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→History of Motion Pictures as a Medium
== History of Motion Pictures as a Medium ==
== History of Motion Pictures as a Medium ==
=== Invention of the Mechanical Technique ===
Motion pictures (often called "film" or "films" for short) began in 1867 with the invention of the ''zoopraxiscope'' (from the [[Greece|Greek]] ''zoô'' I am living, ''praxis'' what one does, and ''scopoô'' I am watching) by William Lincoln.<ref name=mpgen>[http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blmotionpictures.htm The History of the Motion Picture] by About.com</ref> This device used the rapid-sequence-of-photographs technique. Of far more practical value was [[Thomas Edison]]'s ''kinetoscope''<ref name=Kinetoscope>[http://inventors.about.com/od/kstartinventions/a/Kinetoscope.htm The Kinetoscope] by About.com</ref> (literally, "I watch things move"), which took a rapid sequence of photographs on a single very long roll of film and projected them just as rapidly for a single viewer. Edison would go on to perfect a device called the Vitascope<ref name=Vitascope>[http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bledisonvitascope.htm The Vitascope] by About.com</ref> that allowed the exhibition of such a picture to a group of persons.
Motion pictures (often called "film" or "films" for short) began in 1867 with the invention of the ''zoopraxiscope'' (from the [[Greece|Greek]] ''zoô'' I am living, ''praxis'' what one does, and ''scopoô'' I am watching) by William Lincoln.<ref name=mpgen>[http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blmotionpictures.htm The History of the Motion Picture] by About.com</ref> This device used the rapid-sequence-of-photographs technique. Of far more practical value was [[Thomas Edison]]'s ''kinetoscope''<ref name=Kinetoscope>[http://inventors.about.com/od/kstartinventions/a/Kinetoscope.htm The Kinetoscope] by About.com</ref> (literally, "I watch things move"), which took a rapid sequence of photographs on a single very long roll of film and projected them just as rapidly for a single viewer. Edison would go on to perfect a device called the Vitascope<ref name=Vitascope>[http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bledisonvitascope.htm The Vitascope] by About.com</ref> that allowed the exhibition of such a picture to a group of persons.
Because he did not secure [[patent]] protection for his work in Europe, various European imitators were able to reverse-engineer Edison's device, and eventually Louis Lumiere<ref name=mpgen/> would build the first ''cinematograph,'' a self-contained device that could shoot a sequence, develop the film, and then project it. Thereafter, ''cinematography'' became the standard term for the actual shooting of a motion picture.
Because he did not secure [[patent]] protection for his work in Europe, various European imitators were able to reverse-engineer Edison's device, and eventually Louis Lumiere<ref name=mpgen/> would build the first ''cinematograph,'' a self-contained device that could shoot a sequence, develop the film, and then project it. Thereafter, ''cinematography'' became the standard term for the actual shooting of a motion picture.
=== Silent to Sound ===
The first motion pictures were silent, and gave rise to a new form of [[theater]] much given to histrionics and hyperbole to make up for the lack of audible dialog. Eventually, however, Edison invented ''sound track'' that would reliably produce moving pictures and sound, including spoken words, in perfect synchrony. From then on, motion picture as [[theater]] once again shared with the traditional stage the conventions that have governed theater almost since its inception.
The first motion pictures were silent, and gave rise to a new form of [[theater]] much given to histrionics and hyperbole to make up for the lack of audible dialog. Eventually, however, Edison invented ''sound track'' that would reliably produce moving pictures and sound, including spoken words, in perfect synchrony. From then on, motion picture as [[theater]] once again shared with the traditional stage the conventions that have governed theater almost since its inception.
Initially all motion pictures were monochromatic or "black-and-white." A small number of motion pictures were initially made with a two-strip color process. This was expensive, and the colors were not true-to-life by any standard. But after the invention of sound came the further invention of a three-strip color process that, for the first time, produced realistic colors. Monochromatic filming remained popular, primarily because color filming was still too expensive to be routine, but also because monochromatic filming required its own conventions in set-dressing and costuming. A director of a monochromatic film sought to use colors that would project best as ''shades of gray'', and thus would often choose the sort of colors for sets and costumes that a totally color-blind person might choose without the proper education and training in color coordination. (This also explains why the later attempt to ''tint'' a monochromatic film ended in universal rejection by the film-viewing public and by the original actors and directors of monochromatic films. Many of these professionals sought in vain to ask the [[United States]] Congress to ''forbid'' the "colorization" of their projects as a violation of their intellectual-property interests in their "image" or initial "vision" for their respective projects.) But as color filming became less expensive, and as viewers demanded color in the films that they patronized, color filming became an almost universal rule.
