Blog Post 4

 The First Motion Picture

The creation of film making has completely changed peoples lives. It is something everyone nowadays uses and will continue to use. Without the creation of the motion picture many things in life would be so different. It is a way for artists to show their work and for people to learn and escape from everyday life. It is something that has opened the door for creativity and has been able to educate other people. As well as bring careers for actors and actresses. 

The idea of the motion picture all started with taking photographs. Photography became quite popular during the Civil War, and as it progressed some inventors thought there could be more done. Some had the idea of taking several pictures and show them in rapid succession to create the appearance of something in motion. On October 18, 1878, there was a publication of a series of images of the duration of a horse galloping. These images were taken by Eadweard Muybridge, he published them in the Scientific American that came with instructions to view his images using the zoetrope. Zoetropes are devices that produce the illusion of motion. This was a fascination too many people in the US because it was the first attempt at making a motion picture. However, over in Paris, France, Auguste and Louis Lumière had a very similar idea. The brothers came up with the Cinématographe, which is a projector that allowed them to show over sixteen frames per second. 

With these inventions becoming more and more useful, film directors began to expand their ideas when creating a motion picture. They soon thought to include plot or storylines into their work. Thus originating the ideas of actual movies. At first these films were in black and white and completely silent as well as being very short. They only spanned about five to eight minutes long and were collections of short scenarios. It was not until February 15, 1915, when the first full-length motion picture was released. It was called Birth of a Nation, it was a film adaptation of D.W. Griffith's novel on the Civil War. Along with the success of Birth of a Nation, it came with controversy and brought a lot of racists people out and caused riots. It even created the rebirth the KKK. Even with its controversy Birth of a Nation was the most profitable and most advanced film in those days. 

With the success of Birth of Nation, it exploded the movement of people going to the west to produce more films. Los Angeles, California became the home of the majority of filming locations. This is how Hollywood is known today. Also coming with the success of films, the actors and actresses of the movies began to grow in popularity. When people would be in these films they were recognized and beloved by the viewers. This is how the modern day "celebrity" was created. The creation of the first motion picture has become on the most important things in today's life. Everyone watches movies and television, and without it many artists would not have an outlet or somewhere to put their skills to work, and the general people would not have their escape from day to day life. This invention was one of the most influential things to ever be created and is still influential to this day.