Task one- Editing in early cinema

Editing in early cinema

·                     Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison was an american film maker who made multiple films. He used to be an electrician but then he decided to join the film laboratory. Edison is best known for having invented the electrical light bulb, the phonograph, and the first motion picture camera. In addition to his inventions he built his famous laboratory in Menlo Park, which is considered the forerunner of the modern day research facility. Despite Thomas Edison's incredible productivity, some people consider him a controversial figure and accuse him of profiting from the ideas of other inventors. 

·                     Lumiere Bros - Sortie d’usine

The Lumiere brothers August and Louis were two French engineers who invented the cinematographic process and gave the first public film projection in 1895. Thomas Edison worked withe Lumiere brothers and produced short films that were one long, static and locked down shot. the motion in the shot was necessary because it needed to be funny for the audience.   

·                     G.A Smith – The Miller and the Sweep

In the film 'The miller and the sweep' there was no story or editing the film ran as long as there was film in the camera.G.A Smith – The Kiss in the Tunnel. In 1899 G.A Smith made the film ' The Kiss in the Tunnel. This film is being said that it started the beginnings of narrative editing. Smith said that some extra spice was called for in the then popular "phantom ride" genre. Smith took advantage of a brief onset of darkness as they went into a tunnel when a shot was being taken of a couple.  

·                     George Melies - The Vanishing Lady

George Melies was a prolific innovator who used special effects, he also discovered the substitution stop trick in 1896 but he done this by accident. He was also the first filmmakers to use multiple exposures, time-lapse photography and hand painted colour in his work. He also built a studio and wrote scripts, he also went out to design studios and he was the one who discovered the basic camera trickery. When he made 'The Vanishing lady' he was using in- camera editing and he made it popular and was the first person to use it. He got forced out of business by the commercial industry in 1913 and he died of poverty.  

·                     Edwin S Porter – The Life of an American Fireman

Edwin porter was an electrician at the start of his career before joining the film laboratory of Thomas Alva Edison in the 1890s. Edwin's breakthrough came when he made the film ' Life of an American Fireman' in 1903. it has been said that the film was one of the first among that had a close up of a hand pulling a fire alarm. In 1929 the stock market crash put him out of business, so in the 1930s he worked on home-movie cameras.     Edwin S Porter – The Great Train Robbery is the prime example of a excellent film that resembles the films that are watched today. 

·                     Charles Pathe – The Horse that Bolted

Charles Pathe was a french pioneer motion- picture executive ho controlled a vast network of production and distribution facilities that dominated the world film market during the first years of the 20th century. The Horse that Bolted was example of parallel editing  this film was created in 1907.