Evaluation

Evaluation



Our group's film entitled the Guitarist’s way (2010) uses forms and conventions from real media products such as The School of Rock (2003) in that camera shots and angles used are not dissimilar in both film’s performance scenes, showing close ups midshots and establishing shots from various angles without distracting the audience from the music that they are hearing. The music that appears in both films is not dissimilar either for example both films incorporate loud rock music to drive their characters forward. Comparing the films in terms of mise en scene both films include scenes showing guitarists playing on stages and both show struggling artists apartments/rooms. We tried to incorporate both the success that a guitarist can get from both school of rock and also the youthful aspect of it by showing what Steven was like playing guitar as a child. We did this because we thought the audience would sympathize with him more than they would otherwise, because they would’ve seen what background he was coming from.



The technical aspects that the group explored included editing techniques like a rewind effect from a video camera used in the film, an animated credits sequence showing everyone who was involved in making this media project and a tracking shot across the top floor of the theatre we were using to perform, although the group explored these aspects we were not able to implement them fully into the final film due to technical and time limitations, for example the rewind effect had to be cut from the film because the software we were using did not have it as an available scene transition option, instead we as a group decided to use quick cuts between the three scenes that would’ve used this effect but keep the intended scenes within the film, although this does not produce the same effect we were satisfied that it didn’t distract the audience from the plotline of the film. Another of the aspects that were not included because of limitations was the animated credits sequence, originally the idea was to have credits appear over the guitarist’s performance scene but to appear as part of the opening scene as signs. However the idea soon changed as it would’ve been too difficult and time consuming as well as the software limitations to implement fully, we changed our idea so that credits would appear on some music book pages as writing when the main character flicked through his music book. This I believe was an altogether better idea, perhaps not as technical but it showed a guitarist’s music book which in the context of the film I think it suited it better. The final technical aspect that wasn’t included was an establishing shot at the start of the performance scene that was going to be a tracking shot that would go across the theatre area showing the audience a crowds eye view of what was happening. We filmed the tracking shot as planned but later in the editing stages as a group we noticed that within the tracking shot however steady the cameraman held the camera there was quite a lot of screen shaking. Whilst we felt that the camera shaking may have been good as it would’ve shown the ordinary chaos and anarchy oh a rock concert we felt that it wasn’t very good viewing material as the audience wouldn’t have liked watching the movie if the camera seemed to be darting about. Instead of the above we decided to exclude the tracking shot and reshoot using various camera angles.



An aspect that we had to cut out of the film was the full performance scene, with all of the recording that we did we had roughly 6 minutes of performance footage that we had to condense into just over 1 minute, as the guitarist in the group I found this part difficult because I wanted to keep the best parts but also I wanted it to flow almost like no editing had been done at all to give the most realistic performance, and although ideally I would’ve wanted to keep all of the footage in the film I think a very good job was done in editing by the whole group who offered suggestions for what to keep and what to delete.



The Guitarist’s way also challenges its genre as it’s not an all out comedy like Dogma (1999) that has laughter and jokes at every turn, The Guitarists way also has its dramatic moments where the audience can see how the Guitarist Steven’s (Stephen Wilcockson) life begins to collapse before he finds the website YouTube. Whilst these dramatic moments are normally associated with more serious drama I believe this film is still a comedy. Other comedies have dramatic moments as seen with the comparison to school of rock here:



Guitarists are represented in a positive way in the film The Guitarist’s way; it shows that with gritted teeth and determination they can achive whatever they set out to do. Whilst initially guitarists are represented in a stereotypical sense in that the main character is overconfident and arrogant about his abilities, through the film that stereotype is slowly removed and the audience sees a more in depth version of the main character, through the choices he makes, the people he knows and his actions towards them.
As this media institution distributed this film’s main inspiration, The School of Rock (2003) I believe Paramount would distribute The Guitarist’s way (2010) as the films have similar references and plotlines.



I believe the film the Guitarist’s way (2010) would be given the certificate 12A due to its content not being offensive and its limited amount of mild language heard within the film. Giving the film a 12A certificate also allows it to be seen by anybody which from the start was something that the production team wanted and tailored the film for. Advertising for the film would take place using both the usual TV advertisements using trailers and an online viral marketing campaign hosted on a YouTube profile where guitarists can upload video responses to the trailers showing their guitar performance YouTube profiles, the goal being to find the greatest guitarist in the world. This will attract artists from around the world to see the film but also will advertise individual artists on YouTube that may just as in the film gain success from their YouTube profiles.





