The first film made by the Lumiere brothers was “Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory”, which was filmed in 1895.

The Phantom Ride is an early version of a tracking shot, where a camera is placed at the front of a vehicle so the shot glides along the tracks.

“The Sick Kitten” and “An American Fireman” are early silent films with cuts that change the camera placement. The first had a closeup and the second featured continuity editing, cutting between locations as the story progressed.

The first film star was called Florence Lawrence.

Film producers moved from the East coast to Hollywood to avoid the patent placed on useful equipment for filmmaking. Producers did not want to pay Edison so they went to the West coast to avoid Edison and his lawyers. The light and weather is also good for filming with a variety of landscapes.

Cousin’s describes Sweden and Denmark’s film industries as some of the best in the world during the 1910s.

Birth of a Nation (1915) is a controversial film because of the glorification of white supremacy, causing a resurgence in KKK membership and racism against black people in the US. It was directed by DW Griffiths, and many critics still view it as a masterpiece because of the editing, acting and technical quality in general.

Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, and Harold Lloyd are influential comedians of the silent film genre, often working as an actor as well as the filmmaker themselves. Their work was mostly physical comedy, using themselves and the environment around them to tell jokes.

Keaton- Sherlock Jr. (1924), The General (1926), The Cameraman (1928)

Chaplin- The Kid (1921), The Great Dictator (1940), The Gold Rush (1925)

Lloyd- Safety Last (1923), The Freshman (1925), Speedy (1928)

They influenced various filmmakers like Toto and Jacques Tati.