The History of FilmJoshua Crichlow

The first film

The earliest surviving film ever recorded was Louis Le Prince’s Roundhay Garden Scene which only lasts 2.11 seconds, and has no sound, and was recorded in 1888. Unlike the Lumière brothers who claimed the title cinematographer, who came after them, Le Prince never showed his film publically.

The Sound Era

In 1926, Warner Bros. released the ‘vitaphone’, which was capable of playing both video and sound – the next year, they released the first film to feature synchronised dialogue and singing in a film: The Jazz Singer. At the time, they were known as talking pictures, or ‘talkies’.

Colour Film

Due to the variety of different techniques used to create coloured film, the one earliest known coloured film is La Vie et la passion du Jesus Christ – a French film made by Pathé Frères in 1903, before synchronised sound.

The First Cinema

Thomas Edison made a crucial decision to sell a number of Vitascopes as a business venture, and as a result, the Mark brothers opened up the first real cinema (in that it was specifically built for this purpose) to the public in 1896 – they were then known as Vitascope theatres. L’idéal cinéma – Jacques Tati is the oldest cinema that is still running, since 1902.