Pioneering Age
1896 - 1912
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Scenes were broken up into multiple shots of varying sizes and angles.
Camera movement was used to add to the story development.
Music was used to create mood using a pianist / organist using either sheet music or a score as they accompanied the screen action.
In 1891 the Edison Company successfully demonstrated a prototype of the Kinetoscope, which enabled one person at a time to view moving pictures.
The Seven Ages of Film. The Silent Age
1913 - 1927
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The emergence of Hollywood. By 1914, several national film industries were established.
Films became longer and storytelling, or narrative, became the dominant form.
More and more people paid to see movies, the industry which grew around them was prepared to invest more money in their production, so large studios were established and special cinemas were built.
The first 30 years of cinema were characterised by the growth and consolidation of an industrial base
Progressions - The Silent Film
Adding colour
The Seven Ages of Film. The Transition Age
1928-32
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From Silent to Sound
Sound and film were slow to accommodate each other. Sound forced film to adapt and develop new narrative techniques.
World War II encouraged the development of the propaganda film and again helped the USA gain dominance of the movie making business.
Studios became propaganda machines for the War Effort.
The Seven Ages of Film. The Hollywood Studio Age
1932 - 1946
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By the early 1930s, nearly all feature-length movies were presented with synchronised sound
By the mid-1930s, some were in full colour.
During the 1930s and 1940s, cinema was the principal form of popular entertainment
The Seven Ages of Film. The Internationalist Age
1947 - 1959
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The introduction of television in America prompted a number of technical experiments designed to maintain public interest in cinema.
In 1952, the Cinerama process, using three projectors and a wide, deeply curved screen together with multi-track surround sound, was premiered.
Widescreen cinema was not widely adopted by the industry until the invention of CinemaScope in 1953 and Todd‑AO in 1955.
Specialist large-screen systems using 70mm film were also developed,the most successful of these has been IMAX.
The Mass-Media age 1980 -2000+
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A horizontal control of the media with the Media Conglomerates able to exploit Film, TV, Books, CD, record, DVD publication for mass profit.
Individual contracting systems for “talent” rather than salaried staff favored by the Studios. Actors, Directors, Technicians contracted for single movies.
The advent of the “Blockbuster” disaster genre as the Conglomerates look to mass saturation marketing and maximised profit.
Smaller Production houses move into specialised niche audience orientated films