Conservapedia

Motion picture

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A motion picture is any work of art that depicts an object or objects in motion, and actually creates the illusion of motion. The classical method of creating this illusion is by the showing of a sequence of photographs or drawings, each showing the putative moving object(s) in a slightly different place than the one previous, at such a speed that the viewer is not conscious of anyone showing him a set of pictures in sequence and can actually believe that he is watching things move, just as he would if he were in the presence of an actual moving object in nature.

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 Greek zoô I am living, praxis what one does, and scopoô I am watching) by William Lincoln.[1] This device used the rapid-sequence-of-photographs technique. Of far more practical value was Thomas Edison's kinetoscope[2] (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[3] 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[1] 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.

Black-and-white to Color

Initially, all motion pictures were mono