=== Black-and-white to Color ===
Initially all motion pictures were monochromatic or "black-and-white." A small number of motion pictures were initially made with a two-strip color process. This was expensive, and the colors were not true-to-life by any standard. But after the invention of sound came the further invention of a three-strip color process that, for the first time, produced realistic colors. Monochromatic filming remained popular, primarily because color filming was still too expensive to be routine, but also because monochromatic filming required its own conventions in set-dressing and costuming. A director of a monochromatic film sought to use colors that would project best as ''shades of gray'', and thus would often choose the sort of colors for sets and costumes that a totally color-blind person might choose without the proper education and training in color coordination. But as color filming became less expensive, and as viewers demanded color in the films that they patronized, color filming became an almost universal rule.
==== The Colorization Controversy ====
In 1970, [[Wilson Markle]] invented a technique called [[colorization]]<ref name=colorization>[http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/C/htmlC/colorization/colorization.htm Colorization] at the On-line Museum of Broadcast Communications</ref> that attempted to reconstruct the colors that supposedly existed in a scene filmed in black-and-white. The first use of the technique was to add color to the black-and-white footage taken in the many missions of [[Project Apollo]]. In 1983, Markle formed a corporation to apply the technique to adding color back to existing black-and-white motion-picture and [[television]] productions.
The technique involved using a [[computer]] program to substitute a color for every shade of gray in the film. This would have been an obvious and logical solution to adding color to a scene photographed in space, because the [[astronaut]]s could describe realistically the colors they saw. But because the colors chosen in black-and-white motion-picture and television productions were ''not'' realistic colors, the technique produced results of decidedly low quality. It was also expensive, often costing $3,000 US per minute of footage.
Worse yet, the original actors and directors of monochromatic films expressed outrage, and many of these professionals sought in vain to ask the [[United States]] Congress to ''forbid'' the colorization of their projects as a violation of their intellectual-property interests in their "image" or initial "vision" for their respective projects.
Ultimately, the law that finally banned colorization was not any statute, but the law of supply and demand: viewers rejected colorized titles as unrealistic and deserving of the very criticism that actress [[Ginger Rogers]] once gave them in her testimony to Congress: that they "looked like a cheap watercolor." [[Ted Turner]], the most outspoken advocate of colorization and the man who had by then bought the rights to the vast film libraries of three different motion-picture studios, quietly stopped issuing colorized titles in 1995.
=== Current State ===
The motion-picture medium is now more than a hundred years old. Today many of the original films have deteriorated to total non-viewability. The celluloid of which most film is made was never intended as a long-term storage medium. This has led to two major developments:
The motion-picture medium is now more than a hundred years old. Today many of the original films have deteriorated to total non-viewability. The celluloid of which most film is made was never intended as a long-term storage medium. This has led to two major developments:
# The ''restoration'' of many especially well-loved films, often necessitating a frame-by-frame rebuilding of the entire project, typically by electronic means.
# The ''restoration'' of many especially well-loved films, often necessitating a frame-by-frame rebuilding of the entire project, typically by electronic means.
# The decision to develop a means and an infrastructure to record a film as a set of ''digital signals'', store these signals on magnetic or preferably optical recording media, and transmit them to exhibitors through a dedicated communications channel on demand.
# The decision to develop a means and an infrastructure to record a film as a set of ''digital signals'', store these signals on magnetic or preferably optical recording media, and transmit them to exhibitors through a dedicated communications channel on demand.
== Uses of Motion Pictures ==
Motion pictures have typically found the following uses:
# As an aid in education, by recording for later projection certain laboratory demonstrations, animals in their natural habitats, and other scenes that a teacher would be unable to stage convincingly, inexpensively, or safely in a classroom. Instructors have also recorded their own lectures for later playback by absent students.
# As a means of disseminating current events. These "newsreels" were highly popular, especially during the [[Second World War]], before the widespread popularity of [[television]] made them obsolete.
# As a tool of [[propaganda]].
# As a form of [[theater]].
The last use is by far the most popular and the most famous use of motion pictures--and today, motion pictures are the most popular form of theater today, with television running a close second. Here, "theater" is defined broadly as any public spectacle involving persons pretending to be other persons they are not, and acting out a story that might or might not be true. In this sense, motion pictures are one of what are now three different media of theater.
[[Category:Culture]]
== Uses of Motion Pictures ==
== Uses of Motion Pictures ==