A History of Cinematogrophy

Cinema has only been around since the end of the 19th century, so it is much younger than theatre. The first people to show films to a paying public were the Lumiere Brothers of France. The first film was shown on 20th February, 1896, at the Grand Cafe, Boulevard des Capucines, Paris. The first film show was quickly followed by many others all over the world. In 1996 people celebrated the hundredth anniversary of cinematography.

The first films were short comedies, clips of moving people and transport, or newsreels of processions and wars. The Story of a Crime was the first dramatic film ever made. It was made in 1901 in France. It was quickly followed in 1903 by The Great Train Robbery, which was made in the United States. Around 1908, people started building special film theatres called cinemas.

Charlie Chaplin made his first film, Making a Living, in 1914 in the USA. The world was crazy about the character created by Charlie Spencer Chaplin. His character, small and clumsy yet kind-hearted, generous and brave, attracted the hearts of people in different countries. They often stood in long queues to see a film starring their favourite actor. The first films in the West were mainly silent melodramas or comedies.

Then, in 1927, Warner Brothers made The Jazz Singer in Hollywood. It was the first film in which an actor sang and spoke; the era of the “talkies” had begun. The first colour films were made in the 1930s, but black-and-white films are still made even today.