You must research the following pioneers of early cinema:
Thomas Edison (USA)
Kinetoscopes 1888
Edison invented a motion picture camera and projected images for exhibition. The Kineteoscope was like a peep-hole device we find on piers which viewers put a coin in to see moving images projected. Edison is often cited as inventing cinema although it is more likely that he was the first to patent the technology.
Lumiere Brothers (France)
Arrival of a Train 1895
These brothers found a commercial angle and were trying to sell the technology to a new generation eager to discover more about the possibilities of film cameras. They were often large cameras and unwieldy therefore they often used long takes with no edits. The technology allowed people to start making films. Try to imagine the impact on audiences watching a film like the one below for the first time.
http://www.earlycinema.com/pioneers/lumiere_bio.html
Georges Melies (France)
A Trip to the Moon (1903)
Melies fantsastical explorations of the possibilities afforded by these new cameras that the Lumiere brothers had invented provide the origins of editing. This film includes 30 separate shots and includes dissolves. Melies was interested in illusion which was see as a magicians trick an this link between editing and magic can be developed as editors play with time, representations of reality and narrative continuity. Like Orson Welles it is often those seeking to bring in new ideas and uses for the technology that push the boundaries of the art form. rather than just capture reality Melies wanted to explore the magic of film and the possibilities of cinematography.
Edwin Porter (USA)
The Great Train Robbery (1903)
Porter is seen as a pioneer as he introduced the idea of separate shots connected together with cuts between them. He created a narrative through continuity editing rather than one long take. He also experimented with dissolves and cross cutting.
In the context of the time period Porter is interesting as he worked on travelling fairs as a projectionists and the film 'the Great Train robbery' became a favourite of audiences throughout America as it toured with these fairs. Imagine an audience who had never see a film before packed into a screening of this Western, seeing a moving image narrative for the first time. the film is 12 minutes long and has a range of shots and really signalled the future direction of film-making.
DW Griffith (USA)
Birth of a Nation (1915)
Griffith is seen as a landmark director as he pushed the boundaries of film once again. At the outbreak of WW1 he was putting together this film about America which includes references to the KKK and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Many consider Griffith to be the most influential film-maker ever as he set the rules for narrative film-making that were copied henceforth. He created genre films with early shorts like the gangster film 'the Musketeers of Pig Alley' 1912 and pioneered developments in lighting and camera placement, types of shot used and narrative techniques.
This scene is particularly offensive in a number of ways and shows the power of film in representing groups. the influence of this film cannot be understated in 1915 due to the awe inspired by this new medium. People would not see the acting and the make-up and the film divides opinion. Some compare Griffith to other later propagandists like Hitler's favourite Leni Riefenstahl.
However, this was the first film over an hour long and created the feature film. It was possibly the most popular film ever in terms of box office as it was the first feature film that most of the population of the time would see.
Eisenstein (Russia)
Strike 1925
Eisenstein is credited with introducing montage. the juxtaposition of a series of images or shots to build an abstract idea out of the narrative. The Russian civil war informed his work and his background in theatre allowed for development of mise-en-scene.
The Odessa Steps is the most famous sequence from 'Battleship Potemkin' which is seen as a landmark in film history.
Many director's reference the Odessa Steps scene in their own work. This is a comparison with De Palma's Untouchables