Through this project I have looked in detail at media technologies and how they influence the production and creation of real media products and have applied these technologies to the production of the film The Guitarist’s way as best I could with the resources that were available. These media technologies include HD cameras, video editing software and high quality DVD burning these technologies give the best quality in both video and audio giving The Guitarist’s Way the best possible experience for its audience.


The guitar playing within the film was heavily influenced by a few of my own favourite guitarists and performers including Jordan Bracewell and Kyle Gass. The guitar Car start/Gear change solo was based heavily on Jordan Bracewell’s performance in Vampires rock when he played the “blood solo”.




Also later in the solo my technique flipping quickly from one fret to another was similar to the solo played by Kyle Gass in the movie the pick of destiny (2005) during the band Tenacious D’s performance in the dream sequence that Jack Black has.



As seen in the above pictures the playing style I tried to include was very similar to both Jordan Bracewell and Kyle Gass.

Detailed treatment of the guitarist's way

Detailed treatment of The Guitarist’s way
The Guitarist’s way (2010) is a film about how one man can change if given the opportunity. The plot focuses on a guitarist called Steven and his eventual success in the music industry. The film begins with a mid shot of a man with his head in his hands. This instantly shows the audience that the character on the screen is either upset about something or is concerned, this sets a tone for the audience that something is wrong in this scene.

The next shot is a mid shot of another man apparently trying to console the first character; he then asks if the other character is ready. This shows the audience that he is either the other mans friend or simply that they know each other.
The camera then quick cuts back to the original character who lowers his hand from his head, sighs and says that he “has to be”, implying that there is an upcoming event that this character is stressed about and that regardless of whether his is ready or not the event will happen.

The camera then cuts to an overhead shot that tracks this character as he moves across the room towards a guitar case that is propped against a wall, this shows the audience that this is the main character of the film as it is now revealed that he is the guitarist of the film. This scene also allows the audience to sympathize with the main character as he is clearly stressed about whatever the upcoming event is and the audience could bring their own experiences from life to make their own interpretations of his character.

The camera then zooms in on the guitarist’s hand as he grabs the guitar case, this is done to reinforce the idea that this is the main character of the film and also to bridge the gap between this scene and the next.

The scene fades out and then fades in to the next scene with the sound of an electric guitar and a mid shot of Steven playing his guitar on a stage. This completes the bridge to this scene showing the audience that the events in the scene before were only shortly before the events in this scene, as it is presumed that from picking up his guitar case in the last scene he was transported to his location in this scene. This idea is further confirmed when the audience realize that playing on stage is the event that he was stressed about earlier providing an easier link between the two scenes.

The next shot is a quick cut from the last shot moving to an establishing shot of where the guitarist is, this confirms to the audience that he is performing on a stage and further establishes that this was the event that he was stressed out over earlier in the film. The lighting used over the course of the guitar playing scene should connote to the audience the sense of achievement the guitarist feels as he is playing on the stage as the light is very bright and gives everything within the scene a warm coloured glow.

The next shot is a mid shot/close up of the guitarist as he plays; this was another quick cut from the last scene. This was done intentionally as we felt watching other performances that quick cuts were necessary in order to connote to the audience the high rate of speed at which the movie is progressing at.

From this the camera returns to its establishing shot view in order to again show the audience the whole stage as he plays. The sound heard should connote to the guitar players of the audience that playing this solo on the stage is something that gives the main character a sense of relief, as though this is something he has wanted to do for some time. They should pick up on this connotation through the style and the speed which the guitarist is playing, as to another guitarist it would appear that he is putting all of his skill and practice into playing this solo in the best way he possibly can.

The camera then moves to another establishing shot from a higher vantage point and at another angle as if looking down on the guitarist from above. Although not fully expressed in the film there are hidden Christian connotations here as though god or someone he knows who has passed away is looking down upon him. Also the sound now heard within the scene is the guitarist’s voice in narration speaking over the now quieter guitar playing. From his voice it sounds as though the guitarist is either accepting an award for the movie or is watching it in a cinema and bragging about it, saying how he “loves this movie” and that he is “in it by the way.” The guitarist then quickly realizes that what the audience is seeing is actually the end of the movie and quickly tells the audience that “they didn’t see that part” and that they have to go back.

