History of Cinema
                     History of 
Cinema
WHO 
INVENTED 
CINEMA?
The first public Kinetoscope 
demonstration took place in 1893. 
By 1894 the Kinetoscope was a 
commercial success, with public 
parlours established around the 
world.
Source: 
www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk
WHAT WERE 
EARLY FILMS 
LIKE?
At first, films were very short, 
sometimes only a few minutes or 
less. They were shown at 
fairgrounds, music halls, or 
anywhere a screen could be set up 
and a room darkened. Subjects 
included local scenes and activities, 
views of foreign lands, short 
comedies and newsworthy events.
Source: 
www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk
THE RISE OF 
THE FILM 
INDUSTRY
By 1914, several national film 
industries were established. At this 
time, Europe, Russia and 
Scandinavia were the dominant 
industries; America was much less 
important. Films became longer and 
storytelling, or narrative, became 
the dominant form.
Source: 
www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk
ADDING 
COLOUR
Colour was first added to black-and-
white movies through hand 
colouring, tinting, toning and 
stencilling.
By 1906, the principles of colour 
separation were used to produce so-
called ‘natural colour’ moving 
images with the British Kinemacolor 
process, first presented to the public 
in 1909.
Source: 
www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk
ADDING 
SOUND
The first feature-length movie 
incorporating synchronised dialogue, 
The Jazz Singer (USA, 1927), used 
the Warner Brothers’ Vitaphone 
system, which employed a separate 
record disc with each reel of film for 
the sound.
Source: 
www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk
CINEMA’S 
GOLDEN AGE
By the early 1930s, nearly all 
feature-length movies were 
presented with synchronised sound 
and, by the mid-1930s, some were in 
full colour too. 
The advent of sound secured the 
dominant role of the American 
industry and gave rise to the so-
called ‘Golden Age of Hollywood’.
Source: 
www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk
HOW DID 
CINEMA 
COMPETE WITH 
TELEVISION?
In 1952, the Cinerama process, 
using three projectors and a wide, 
deeply curved screen together with 
multi-track surround sound, was 
premiered.
CinemaScope ‘squeezed’ images on 
35mm film; when projected, they 
were expanded laterally by the 
projector lens to fit the screen. 
Source: 
www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk
Dawn of modern 
film industry 
and appearance 
of Blockbusters
Rapid advances in film production 
techniques and early age of 
computer generated special effects 
revolutionized Hollywood, which can 
best be seen with the 1977 release 
of Star Wars. This first true 
Blockbuster showed Hollywood how 
to create true worldwide media 
events that could earn tremendous 
amounts of money. 
Source: http://www.historyoffilm.net/
New 
millennium – 
Modern film 
industry
Today, films are created all over the 
world, with the major business 
centers being United States, India, 
Hong Kong, Canada, France, UK, Italy 
and Germany. In the year 2012, 
worldwide theatre box office 
managed to collect 34.7 billion 
dollars, with United States making 
biggest share – 10.8 billion.
Source: http://www.historyoffilm.net/
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