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In the late nineteenth century there were many ways for the general public to see far off lands, exotic animals and things of that nature, but the only problem was it was rare that anyone would get a chance to see these objects live and in action. There were lantern slide which could provide a person with the chance to see some of these places or things, but the slides only showed a static picture. On the other hand there were events such as circuses and traveling performance groups which also were another way to witness some out of the ordinary spectacles first hand but these performances were few and far between due to the cost of travel. So like many other forms of entertainment at that time many things were only made available to the higher class and working class and middle class people were forced to stay within their folk culture.
Enter the invention of cinema. Cinema was to be the solution to all these for mentioned problems with entertainment of the nineteenth century. It would create a media that would be, not only revolutionary, but affordable for all classes to enjoy together.
Cinema, short for cinematography, is defined as the art, science, and work of photography in creating films (Agnes 65). And film is defined as a sequence of photographs or drawings projected onto a screen in such rapid succession that they create the optical illusion of moving pictures and objects (Agnes 5). With cinema it would be possible to bring all of the distant lands and things in those places to life right in front of any individual anywhere in the world. Plays and performances could be recorded as well so an individual could watch it many months and thousands of mile later. The invention of cinema would create an entire different entertainment that would be accessible to all people, no matter where they lived, their class or race. Cinema would be an invention for the people.
Cinema was not invented overnight, and just the same it would take many years and many people to develop this art form. From the crude stages of cinema to developing classical Hollywood cinema there were thousands upon thousands of trials and errors. But all of these mistakes were made for a purpose and there all important in understanding how cinema got to where it is today.
At the very beginning cinema was far form what we think of today when we talk about movies and the classical Hollywood styles. Early cinema, or the “primitive period” as referred to by many historians, consists of all of the exhibitions which took place between 184 until sometime around 108. The first films were mostly non-fiction films consisting of scenes of far off places and topicals featuring news briefs. At this point in film narratives were almost non-existent. Because cinema was such a complex idea for the general public to grasp in itself, it was not necessary for the early films to consist of anything but the moving pictures themselves. The public would line-up at a chance to see one minute of a person on film just doing everyday activities such as swimming or animals from distant lands. As long as the pictures were in motion that was enough to keep the audiences happy. This, of course, would not last long. Before long the novelty of moving pictures wore off and it was time for film makers to start developing a style or system for this new invention.
The primitive period of cinema can be broken up into two major phases. The first of these two phases lasted from 185 to about 10. This first phase can be considered the more primitive of the two. During this earlier phase the major influence in the way cinema was created was the fact that film makers thought of their audiences as the same as the audiences of theater at that time. From the way the scenes were staged down to the way the actors played to the camera, everything was mimicked after the way the staged shows were set-up. Most scenes were staged so that the audience would be looking into the scene rather than many of today’s films in which we, as the audience, are put on the “edge” of the action and feel like part of the scene. As far as the narrative goes, many of these films did have stories, but due to the fact that sound was not yet present in cinema and film makers had not developed ways to guide the audience through the narrative it was easy for the story to get lost along the way. Films at this point, for the most part, one-shot scenes. Some used a few of theses one-shot scenes but devices such as cross-cutting, dissolves and other things of that nature were not in use as of yet.
At this point it was evident that it was time to take new and bigger steps. With this second stage elements of film such as causally linked events, increased lengths, and complex production methods would come into effect. A good example of film at this time is Edwin S. Porter’s film The Life of an American Fireman. In this film audiences saw the first elements of the “chase film”which became one of the most popular genres in narrative film from 10 to 104. The chase films, instead of relying on one brief scene of action, would stretch out the action over series of scenes. This was a sign of where film would be going as far as carrying a narrative through a film although the film still relied on one initial action taking place at the beginning of each film. Around this same time is when the cinema was becoming even more popular and the demand was so great that film makers began to increase the lengths of their films to satisfy the demand. Because of the increase in volume many film makers began the mass production of staged narratives and this of course put the narrative aspect of cinema into the spotlight. This is where we see the major shift from primitive cinema into classical cinema.
The period in which the classical model emerged was started around 108/10. The largest contributing factor to all of the changes to come in cinema can be attributed to the demand in which the public placed on film makes for more product. Not only did this motivate the film makers to increase the lengths of films and start staging more narrative films. But the increase in length inadvertently created some much-needed space for the classical model to grow. The increase in length obviously required the film makers to fill all this new space with something. This increase in length had two separate areas of impact on cinema. One was the fact that film makers began experimenting more with multiple shots. This lead to dealing with cutting and solving problems with cutting. The other major impact that the increased length made was on the narrative. More film meant for time for characters and stories to develop. The idea for developing characters created possibilities such as revealing a characters mental state to the audience. Just like primitive film modeled itself after vaudeville and theater in general, the narrative in the classical model would model itself after the popular arts of it’s time. The most significant of these art forms were short stories and novels. Writers like Edgar Allan Poe influenced film makers by providing a model for the psychology of characters.