There is then a quick cut from the stage scene altogether and the audience can only see a black screen. The audience then hears “Let there be light!” shouted in a way that will connote to them that this is god talking at the beginning of time further developing the earlier connotation of the stage performance of god or someone he once knew watching over him. The screen then turns white as light is created, the audience then hears the guitarist quickly say “oops too far” as the scene quickly changes.

The quick cut to the next scene shows a mid shot of the guitarist sat in his room playing an acoustic guitar. It is quickly revealed by both the narration and the horrible guitar playing as the guitarist struggles to play happy birthday that this scene was indeed a long time before the stage or opening scene of the movie. The narration goes on to talk about how this is his “youth” playing his “first guitar”. This should connote to the audience that he is very young at this time and that he wasn’t a natural at playing like every guitarist would like his audience to think. The lighting used in this scene is opposite to the light in the stage scene, so where the stage scene’s lighting connotes his sense of achievement in finally reaching his goals at the end of the movie, the lighting here is darker and connotes his lack of achievement and at the time lack of skill and therefore ambition to be a guitarist.

Steven then comments in narration on the state of the guitar playing by saying in an annoyed way that he was “born with talent”, he then talks to the audience directly, breaking the fourth wall by asking them “what they were expecting” going on to say “A movie about a guitarist?” the scene then quick cuts to an unspecified time with Steven stood against a white wall looking directly at the audience he then asks finishing his earlier question “Who’d pay to see that?” he then points towards the audience and walks away. This shows him criticizing the audience for buying the ticket but also joking about it by pointing at the audience. This brings the film back to its comedy genre by joking with the audience rather than moving straight into the film in a dramatic way.

The film then fades out and moves onto its title sequence showing an over the shoulder shot of the guitarist in his youth looking through one of his music books. The pages have been edited digitally to show the credits of the movie instead of musical notes. As he then turns the page over, the next page is filled with the logo for the film. The sound that is heard as this last scene unfolds is a metal guitar riff played by the guitarist upon his success as if it was an echo through time to the young Steven of what he would one day become. The film then cuts to black.

Synoptic treatment for film - The Guitarist’s Way

This is a story about one man’s dream of achieving his maximum potential in a world that offers no opportunities. Set in the grimy streets of downtown New York one man will do everything that he can to achieve his dream, to make the impossible possible to become the best guitarist that ever lived.
Our hero begins his career playing in sleazy bars and clubs that no one has heard of. It seems to be a mediocre lifestyle until a tragic accident where the owner of the main bar that he plays at gets shot when his house is broken into.
With no real venues that he can play at and the people that he knows turning on him by the second he can’t pay his bills and he has no where to turn to.
This was the case for many weeks until one day whilst sitting in an internet cafe he discovered youtube a popular website that hosts videos of anything that their users upload to it.
Our hero created a profile and quickly went home, that night he recorded seven videos using his mobile phone. Happy with the recordings he went straight to the cafe the next day and began uploading his videos.

Two weeks later he discovered that he had many views and comments from other youtube users, and to his surprise they were all positive. He looked up towards his inbox and he had several messages from one user who claimed to own a recording studio and a record label, saying the offer was there if he wanted it.

Our hero quickly took the deal, he became successful selling hundreds of thousands of copies of his albums, and he owed it all to one website.
Compare this film to the likes of the 2003 hit school of rock directed by Richard Linklater. Both films tell the story of a man who makes something out of playing his guitar. Whether there is a band or not that core ideal is there in both films. School of rock did well in the box office It grossed $131,282,949 internationally. The budget of the film was $35 million.

Other similar films include Wayne’s world a film about two guys who have a local TV program that become famous through the media. This links to our film because they both involve people seeking fame through the media, although our film centers around the more modern medium of youtube, Wayne's world focus on the television. This shows an evolution of media throughout time. Wayne’s world had a budget of $20,000,000, and it made $183,097,323 gross venue it also spawned a sequel and gathered a cult following.

