The History of Film (my POV)

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.

So much happened in the last decade I decided to write down just a few movies from the last few years: The Science of Sleep, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; with Jim Carey, Elijah Wood and Kristen Dunst (from Spiderman!), Amelie; which is in French, Mary and Max; an Australian Claymation, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; Directed by Tim Burton, starring Johnny Depp, Freddy Highmore, Deep Roy, Anna Sophia Robb, Helena Bonham Carter and Christopher Lee.

2010’s: Samsara (goes to show that movies can be great with no words at all), Super 8; directed by J J. Abrahams, 127 Hours; starring James Franco and directed by Danny Boyle, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen; with Ewen McGregor and Emily Blunt, Hugo; a movie based on historical events and a fictional book by: Brian Selznick with: Jude Law, Chloe Moretz, Asa Butterfeild and Sacha Baren Cohen.

Going onto Sound tracks, some of my favorite and also very well known composers are: Hans Zimmer who made the soundtrack for Pirates of the Caribbean, Sherlock Holmes and the Game of Shadows and Inception. Danny Elfman, my favorite, who did the opening credits for Oz the Great and Powerful the soundtracks for many Tim Burton Movies and used to be in the band 'Oingo Boingo' (I advise you don't listed to their song 'Little Girls' unless you'd like to be deeply disturbed). Here I will note the fantastic soundtrack in Amilie made by Yann Teirsen.  

As you can tell, I like movies.  

Feel free to comment things I've missed out/things you'd like me to add in and tell me your favorite movie/director/actor/soundtrack and why.