As well as the advances in shooting styles and character development there were several other great advances made while the classical model was built. Thompson says, “The classical narrative settled into a pattern of linear causality with multiple lines of intertwined actions.” In conjunction with the multiple lines of action came the most important idea related to cinema since it’s conception. Path’ Freres said of this new concept, “Let one scene lead into th next scene wherever possible. Motion picture theater goers don’t yearn for mental gymnastics and shouldn’t be kept guessing as to who the characters are or why that are in the story at all...Keep your scenes in a sequence easily followed by the onlooker”. This idea that Freres describes in this quote is continuity. Continuity stands for the smoothly flowing narrative, with its technique constantly in the service of the causal chain Bordwell 4).
Along with this idea of continuity in cinema came other linked developments that had a huge impact on the outcome of the classical model. The idea of involving continuity in scripts as well as the editing process made the whole concept of continuity easier. Now the events would be linked from the very beginning, even before the film was shot and edited.
Beside the multiple lines of action starting to take place there was also the use of inter-titles. Inter-titles were a tool used by film makers to help move the narrative along and to make it easier for the audience to follow the action. Inter-title were, at first, used primarily in the beginning of scenes to setup the action that was about to take place. But as the film makers began to experiment more with all of their new tools they found that it was easy to create dialogue throughout their films by using inter-titles as the dialogue. This was a huge development considering sound had still yet to be brought into the “picture”.
At this point the classical model had really taken shape, but there were some very important aspects of this period that still had a huge impact on the model. One of these final steps in building the model was the development of acting styles. To be more specific it was the development of the American acting styles that made a big impact.
Acting was always considered a very “strange” part of the cinema. It seemed as if audiences never felt comfortable with the way action and emotions were portrayed by the pantomiming actors of the primitive and early classical periods. But with the development of the classical model came a new breed of actors who abandoned the traditional pantomiming style and started focusing more on restrained gestures and facial expressions. Along with this new way of acting on screen came another new development in cinema. Because the American style called for smaller, less exaggerated movements and focused more on facial expressions film makers had to start using closer framings. These shots are not what we would call close-ups today, but at that time there were only long shots and close shots. The new framings enabled the audience to get a closer look at the actors faces and their expressions. This new technique did not go without criticism though. Many critiques believed that by cutting off actors at the knees that it was breaking many of the principles of the traditional aesthetic. H.F. Hoffman said of this new development, “The difference between the two schools is broad and plain. The European school is based more on bodily movements than upon the mobility of the face. The American school relies more upon the expression of the face and the suppression of bodily movement.”
Because audiences were now able to see the actors faces more clearly it gave film makers the opportunity to create stars. The star shot was created in order to spotlight certain actors of the time. This is really the first time in which audiences were given a chance to become familiar with some of the actors and this is obviously where the entire aspect fo movie stars began, which is a big part of the film industry today.
One aspect of cinema that can be gathered form all of the developments described thus far is the creative motivation produced by money. Although all art forms are sold or exchanged for some monetary value it seems that cinema allowed the business side to take over the creative control and decide what should and should not be changed in the creation of the classical model. So rather than cinema becoming a classical art form like painting, it became a product of commercialism.
The cinema has obviously come a long way since the early days of single-shot films and over-exaggerating actors(although there are still some of those actors around today). Cinema is still changing everyday and continues to make a major impact on society and the way we look at current events, religion, politics, sex, drugs, death and so many other parts of our lives.
Works Cited
Agnes, Michael. Webster’s New World College Dictionary Fourth Edition. Macmillan USA 1.
Bordwell, David and Kristin Thompson. Film Art And Introduction. Seventh Edition. McGraw Hill. Boston 004.
Thompson, Kristin and David Bordwell. Film History An Introduction. Second Edition.
McGraw Hill. Boston 00.
Works Cited
Agnes, Michael. Webster’s New World College Dictionary Fourth Edition. Macmillan USA 1.
Bordwell, David and Kristin Thompson. Film Art And Introduction. Seventh Edition. McGraw Hill. Boston 004.
Thompson, Kristin and David Bordwell. Film History An Introduction. Second Edition.
McGraw Hill. Boston 00.
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