Personal Response & the Origin of Film

Last class you looked at the top 100 movies of all time list. You noted which films you had actually experienced, which ones you heard about, and which ones you'd like to see. Write a short response (1-2 pages) during 1st period in which you answer:

1. After reading through the list, make some personal observations. How "literate" are you when it comes to "best" or top films of all time? Does there seem to be a pattern or genre bias in this list?
2. How does our own culture, socio-economic status, gender, or age affect the way we approach films?
3. Were you surprised to see these films on this list?
4. If you were to write this list, what movies would you put on it that were not included (feel free to indicate your top ten favorites of all time)?
5. What genre of film do you prefer? Examine why.

Write a short personal essay trying to answer these questions. Put your name on the file and send it to the drop box. (Our printer is still down).

If you finish early, please work on this:

Early Technology & Inventors:

Please read and research film technology. It is important to understand the technological history of film as an art form, for it shapes our culture and has become such an important element of our lives.

Find out the following (to write down and turn in as participation credit):
1. What is a Zoetrope? How did it work? Who invented it and why?
2. What is a praxinoscope? How did it work? Who invented it?
3. What is a kinetoscope? How did it work? Who invented it?
4. What is a cinematographe? Who invented it?
5. What is a mutoscope? How did it work? Who invented it?
6. What is a vitascope? How did it work? Who invented it?

then visit the FILM HISTORY website. Find out the following:

7. What was a magic lantern? Who invented it and when?
8. What was a thaumatrope? Who invented it?
9. What invention did Joseph Plateau invent? How did it work?
10. Who invented celluloid?
11. Who was Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904)? How and why is he important to the history of film?
12. Who claimed to be the "inventor of film"? Why?
13. Explain Thomas Edison and William K.L. Dickson's contribution to film history.
14. What was Thomas Edison's studio's name? Where was it located?
15. Name a few titles of the earliest films.

These questions are due to be handed in by Friday.

Watch a few early films:
The Kiss (1900)

Serpentine Dances (1895)

Sando the Strongman and other Edison Films (repeats of Serpentine Dances & the Kiss)

Dickson's Experimental Film (1894)

Lumiere Brothers Films

Two Fencers (1891)
Turkish Dance (1898)
Falling Cat (1890)