This film would attract both the young and old; young people would like the inclusion of youtube and of the internet emphasizing the importance of the evolution of technology in recent years, that the internet isn’t just something for use of social networking sites, that you can make something out of it.
It will also appeal to the teenage market because this man has ambitions that he will stick to no matter what; this would inspire others to have ambitions and goals in their life.
The older people in the audience would enjoy the display of emotion in this film, because emotion is a very important aspect of this film, our main character goes through several stages including depression and eventually happiness at the realization of his goal.
To display these emotions extreme close ups will be a major shot used in the development if this film, this will allow the audience to connect with the character in the moments that he is most vulnerable.

Camera map, Shooting Schedule, Story board, Script and Group responsibilities

Camera Map Scan



Storyboard scan



Shooting schedule



Script

THE GUITARIST’S WAY
BY
Stephen Wilcockson
Tom Colledge
Andrew Barsby


SECOND SHOOTING DRAFT
February 26th 2010


THE GUITARIST’S WAY – Rev 06/11/09

FADE IN:

1. INT ROOM INTERIOR LIGHTING

We start with a view of a room; one man (Steven) is sat on a chair apparently in deep thought. Another man is trying to talk to him (Eddie)
Close up of Eddie

EDDIE

Hey man. . . you ready for this?

STEVEN
I have to be

The camera focus on a guitar case, the audience sees Steven grab the neck of the guitar
FADE OUT:

FADE IN:

2. INT STAGE INTERIOR LIGHTING


We open on a blank screen and hear the sound of a heavily distorted electric guitar we then see a fade in of Steven playing on a stage; he is playing a Yamaha erg121BK. He is wearing a black canvas jacket opened over a greenish brown T shirt, with a funny slogan on it. He is also wearing a pair of blue jeans with a pair of black trainers.

STEVEN (narration)

So yeah I love this movie, I’m in it by the way. This is my favourite part of the movie where he is playing guitar on a stage. . . oh wait sorry this is the end of the movie . . . You didn’t see that urm we’ll go back
(Whilst narration is occurring various camera shots of the venue are taking place, after panning shot low angle shot from perspective of audience member from front row, we see various shots of guitarist from different perspectives around the stage.)


3. BLANK SCREEN NO LIGHTING

We then see a rewind effect like one would see from a video cassette recorder appear on the screen with the sound effects of a rewinding tape. We see a rewind symbol appear on the bottom right hand side of the screen.


STEVEN (narration)

Ah here we go

We then see a dark room

DEEP VOICE

Let there be light

The audience then sees a close up of a light bulb turning on.


STEVEN (narration)
Oops too far. . .

We then see the rewind effect again with a fast forward symbol on the bottom right hand of the screen

STEVEN (narration)
There we go


4. INT BEDROOM INTERIOR LIGHTING


We then see a room with the same guitarist from earlier sat on a bed in a room playing an acoustic/classical guitar badly. . . Not just Mary had a little lamb bad; we’re talking bad, like uber happy birthday bad . . . terrible so to speak.
Camera change to over the shoulder of guitarist looking at song book, After effects of logo of WTF productions on current page of book, he changes the page and credits of Director, camera man and team involved appear as pages change.


STEVEN (narration)
AH my youth my first guitar. Aren’t I . . . good? Ish, look we all start from somewhere even you! You’re the ones who bought the ticket I mean a movie about a guitarist?

We see Steven look towards the screen in a questioning way,

STEVEN
Who’d pay to see that?

QUICK CUT OUT TO BLACK

Logo of The Guitarist’s way appears with the sound of a heavily distorted guitar chord


Group Responsibilities

Stephen Wilcockson: wrote the script, came up with the idea for the story, played the main protagonist in the film, wrote the music for the film, designed the film’s logo, provided the musical instruments for use in the film.

Andrew Barsby: Wrote the camera map, operated the camera during filming across all film days, all of the film’s editing

Thomas Colledge: Wrote the shooting schedule, expanded the idea of the story, provided the idea for the “let there be light” scene, played the protagonist’s friend in the opening scene, provided voice acting for the “let there be light scene”.

Conventions of the comedy genre

Conventions of the comedy genre

The comedy genre is rarely referred to as just comedy. This is because there are so many types of comedy these range from the romantic comedy to the black comedy type.

The romantic comedy focuses on two people and possibly their friends and relatives who find love with each other. The stereotyped plot line follows the "boy-gets-girl", "boy-loses-girl", "boy gets girl back again" sequence, however there are multiple variations of this plot line. This genre is generally seen as light hearted and sometimes simply referred to as a “chick flick” this means that it is believed that the film is aimed at a female audience. Examples of the romantic comedy include: It's a Wonderful World (1939), The Shop Around the Corner (1940), Sabrina (1954), When Harry Met Sally... (1989), Pretty Woman (1990), and Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994).

