Although in
the early days of film people thought it was just a passing phase, film
remains. In the great words of George Melies one of the pioneers of filmmaking
“If
you've ever wondered where your dreams come from when you go to sleep at night,
just look around. This is where they are made.” George Melies was one of the
first to realise that film had the power to capture dreams, and I completely
believe that.
Starting from the very beginning: In 1826 the first ever photograph was taken, I thought this would be a good place to put in “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”- Neil Armstrong.
After several inventions such as the zoetrope came the Lumiere Brothers in 1895, they were the some of first filmmakers. The Lumiere brothers made such movies as; ‘Arrival of the Train at Laciotat’ which frightened the viewers when they thought the train was going to squash them!
In 1902 Gorge Melies (as mentioned in the opening paragraph) made the movie; “A Trip to the Moon” this was one of the first ‘real’ movies. The film was a science fiction movie about, well, a trip to the moon. The film was hand tinted to make it in colour. George Melies was the master of special effects.
At around the 1920’s Charlie Chaplin was a silent film star and director of films such as: The Great Dictator and The Kid. When sound was introduced in 1930’s (although sound was introduced long before the 1930’s it took a while for it to become popular around the world) Charlie was against the idea because it took attention away from facial expressions etc. Sir Charles Chaplin died after almost 80 years in the film business.
Nosferatu also came out in the 20’s, google it; you’ll probably recognise it.
At around this time Disney had
started wit their first animations: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio
etc. Because there's so much to know about Disney that I just don't know, you can find out more about Walt Disney at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney and more about Disney at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walt_Disney_Company
In 1931 the original Frankenstein
and Dracula movies were released, this was the start of horror classics. Not
long after came: House of Wax; with Vincent price, The Blob, Invasion of the
Body Snatchers, The Fly and Plan 9 from Outer Space; Directed by Ed Wood.
Ed Wood (Edward D. Wood Jr) was known as the worst director ever. The most famous of his works were: ‘Plan 9 from Outer Space’ and ‘Glen or Glenda’. ‘Glen or Glenda’ was a movie about transvestites (cross dressers). The movie starred Ed Wood and his girlfriend at the time, also featuring Bela Legosi and his famous line “Pull the string!” The movie was based on true events. Although he was a terrible director, he had a passion for movies and I think we should be proud of him for doing what he loved no matter what.
Hitchcock was a famous director, he directed the movies: Psycho, The Birds, Alfred Hitchcock presents and many more. He was known as the master of suspense.
The 70’s was a decade for many well known films, just to name a few: Jaws, Star Wars, Clockwork Orange, 2001 Space Odyssey and a list that would take forever to read…
Getting into the 80’s there would be a lot of movies you’ve actually watched: The Never Ending Story; with Deep Roy, Back to the Future, The Breakfast Club, Flight of the Navigator, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark; with Harrison Ford, The Terminator, My Neighbour Totoro; By Studio Ghibli etc
In 1997 Titanic came out, it remains one of the highest grossing films earning $658, 672, 302 along side ‘Avatar’ 2009 which earned $760,505, 842. Both films only cost about 200 million to make.
A list of 90’s movies: The Lion King, Jurassic Park, Forrest Gump; starring Tom Hanks, Fight Club; with Helena Bonham Carter and Brad Pitt, Being John Malkovich; with John Malkovich, John Cusack, Cameron Diaz and Charlie Sheen, The Matrix, Edward Scissorhands (my favourite movie); Directed by Tim Burton, staring Johnny Depp, Winona Rider, Anthony Michel Hall, Vincent Price and lovely soundtrack by Danny Elfman.
