1 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:09,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Invention, a production of I Heart Radio. Hey, 2 00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:12,400 Speaker 1: welcome to Invention. My name is Robert lamp and I'm 3 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:15,160 Speaker 1: Joe McCormick, and we're back with another part of our 4 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:18,840 Speaker 1: exploration of the invention of the motion picture. So, as 5 00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 1: we were discussing in the previous episode, so, I think 6 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:23,480 Speaker 1: one of the things we've we've been trying to lay 7 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 1: the groundwork for, is that the idea of the motion picture, 8 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:30,159 Speaker 1: like the movies we watched today, was not one of 9 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:33,080 Speaker 1: these inventions that just like comes out of nowhere, right, 10 00:00:33,159 --> 00:00:37,199 Speaker 1: the Eureka moment that strikes some brilliant inventor's brain. The 11 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:41,400 Speaker 1: motion picture very much grew out of several streams of 12 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:45,960 Speaker 1: existing technology, right, absolutely, Yeah, there's not just one individual 13 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:49,000 Speaker 1: as this is this dream of motion pictures and then 14 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:52,240 Speaker 1: develops it, invents it, and then an unveils the motion 15 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:56,279 Speaker 1: picture for a hungry for the hungry masses to view. Right. Uh. 16 00:00:56,320 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: And it's something also that I think people's taste for 17 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:00,680 Speaker 1: in a way had to develop up over time. And 18 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 1: I think we can explore that more as the episodes 19 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:05,759 Speaker 1: go on. But uh, where we're starting today, I think 20 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 1: there are three major streams of technology that are feeding 21 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:14,399 Speaker 1: into the development of the motion picture. So one is 22 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:16,759 Speaker 1: something we talked about last time that we might call 23 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:21,680 Speaker 1: animation devices like the Phoenickista cope or the Phoenikista scope 24 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:25,680 Speaker 1: it's been called both, or the zootrope. These were toys 25 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:30,839 Speaker 1: that created an illusion of continuous motion by rolling through 26 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 1: a succession of still images that took advantage of loopholes 27 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:38,440 Speaker 1: in the way that our eyes and our brains perceive images, 28 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,720 Speaker 1: known as a parent movement. Basically, it was an optical 29 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:45,400 Speaker 1: illusion that allowed a bunch of still images to appear 30 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:47,840 Speaker 1: to us as something that is moving, right, And these 31 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 1: were devices that grew out of the age of photography. 32 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:53,560 Speaker 1: So these were not ancient by any or really any 33 00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 1: older than photographic technology. Right. But these early animation devices 34 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: were mostly known for animating like drawings or silhouette cutouts. 35 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:05,760 Speaker 1: But an interesting question you might have wondered about at 36 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:08,120 Speaker 1: the time, say it's the eighteen seventies of the eighteen 37 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 1: eighties or so, you might be getting to wonder if 38 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:13,680 Speaker 1: you could combine the optical principles here in the in 39 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 1: these animation devices of a parent movement generated by looking 40 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:21,880 Speaker 1: at successive still images really fast with another technology and development, 41 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:25,080 Speaker 1: which of course is photography, so to replace these hand 42 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:29,120 Speaker 1: drawn or hand cut still images with direct records of 43 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:33,120 Speaker 1: scenes in reality exactly. And then finally, another technology that 44 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:35,959 Speaker 1: we've explored a lot less so far but will become 45 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 1: really important in today's episode that feeds into the history 46 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:41,520 Speaker 1: of the motion picture is something that's known as the 47 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:45,120 Speaker 1: magic lantern, and that's an invention that had existed for 48 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:48,120 Speaker 1: centuries by the time of the motion picture was invented. 49 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:50,280 Speaker 1: But essentially you can think of it as kind of 50 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:53,440 Speaker 1: an early version of the slide projector. You ever like 51 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:54,880 Speaker 1: go over to you know, back in the day, you 52 00:02:54,919 --> 00:02:56,480 Speaker 1: go over to somebody's house and they want to show 53 00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 1: you pictures of their vacation, and they go through the 54 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: slide projector it shows them up on a screen or 55 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:03,519 Speaker 1: up on the wall. Oh yeah, I mean, I fondly 56 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: remember my family's own slide projector. I was never really 57 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:09,480 Speaker 1: allowed to mess with it, uh, and maybe that's why 58 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:11,640 Speaker 1: it was so fascinating And then you broke it. No, 59 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:14,280 Speaker 1: I never never never got the chance. Okay, I guess 60 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: some some schools use these two occasionally. Yeah, I