A parody or spoof is a film that uses scenes or concepts from other films and employs sarcasm, stereotyping and/or mockery of these scenes or concepts for comedic effect. Examples of parodies or spoofs include Blazing Saddles (1974), Airplane! (1980), and Young Frankenstein (1974).

A film that uses the Black comedy genre is one that employs topics or scenarios that would normally be considered taboo for comedic effect; examples of these scenarios include death, murder, suicide and/or war. Examples of films that use the Black comedy genre include: The Loved One (1965), MASH (1970), Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983), The War of the Roses (1989), Heathers (1989), Keeping Mum (2005), and Burn After Reading (2008).

A film that uses the Gross out comedy genre is one that employs vulgar, sexual or toilet humor into the film for comedic effect. Examples of such films include: Porky's (1982), Dumb and Dumber (1994), There's Something About Mary (1998), and American Pie (1999).

As well as the standard comedy genres there are also hybrid genres of comedy, these can range from the Action comedy to the comedy horror.

The Action comedy genre is a genre that includes comedic antics like slapstick or jokes with aspects of the action genre like a thrilling plot or daring stunts. These could also be martial arts slapstick films like the many starring Jackie Chan and others. Other examples of the Action comedy genre could be the buddy films, whereby mismatched partners find themselves in a situation that they solve over the course of the film in a comedic manner. Examples of films that use the Action comedy genre include: Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Hot fuzz (2007) The forbidden kingdom (2008) and Hancock (2008)

The comedy horror genre is a type of horror film in which the usual dark themes of horror are treated with a more humorous approach. These are often spoof movies that are simply parodies of horror movies for example Scary movie (2000) which was a parody of many movies of the time including Titanic (1997) The matrix (1999) etc etc. Other comedy horror genre films include zombieland (2009) and Shaun of the dead (2004). These comedy horrors focus less on the horror aspect of their genre but reflect the horrific moments as comedy like a parody.

A film that uses the fantasy comedy genre is one that magic, supernatural and or mythological figures for comic purposes. Most fantasy comedy includes an element of parody, or satire, turning many of the fantasy conventions on their head such as the hero becoming a cowardly fool. Examples of these films include Being John Malkovich(1999), Princess Bride (1987), Night at the Museum (2006), Groundhog Day (1993), Click (2006) and Shrek (2001).

The History of Comedy

The history of comedy

Comedy as a movie genre puts the majority of its emphasis on humour; it is one of the oldest genres of film. A very early comedy short was Watering the Gardener (1895) by the Lumière brothers. The film is a French short black and white silent film, it runs for approx 49 seconds, it is known as the earliest comedic film and uses slapstick as its main device.



A still of the film watering the Gardener (1895)

A popular trend during the 1920s and afterward was comedy in the form of animated cartoons. Several popular characters of the period received the cartoon treatment. Among these were: Felix the Cat, Krazy Kat, and Betty Boop.



A picture including the main characters of Krazy Kat: "Ignatz Mouse", "Officer Pupp" and "Krazy Kat".

As the 1920s came to an end and the 1930s began the addition of sound to films gave comedians the option to use verbal comedy in the films they made for example W. C. Fields an American comedian who became a well known actor in movies. Very few comedians held on to making silent films for example Charlie Chaplain, who continued to make films devoid of dialogue during the 1930s.



A picture of Charlie Chaplain

In the 1940s with America joining World War 2 Hollywood became obsessed with movies about conflict, comedies began to involve military themes such as service, civil defense, boot-camp and shore-leave. The post war era saw the emergence of a new way to watch movies; this was the dawn of the home television. In 1948 TV to acquire commercial momentum and by the following year there were nearly a hundred television transmitters in American cities.

By the 1950s the television industry had become a serious competition for the movie industry. Despite the technological limitations of the TV medium at the time, more and more people chose to stay home to watch the television.
Initially the Hollywood studios saw the television as a threat to their business but then they began to discover the television as another outlet for their films. A few comedic film types that had previously been exclusive to the movie theatre transitioned to the television, the cartoon and the B movie for example.



