The Evolution of Cinema and What's There for You

Want to become a writer at Eat My News? Here is an opportunity to join the Board of Young Leaders Program by Eat My News. Click here to know more: ​ bit.ly/boardofyoungleaders

The magic of movies dates back to 1895, when the invention of the optical game, magic lantern and photography were combined in one device to allow the ability to display moving pictures on a big screen. This device was made by Auguste Lumière and Louis Lumière brothers in France in early 1895. And due to this, cinema historians consider Lumiere brothers to be the true inventors of cinema.

After that, Armat and Jenkins made a better device to improve the image quality and update the tools controlling it. Soon, Thomas Edison invited them to be a part of the company that he founded, which was using the kinetoscope technology, an early motion picture exhibition device to display moving images.

One year later, after Armat and Jenkins joined his company, Edison was able to make a cinema device that combined the characteristics of the Lumière brothers' device and that of Armat and Jenkins' device. 

The stages of cinema evolution

Cinema has gone through many stages, and each of these stages has made a remarkable impact on the film industry, starting from the pioneering age to the modern era.

• Pioneering Age

In this era, the film industry started, giving birth to the first camera, the first actor, and the first directors. It was a completely new technology and there were no sounds at all, most of the films were documentaries, stories, and recordings of some plays. When we watch these movies, we should consider that they constitute the first attempts, and that cinema was a new communication tool. It should not be seen as something trivial; it may be really primitive, but we should realize that the energy and work that goes into making them was just outright impressive.

• Silent Era
  

This era is distinguished from its previous one in the film editing process. This stage was not completely silent, as there were uses for special methods and sound effects, while still not having any dialogues at all until the next era. In this era, poetic films begin to show. The famous people in this era were 'Charlie Chaplin' and 'David Griffith'. Films of this era were expensive to produce, and the quality of the film began to cause controversy, then also various types of films were made in this era.

• The Era Before WW2
  

This era is characterized by the era of speech or sound, but 'Philip Congleton', a movie historian, sees this classification as inaccurate, as this means that there are two stages in the history of the film: silence and speech.

This era begins with the production of the first spoken movie entitled 'Jazz Singer' in 1927, in addition to various other spoken films produced at this era. The directors used more colours in the films of this era, animated movies also started to show.

In this era, the quality of the film began to increase, that's because the Oscars were introduced in this era. From here onwards, films were seen as a teenager who started to mature, and it's possible to distinguish between expensive films from films that were made on a low-budget. Even though the technology used in making the movie was still primitive, but they still managed to dazzle many cinema pioneers.

• Golden Era
  

WW2 made all kinds of changes in the film industry. After the war, comedy flourished remarkably, and musical films rose to the throne of cinema. As horror films spread, but due to the limited use of special effects due to high production costs, movie studios resorted to using small budgets to produce inexpensive films for the public, to attract audiences. Science fiction films appeared around 1950.

• Transition Era
  

This era was known as the 'transition era' because it represents the time when the films began to ripen in a real way. In this era, the advanced technical installations of the films began to appear such as music, decoration, and others. In this era, films from different countries began to enter the USA, and public films started getting replaced by cheaper films, and large studios began to lose a lot of their power in the field of distribution. 

A new enemy called Television appeared to compete with films. So the quality of the films began to increase. The Cold War began to change the face of Hollywood, special effects emerged, and other accompanying arts such as decor and parades emerged.

• Silver Era
  

Some historians are of the view that this era was of modern films and the silver era of cinema began with the production of "Bonnie and Clyde" film in 1967.
 
New systems of censorship appeared and famous names that ruled this era were formed such as 'Francis Coppola', 'Dustin Hoffman' and 'Marlon Brando'. The percentage of black and white films decreased to 3% during this period.

Hollywood really knows how to make movies, and there is a big difference between the big and small budgets of movies, and other non-material aspects of the film can also be compared. So films with a small budget should not be seen as poor films.

• Modern Era

This era began in 1977, when 'Star Wars' was produced and it was the first contribution of computers and modern technology into the design of special effects. But some historians began this era in 1980 because they considered "Empire Resists" as a starting point. During this era, computer and home video players began to spread. This era relied heavily on huge budget rather than text and acting, but it retained the ability to produce good quality movies.


The film progressed step by step, from drawings to photographs, to pictures on the screen, to sound, to colour, to the widescreen, to the three-dimensional screen, and scientific experiments are still underway to add the sense of smell to the film experience by spraying perfumes during it. 

- Written by Ahmed Mohamed (EMN Community Member From Egypt)

- Edited by Mridul Goyal (EMN Community Member From New Delhi, India)