The History of Film

Max Eatherden EPQ Commission - Short Documentary Artefact 

How has the medium of film changed over the last 140 years?

Abstract:

The aim of this project is to showcase the progression and changes of film-making from the 1870s to the present day. I will do this by making a short film to demonstrate the evolution of making movies from the very first practitioners and demonstrate how easy and efficiently filmmaking has become.

Introduction:

The ‘medium’ of film alludes to the means or mode of communication by which film is expressed. ‘Film’, also called movie or motion picture, is a visual art used to stimulate experiences that communicate ideas by the means of recorded moving images, along with other sensory stimulations. I will use books, websites, videos, journal articles and action research to help me articulate how the very first film cameras have evolved and what they are today. I will visit exhibitions and watch movies from each decade to understand how the character of cinema has transformed. I will experiment with my own film-making techniques to demonstrate how simple and straightforward film-making is today by using easily-accessible equipment to express my vision. My aim is to create a short film, within the bracket of 10-15 minutes, that educates the viewer by showing them how the first films were made, contrasted with what films are made with today and how easy it is to make a film for the average person.

I hope that after watching my movie, the viewer will know the answers to these five questions; Who were the main pioneers of film-making?, What were the first film techniques and how have they changed?, When was the first ‘film’ and who created it?, Why is film such a great medium for expression?, Where is the movie industry going in the future?. I will create a documentary-esque film that uses a range of techniques, varying from (Stop-Motion) Animation with Computer applications, to Flip Book and Sticky Note Animation to Pixilation.

The reason I want to answer this question is because I am very passionate about film, and understanding the origins and foundations of how it all began will enhance my knowledge of movies whilst also helping me develop skills and expertise that are inherent to cinema. Not only will this project be informative for me and the audience, it will allow me to experiment with numerous techniques that I otherwise wouldn’t have practised.

My film will act as a commissioned piece of work ordered from a museum or gallery so that when people watch it, they will come out with more knowledge of the foundations of cinema than before. To do this, I will use running themes, elements of cinema that are recurrent throughout the last 130 years, and references so that the viewer is apprised of what the first film looked like. I will use narration or text on screen to clearly demonstrate what I am talking about and so I can include lots of information, and I will shoot, edit, sound-mix, render and compose my movie with an extremely low budget and individually. I will use pre-owned tools (cameras and equipment) to shoot the video and use the Adobe Creative cloud to edit. My aim is to research all about how the motion picture industry blossomed in the early 20th century then demonstrate how this happened through my short film. I think the best way to educate the viewer is either to do a narration or voiceover, like in most documentaries, or to choose a running theme and show how things have progressed. Because there are so many things I want to cover in my film, I will do a mix up of both these ideas to show how movies were different 140 years ago. Also, I will delve into the creation of VFX and CGI in the late 20th century as they have also brought about lots of change in the last 20 years.

I think this project will be great for me to practise and experiment with film techniques that I can only learn on my own- with practice and time. Had it not been for my EPQ I would have never been able to follow one of my passions of movie making and practice doing what I love.