A television of 1958

The 1960s saw an increasing number of broad, star-packed comedies including It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965) and The Great Race (1965). At the end of the 1950s early 1960s darker humor and more serious themes had begun to emerge Dr. Strangelove (1964) is an example of one such darker theme; it is a satirical comedy about Cold War paranoia.



A poster for the film Dr. Strangelove(1964), a comedy about cold war paranoia.

In the 1970s black comedies such as Catch 22 and MASH dealt with issues like the anti-war sentiment as well as treating the sensitive topic of suicide. As well as the above comedies there were many successful films over the 70s, a major star in some of these was Mel Brookes. He wrote directed and starred in some of his movies such as Young Frankenstein (1974) Blazing saddles (1974) and High Anxiety (1977)



A poster for the film Catch-22



A poster for the film Blazing sadles (1974)

Most British comedy films of the early 70s were spin offs of television series for example Dad’s army (1971) and On the buses (1971), both received a positive reception from the British public. Some of the greatest successes of the 70s were the Monty python team’s films including And Now For Something Completely Different (1971), Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) and Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979).



A poster for the film The life of Brian (1979)



A poster for the film Dads army (1971)

In 1980 the gag-based comedy Airplane!, a spoof of the previous decade's disaster film series was released and paved the way for more of the same including Top Secret! (1984) and the Naked Gun films all of which were directed by David zucker among others.



A poster for the film Airplane! (1980)


One of the major developments of the 1990s was the re-emergence of the romantic comedy film, encouraged by the success of When Harry Met Sally... (1989). Other examples included Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Clueless (1995) and You've Got Mail (1998) from the United States, and Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Sliding Doors (1998) and Notting Hill (1999) from the United Kingdom. Spoofs remained popular as well, especially with the Scary Movie series and Not Another Teen Movie.



A poster for the film Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

The late 90s to early 2000s saw British comedies examining the role of the Asian community within British life Bhaji on the Beach (1993), East Is East (1999), Bend It Like Beckham (2002) and Anita and Me (2003). These showed a growing interest in looking at how Britain has changed culture wise since the days of Dads army for example.



A poster for the film Bend it like Beckham (2002)

Also in the early to mid 2000s there were "stoner" comedies, which usually involve two guys on an adventure with random things happening to them along the way. Big movies of this sub-genre would be Dude, Where's My Car (2000), Big Nothing (2006), Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004), and Pineapple Express (2008). These movies usually have drug-related jokes and crude content



A poster for the film Dude where's my car? (2000)

The history of film

The history of film

The history of film ranges from the late 19th century to the present day 21st century. It has evolved from simple sequences of pictures containing one scene, to today’s films that include sound, many scenes, enhanced CGI and 3D effects.

One of the first true films to be created was of a horse running in fast motion. The idea for this motion picture came from a man called Eadweard Muybridge, an English photographer who experimented with multiple cameras to create moving images. On June 11th 1878 Muybridge was able to successfully photograph the horse called Sallie Gardener running using 24 stereoscopic cameras. The cameras were arranged along a track parallel to the horse's, and each of the camera shutters was controlled by a trip wire which was triggered by the horse's hooves. They were 21inches apart to cover the 20 feet taken by the horse stride, taking pictures at one thousandth of a second. The combination of the pictures shown one after the other created a motion picture and so laid the path of film evolution to create the films we see today.



A picture of Muybridge beside his stills of the horse running.

The second experiment of the creation of the motion picture was filmed by Louis Le Prince on October 14th 1888. Louis Le Prince was an inventor, a French man working and living in England. The film itself Roundhay Garden Scene is now considered the earliest surviving motion picture; it was recorded at 12 frames per second and ran for approximately two seconds.



A picture of Louis le Prince with a still of the film Roundhay Garden scene and stills of the frames used.

The first public screening of film ever is due to Jean Aimé "Acme" Le Roy, a French photographer. On February 5th 1894, he presented his "Marvellous Cinematograph" to a group of around twenty show business men in New York City.

Real film continuity was first made by Robert W. Paul in 1898 with his film Come Along, Do! This film contained two scenes rather than the average single scene of the time; in the first shot an old couple standing outside an art exhibition follow other people inside through the door the second shot showed what they do inside. Although this does not sound like a major breakthrough this made films longer and created the multishot/scene movies that developed into modern day cinema.

