Watching films has long become a common thing for millions of people around the world, but not all viewers know where and when the very first films in the history of cinema appeared.
The role of cinema in the modern world is extremely difficult to overestimate, because almost everyone watches at least one film a week. It is important that the viewer has a constant choice, so watching the films can hardly get bored: today you can watch a movie of a purely entertainment nature, and tomorrow you can devote time to an educational historical or documentary film. But it all started somewhere.
The first films in the history of cinema
The world's first movie, Scenes in the Garden of Roundhay, was filmed in England in 1888, directed by the Frenchman Louis le Prince, and used a new technology for recording on special tape made of paper. The first film ran for about 1.66 seconds.
The first film to become famous was The Arrival of the Train at La Ciota Station by the Lumiere brothers. The documentary short film was shot in 1895. According to the surviving data, the effect of watching the world's first film was truly stunning. Spectators jumped from their seats, not expecting to see on the screen a picture of a moving train and people on the platforms. It is noteworthy that the train moves in perspective, and when photographing people, the general, close-up and medium-sized shots were already used.
Shortly after the release of Arriving at La Ciota Train Station, other directors rushed to film similar films at train stations around the world.
The first tendencies, indicative of the imminent appearance of feature films, are manifested in another film by the Lumière brothers, "The Watered Waterer". The short duration of the first films was due to the technical imperfection of the equipment for creating films, but by the beginning of the 1900s, the length of the films had gradually increased to 20 minutes.
The first film with sound was "The Jazz Singer" in 1927, during the work on which synchronized remarks were dubbed. The motion picture marked the end of the legendary silent film. The leading role in the sound film was given to Ala Jolson, who performed 6 musical numbers for the film.
First color films
The results of early 19th century filmmakers' attempts to color black and white film were strikingly different from today's cinema. At the very beginning, no more than 4 colors were used, which made films extremely blurry and difficult to read.
The first short film in color, Low Fuller's Dance, which appeared in 1894, was originally shot in the usual black-and-white version, and then hand-painted.
Broadway dancer Annabela Moore, who performed the serpentine dance during filming, won the lead role in Low Fuller's Dance.
The first full-length film using color was recognized to be Ruben Mamulyan's Becky Sharp, released in 1935.
The famous picture "Battleship Potemkin" of 1925, where the Soviet flag was marked in red, is considered the first color film of the USSR. A year later, the American Film Academy recognized this film as the best.
