The first ever moving pictures to be presented to a paying audience was by the Lumiere brother with their Cinematographe – a design of their own making – in December of 1895 Paris, France. This was not the first-time moving pictures, or film was invented but it was the first time an audience paid to see it. After this the film industry would develop and grow to what we see today.
The early days of film consisted of short form content, films that lasted only a few minutes or less with no audio synced to the videos. This was the start of the silent film era; storytelling became far more popular. What started as short form comedy or news content grew to the storytelling, we are familiar with today. The first 30 years of cinema was a period of growth and development. Refining the way that stories could be told as well as the technology used to create it.
Photo by Enes Bayraktar on Unsplash
Films started adding consistent color to movies in 1932 when the Technicolor process was refined. This step forward was followed by the addition of sound to film. The 1930s and 1940s where a big time for cinema. It was the most popular form of entertainment. This was when ‘super’ cinemas or ‘picture palaces’ where introduced, with cafes and ballrooms the movie theater experience starts to look more like what the theaters today offer.
The cinema industry has continued to improve at a rapid pace. New technology and the ever-evolving stories the movie industry has thrived over the years. The introduction of genres and clever use of real-world problems interlaced with storytelling it is an ever changing and engaging environment. Audience engagement has changed as have the popularity of genres and the number of films produced in a year. Some years anticipated films, and popular genres impact the amount of people going into theaters.