Before 1912 actors in American films were kept anonymous from their audiences, by this time however they we're beginnning to get screen credit, also around this time longer film reels were being used and in some cases multiple reels for one film. This all meant that films were increasing in length and that the actors and actresses were becoming publically known this paved the way for the celebritiy actors we all know today to be created.

Experimentation with sound film technology, both for recording and playback, was virtually constant throughout the silent era, but the twin problems of accurate synchronization and sufficient amplification had been difficult to overcome. In 1926 Warner Bros introduced the vitaphone system, this allowed them to successfully add sound to their films. The impact of adding sound to films was immense the change over from silent films was swift. By the end of 1929, almost all films in Hollywood had sound, this was the sound era, the era of the “talkies”



A picture of a vitaphone with the logo for the device above

The 1940s brought with them many propaganda movies to the big screen, and with them realistic war dramas like 49th Parallel (1941). Not all films at this time were war related, for example Walt Disney's animated features like Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo (1941) and Bambi (1942).



A poster for the film 49th Parallel (1941)

During the immediate post-war years the cinematic industry was threatened by television, and the increasing popularity of the medium meant that some movie theatres would bankrupt and close. Distressed with the closures of many of the movie theatres across America studios had to find new ways to attract its audience, these included attempts to widen their appeal with new screen formats like CinemaScope to present a wide screen for the movies presented. This led to the revival of past films to take advantage of the new big screen formats. Some of the most successful examples of revived films of the time include The Ten Commandments (1956), The Vikings (1958), Ben-Hur (1959), Spartacus (1960) and El Cid (1961).



A poster for the film Sparticus (1960)

During the 1970s, film makers increasingly depicted explicit sexual content and showed gunfight and battle scenes that included graphic images of bloody deaths.'Post-classical cinema' is a term used to describe the changing methods of storytelling of the "New Hollywood" producers. The new methods of drama and characterization played upon audience expectations acquired during the classical/Golden Age period: story chronology may be scrambled, storylines may feature unsettling "twist endings", main characters may behave in a morally ambiguous fashion, and the lines between the antagonist and protagonist may be blurred. The beginnings of post-classical storytelling may be seen in 1940s and 1950s film noir movies, in films such as Rebel Without a Cause (1955),



A poster for the film Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

In world cinema, the 1970s saw a dramatic increase in the popularity of martial arts films largely due to its reinvention by Bruce Lee, who departed from the artistic style of traditional Chinese martial arts films and added a much greater sense of realism to them with his Jeet Kune Do style. This began with The Big Boss (1971), which was a major success across Asia.



A poster for the film The Big Boss (1971)

During the 1980s, audiences began increasingly watching movies on their home VCRs In the early part of that decade, the movie studios tried legal action to ban home ownership of VCRs as a violation of copyright, which proved unsuccessful. The martial arts genre was gain renovated by Jackie chan in the 1980s he had previously combined the comedy film and martial arts film genres successfully in the 1978 films Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and Drunken Master. His next step was to involve more dangerous stunts within his films, with these stunts he also included slapstick humour, these films were widely popular in the far east at this time.



A picture of a video cassette and a poster for the film the Eagle's Shadow (1978)

The 1990s saw a vast increase in the use of special effects such as Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) and Titanic (1997) it also saw animated films aimed at family audiences also regain their popularity, with Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and The Lion King (1994). Also in 1995 the first feature length computer-animated feature, Toy Story, was produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Disney. This was a major turning point in animated films, computer animation would grow to become the dominant technique for feature length animation, this allowed competing film companies such as Dreamworks Animation and 20th Century Fox to compete with Disney with successful films of their own. During the late 1990s, another cinematic transition began, from physical film stock to digital cinema technology. Meanwhile DVDs had replaced VHS tapes across many homes in the world.



The logo for the DVD format with a poster for the film Toy Story (1995)

Finally in the 2000s, Home cinema systems had become very sophisticated. With studios releasing special edition DVDs with content only for viewing by home cinema audiences. The lord of the rings trilogy (2001 – 2002 – 2003) DVD is an example of this it contains many hours of bonus feature that aren't viewable anywhere else other than on the DVD.
During the decade of 2000 to 2010 there has been an increasing globalization of cinema, with foreign-language films gaining popularity in English-speaking markets. Examples of such films include Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2001), City of God (2002), The Passion of the Christ (2004) and Slumdog Millionaire (2008)



A poster for the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2001)