Early Motion Picture 1878-1915

Early Motion Picture 1878-1915

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still images on a strip of plastic which, when run through a projector and shown on a screen, creates the illusion of moving images. A film is created by photographing actual scenes with a motion picture camera; by photographing drawings or miniature models using traditional animation techniques; by means of computer animation; or by a combination of some or all of these techniques and other visual effects. The process of filmmaking is both an art and an industry.

Films usually include an soundtrack, which is a graphic recording of the spoken words, music and other sounds that are to accompany the images. It runs along a portion of the film exclusively reserved for it and is not projected.

The individual images that make up a film are called frames. During projection, a rotating shutter causes intervals of darkness as each frame in turn is moved into position to be projected, but the viewer does not notice the interruptions because of an effect known as persistence of vision, whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after the source has been removed. The perception of motion is due to a psychological effect called beta movement.

 

The History of the Motion Picture

In early June of 1878, Muybridge made his first successful serial photographs of fast motion at Stanford's California stock farm. The photographs were of a horse running and another horse trotting; they were developed on the spot so as not to be accused of doctoring the images. Muybridge began traveling, giving lectures and demonstrations of his work around the world. In August of 1883, the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia decided to sponsor Muybridge's further experiments. This setting was quite suitable to him. Philadelphians Fairman Rogers (scientist and then head of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts) and Thomas Eakins (painter, sportsman, and student of anatomy) were both members of a university commission formed in 1884 to supervise Muybridge's work.

Up until 1886, Muybridge took thousands of photographs and redid more than 500 of them. He worked at the Zoological Garden, and also photographed many human models. Animal Locomotion was finally published in November of 1887, and contained 781 plates. Muybridge had created an encyclopedic anatomy of motion, depicting humans and animals in various stages of work, play, and rest. The photographs shown here are just a sample of the many Muybridges that The Franklin Institute has in its collections. Fortunately, "the photographer had nothing to do but try." Muybridge's work, equally valuable to artists, scientists, and photographers, is considered the birth of early motion pictures.