Sean+-+International+Cinema

=The Birth of the Film Industry and Early Cinema Movements=

France - The Birthplace of Cinema
France is widely considered to be the birthplace of modern cinema, with the first commercial films being produced for a French market. Among many earliest pioneers of the new medium, the brothers August and Louis Lumiere are credited as being the first filmmakers ever, patenting many of technologies they used to create some of the earliest films ever produced. media type="youtube" key="HI63PUXnVMw" height="315" width="420" align="center"

"La Sortie de l'Usine Lumière à Lyon" created by the Lumiere brothers in 1895, is widely cited as the first commercial film of all time.

The second most important French pioneer of filmmaking is Georges Melies, who built off of the technologies created by the Lumiere brothers, adding many of his own revolutionary techniques. Melies is credited with inventing both the stop-motion camera technique and the use of artificial "special effects", which he achieved through use of elaborate props and camera techniques.

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"The Vanishing Lady", produced by Melies in 1896, contains the first special effect ever used in a film. Melies used to his revolutionary "camera stop" technique to achieve the effect of a lady disappearing into thin air.

France also contributed innumerable other firsts to the world of Cinema. Such as the first ever movie theater, the Paris Theatre Optique, which opened in 1892, and the first film studio, the Société Pathé Frères, which made it's first film in 1896 and continues to produce films to this day.

Italy - Film as Art
After France, Italy is home to the world's second oldest film industry, with the first Italian films being produced within months of the Lumiere brothers patenting the first commercial film equipment. The earliest commercial Italian films were mainly propaganda pieces focusing on Italy's history, highlighting ancient Roman architecture and great historical moments media type="youtube" key="OgObB_nl8Ds" height="315" width="420" align="center"

"The Presentation of Rome", produced in 1905, is one of the most famous examples of early Italian historical cinema. It depicts the capture of Rome by Italian nationalist forces in 1870, which completed the process of Italian unification

After the popularity of propaganda films waned around 1910 films in Italy became more experimental and artistically focused, Italy is often credited as the birthplace of film art and the cinema of the avant-garde. The avant-garde cinema movement that began in 1910 was known in Italy as "Cinema Futurista", it was given this name to deliberately contrast with the historical focused films of the previous decade. Cinema Futurista made use of conventional and accessible stories set against the backdrop of a surreal set and soundtrack.

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Cinema Futurista remained the most popular genre in Italy throughout the 1910s and 20s. However by the the late 1920s the rise of Italian fascism stymied the release of more experimental works, and many prominent directors were contracted by the government to make propaganda films. The Italian film industry would not recouver its status of artistic bastion until the late 1940s.

Germany - Cinema of the Intellectual
The rise of Germany's film industry came after the fall of the German Empire in the First World War, and the liberalization of the German economy as a result of the Treaty of Versaille. The inflation of German currency throughout the 1920s allowed films to produced very cheaply, cheaper than in France or Italy. However despite this German films were often produced with far lower budgets than their Italian and French counterparts. This lack of financial means lead to the creation of Germany's most famous contribution to the world of cinema: the minimalistic "German Expressionism". German expressionist films were silent and minimalistic in terms of set, plot and costume, and took many stylistic cues from Italian Futurism. They reflect the post-war atmosphere of Germany and were often wildy surreal, and explored difficult topics like depression, post-traumatic stress, and other highly intellectual topics. Due to their complex themes, which were presented minimalistically, German films in the 1920s sharply contrased with all other films being produced at the time.

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The unique entity that was the German film industry of the 1920s came to and end following the rise of Nazism in the early 1930s. Following the seizure of the film industry by the fascist government many prominent German directors fled to the United States in order to freely pursue their art. Once in the United States these directors combined their unqiue German Expressionist sensibilities with popular American genres like crime and mystery. This resulted in one of the most notable American film genres: film noir. Notable German Film Noir directors include: Fritz Lang, Robert Siodmak, and Billy Wilder.

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Film Noir takes many design and thematic elements from German Expressionism: notably the use of shadow to obscure minimalistic set designs, darker and more intellectual themes that challenged the audience, and larger roles for women.

**The United States - The World's Cinema powerhouse**
The United States is, alongside France, considered to be the birthplace of cinema. It is also, from the earliest days to present day, the single largest producer and market of film. In it's early days the US film industry was centered around New York City. However by 1910 the film industry had shifted to California, due to the availability of cheaper land for studios and a climate that allowed for year round outdoor filming. The California film industry centered itself in a then small, now famous suburb of Los Angeles, Hollywood. Early American cinema differs greatly from its European counterpart in many ways. American films often had budgets several times that of European films, which allowed for lavish sets and special effects, and casts of thousands. They were also produced purely for entertainment's sake, and contained none of the intellectualisms of European cinema.

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"Birth of Nation", directed by D.W. Griffith in 1915, is one of the most famous American silent films. It is also one of the most expensive and longest silent films ever produced. The United States remained a powerhouse of silent cinema, producing hundreds of features a year throughout the 1920s. Many silent film stars from the era such as Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and and Buster Keaton, remain popular to this day.

The United States revolutionized the film industry in 1927, changing it forever. "The Jazz Singer", released in 1927, was the very first film with sound, and featured both dialogue and musical acts.

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