The Evolution of Motion Pictures

The development of cinema equipment has led to ever changing stylistic transformations in content, visual effects, sound and story since its introduction in the 1890’s to present.  It continues to evolve as an art form and is a means of education, method of influence and an instrument for entertainment.

Since the origin of Actualities first created by the Lumiere Brothers, people have been fascinated with this art form called film.  Though Actualities were static and ordinary, they captivated audiences. These films were shot with a stationary MOS camera and depicted life in a series of black and white frames filmed in real time.  They contained no editing, no sound and were purely visual art relating to an event or action without story.

The birth of editing was the next progression where cutting the film and gluing the cut to another portion of the reel allowed the filmmaker to tell a narrative story.  The movement of the camera to capture different shots helped tell this narrative.  Animation techniques allowed for slates and subtitles to move a story forward with text accompanying the visuals on film.

With the advent of sound, each film could now have a soundtrack of speech, music and sound effects.  Cinema became an experience through a series of selected shots combined with camera movement and multiple camera angles.  In 1929 the filmmaker Jorvis Ivens uses the film Rain / Regen to capture the life of this seemingly dismal weather by animating it through the use of sound and carefully selected visuals. The rain becomes interesting and poetic as it falls on Amsterdam.  The tranquility turns to frenzy as the rain energizes through the progression of the storm and its ever-rising musical score and back again.  This world, Ivens world, is lovelier with the rain than it is without it.

The visual approach, camera angles, special effects, sound, color and series of selected shots of film have become the language of film.  A filmmaker could now create a perception of power, weakness, stasis, movement, suspicion, impending danger, etc., with the manipulation of the camera and effective use of sound. This created a powerful ability to influence people.  Leni Riefenstahl took full advantage of this when making her 1935 Nazi propaganda film, Triumph of the Will for Adolf Hitler and is largely responsible for many of the camera angles we use today in using the language of film.

The evolution of transforming film from black and white to vivid color added yet another layer of dimension to film. The desire to replicate what the eyes and brain process has gone beyond color and into 3D

In today’s world of film, technology and progress is an ever-changing beast with something new on a monthly basis.  Computers have led to the advancement of animated film, speeding up the process of individually producing each frame.  File formats let us share and view our films over the Internet.  Advancements in more affordable cinema equipment like the digital video Red cameras; Epic, Scarlet, Red One and Red Ray make it easier for independent filmmakers to produce a quality picture without having to leap the hurdle in costs for professional film equipment and stock.   

Story continues to be the driving force in an audiences desire to spend money to view a filmmaker’s work, so weather it’s a big budget film from a Hollywood studio or an indie film produced without financing or distribution, story is still the name of the game.