The History of CinemaCinema, film, or motion pictures started over a hundred years ago, and has come a very long way from the silent short clips of the yore, to the multimillion dollar HD blockbusters seen today. Film as a medium is too dynamic and rich not to have influenced culture, art and even politics in the last century. Before film, there were many narrative art forms such as plays, dances and other forms of art. These had a direct influence on the subject matter of early cinema. Many films would deal with mythological stories, and in any case present the scene in a theatrical manner. Film language as a separate concept developed slowly as the medium started gaining popularity. Silent films reigned supreme for thirty years. Even though these films may seem funny and incongruous with our world today, these were the precursors to the films that we see today, and will hold an important place in the history of entertainment for longer than most ! Film theatres did not exist for a large part of the time. Films were shown in novelty venues. There would be travelling motion picture shows in large tents, kind of like a circus. Slowly over time, various film makers over the world developed continuity, mis-en-scene, and other aspects of film language which contributed to the collective wealth of knowledge and technique. In the early 1900s, film started becoming a legitimate business. There was a keen interest in watching films and storylines and continuity began to become more complex. Plots were developed. Film went a long way even after that to become the medium that it is today. The fact that cinema stands where it does today provides testimony to the fact that it is a medium that has tremendous potential and appeal. |