What was the name of the first film made by the Lumiere Brother and when was this?

“Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory” on December 28, 1895

Workers Leaving The Lumière Factory in Lyon, also known as Employees Leaving the Lumière Factory and Exiting the Factory, is an 1895 French short black-and-white silent documentary film directed and produced by Louis Lumière

What is the “Phantom Ride”?

Cameramen would literally strap themselves and their cameras to the buffer of a speeding train. From this position, the film would appear to be moving thanks to an invisible force, hence the name ‘phantom ride’ by which they soon came to be known

What was ground-breaking about the silent films “The Sick Kitten” and “Life of an American Fireman”?

The film “The Sick Kitten” is a 1903 British short silent comedy film, directed by George Albert Smith, featuring two young children tending to a sick kitten this film utilised the first close-up in film of a kitten eating

The film “Life of an American Fireman” utilised editing by having multiple shots edited together to tell a story rather than having one long take

What was the name of the first “film star” in Hollywood?

Florence Lawrence was a Canadian-American stage performer and film actress. She is often referred to as the “first movie star”, and was long thought to be the first film actor to be named publicly

According to Cousin’s, why did the hub if film production in the USA move from the East Coast of America to Hollywood?

Hollywood was an ideal place to produce movies since filmmakers couldn’t be sued there for infringing on motion picture film patents held by Thomas Edison and his Motion Picture Patents Company. It was also very cheap land so they could buy big buildings for filming.

The Danish film industry was described as best in the world 

Which nation’s film industry does Cousin’s describe as “the best in the world” in the 1910’s and why?

Who directed Birth of a Nation (1915) and why is the film continue to divide opinions among film critics, practitioners and theorists?

D.W. Griffith’s – Racism and a negative portrayal of Black characters (white men in black face, politically unacceptable in modern standards) makes the film controversial, but the opinion is divided by critics due to it’s use of cuts and beautiful types of shots.

The first film created by the Lumiere brothers was titled “Employees Leaving the Lumiere Factory” in 1985 – a documentary piece.

The “Phantom Ride” was one of the first types of tracking shots, where a camera was placed on the front of a train as it drives over the tracks – a shot now often done with all types of vehicles.

The reason that the 1903 short silent comedy film “The Sick Kitten” was so ground-breaking for film, was due to George Albert Smith’s use of a close-up shot to show more detail of the kitten eating. Much like “The Sick Kitten”, Edwin S. Porter’s 1903 short silent film “Life of an American Fireman” innovated film with the first proper uses of editing and film technique – combining multiple shots together with various cuts to show what happens next – one of the first instances of continuous editing.

The first film star in Hollywood was called Florence Lawrence – featuring in a large array of silent films within the late 1900s to the late 1930s.