1928] and ‘Our Hospitality’ [1923]
• Chaplin used slapstick comedy and was well known for his moustache, hat and cane. Some of his films include ‘The tramp’ [1915], ‘The Great Dictator‘ [1940] and ‘The Kid’ [1921]
• Lloyd was well known for his geeky look with his trademark round glasses. Some of his films include ‘Girl Shy’ [1924], ‘The Freshmen’ [1925] and ‘Speedy’ [1928]

They inspired a lot of people in their time such as Italian actor Toto and they’re still referenced today through gags, especially in animated films such as Mr Bean and Wallace & Grommet.