MUSIC IN FILM  A brief history of soundtrack 

1. For the appearance of the cinematograph, there were two physical proposals:

- The discovery of photography, thanks to the experiments of Niepce and Daguerre 

- The principle of persistence in the retina that allows to create the illusion of movement (images projected during a fraction of a second on the screen are not erased immediately of the retina; so, a fast succession of immobile pictures projected discontinuously are perceived as a continuous movement by the observer).

 

2. Eadweard Muybridge was interested in capturing the fluid motion of a horse galloping and he encouraged other innovators in the technology of filmmaking. Thomas Alva Edison  created the first early motion picture camera, the Kinetograph. He introduced the celluloid film with drilling for its dragging with a width of 35 mm. 

 

3. However, in later years it would be surpassed by the Lumiere brothers Cinematograph. By the late 1800s, the attitude toward filmmaking was becoming more favourable, and filmmaking was gaining ground as a business. Unfortunately, film was still seen as a fad and low form of entertainment. Coming off the heels of Edison success, the Lumiere brothers in France began creating mini documentaries called, Actualities. As the main competition for Edison, the brothers invented the Cinematograph, which was a lighter, more mobile version of Edisons Kinetograph. This new version of a motion picture camera enabled the brothers to shoot the first documentaries around the streets of Paris, and on 28th December 1895 they held the first public screening of a film: , "Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory"

 

4.  Up to this point, technology had taken precedence over storyline, but filmmakers like George Melies, Edwin S. Porter, and D.W. Griffith began to shift the focus back to the story with their work in film. Debuting his masterpiece A Trip to the Moon in 1902, George Melies unique style of film was a huge success. As a magician and filmmaker, Melies was known for and pioneered the use of illusions and special FXs in his pictures. Griffith is also known as the creator of classical narrative structure that is inherent in the majority of films produced today. As one of the first recognizable directors that became popular with the public, his most notable films are The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916).

 

5. By the later 1900s, film factories and individual job descriptions within the business were beginning to develop, but onscreen credit was not yet awarded to the production team. This was also the time that film in the United States made its big move out west. From about 1909-1913, the film industry shifted from the East to the West coast. The weather, landscape, climate, and lower taxes, were the main reasons for the change to Hollywood. As the last major event previous to the Golden Age of Hollywood, the move facilitated the development of studio companies. While the film industry began settling into its new local, Universal, MGM, 20th Century Fox, and Paramount were the first movie studio companies established.