definitely 61 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:21,320 Speaker 1: remember projectors, slide projectors coming up in in classroom environments 62 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:25,080 Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, But basically it combines a transparent plate 63 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:29,079 Speaker 1: on which an image is drawn or otherwise captured, uh, 64 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:32,160 Speaker 1: and a lens and a light source that shines through 65 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:34,519 Speaker 1: the plate that has the image on it, and through 66 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:38,480 Speaker 1: the lens projecting the image on a surface or screen. Yeah. 67 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:40,040 Speaker 1: I mean I should also add that, of course, you 68 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:44,880 Speaker 1: have you have other old performance methods that involved you know, 69 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:47,560 Speaker 1: shadow puppets, yes exactly, which would have also been a 70 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:51,120 Speaker 1: projection based medium. Well, that's a really great point. I mean, 71 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:54,120 Speaker 1: one way to create a very crude version of a 72 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:57,400 Speaker 1: motion picture would be to use a magic lantern to 73 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:01,160 Speaker 1: project images and then actually just to move the plate 74 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:04,720 Speaker 1: or elements within the plate around, kind of like you 75 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: would move your hands in a shadow puppet show. You know, 76 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:09,520 Speaker 1: like if you're projecting through a glass plate and you've 77 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:11,520 Speaker 1: got things on the plate, you could kind of have 78 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 1: them dance around and fight each other and all that 79 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,320 Speaker 1: kind of stuff. But obviously you'd be fairly limited in 80 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:18,479 Speaker 1: what you could do with that. So all three of 81 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:21,600 Speaker 1: these are not motion pictures, and yet they all kind 82 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:24,240 Speaker 1: of converge into the idea of the motion picture. Right 83 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:27,400 Speaker 1: if you combine these three principles, you've pretty much got 84 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:30,880 Speaker 1: the earliest makings of a live action movie, but we're 85 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:34,480 Speaker 1: not there yet. A sort of early combination of these 86 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:37,400 Speaker 1: three elements was another device that we mentioned in the 87 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:40,840 Speaker 1: last episode, the Zoa practice scope, which was invented by 88 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:44,320 Speaker 1: Edward my Bridge, the photographer and inventor around the end 89 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: of the eighteen seventies. So you remember we talked about 90 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:50,000 Speaker 1: Edward my Bridge in the last episode where he didn't 91 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:52,839 Speaker 1: just use one camera, but he would use a battery 92 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:56,560 Speaker 1: of cameras to capture a bunch of images really fast. 93 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:00,280 Speaker 1: Absolutely Yes, as the as a horse ran by, this 94 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:04,640 Speaker 1: battery of cameras would go off, resulting in this this, this, 95 00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:09,800 Speaker 1: this series of images to portray the locomotion of the horse. Right, 96 00:05:09,839 --> 00:05:12,120 Speaker 1: So if he wanted to like show off those images 97 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:14,480 Speaker 1: in a way that wasn't just like you know, looking 98 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:17,200 Speaker 1: at them one at a time. He he could sort 99 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:20,280 Speaker 1: of animate them together. And that's what the zoo practicoscope 100 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:23,920 Speaker 1: was for. Uh. He used a very complicated process to 101 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:27,800 Speaker 1: sort of treat and re render the silhouettes of all 102 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:31,280 Speaker 1: those still images taken really fast by a battery of cameras, 103 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:33,560 Speaker 1: and then it would put he would put them around 104 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: the edge of a glass disk in sequence, which could 105 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:40,200 Speaker 1: then be rotated in front of a projected light source, 106 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:43,719 Speaker 1: showing off the sort of realism of movement captured frame 107 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:46,679 Speaker 1: by frame. But of course, even if you look at this, 108 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:49,000 Speaker 1: this is sort of the principle of the motion picture. 109 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:50,760 Speaker 1: But I think most people wouldn't think that it was 110 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:53,640 Speaker 1: a movie just yet. Now, at this point in the story, 111 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: we have to reintroduce a character who has already shown 112 00:05:56,560 --> 00:05:59,360 Speaker 1: up on invention in the past. I believe he made 113 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:02,839 Speaker 1: an appearance in our X ray episode. Oh really, Yeah, 114 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:05,800 Speaker 1: he shows up a lot in the especially like the 115 00:06:05,839 --> 00:06:09,599 Speaker 1: second half of the nineteen hundreds. If you're dealing with inventions, 116 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:12,120 Speaker 1: whether or not he necessarily deserves all the credit for 117 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:14,960 Speaker 1: some breakthrough, he may show up in the story, right 118 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 1: and you, yeah, you can't remove him from the story. 119 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:20,320 Speaker 1: He was a major player, right. So this is where 120 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:24,039 Speaker 1: Thomas Edison enters the picture. So you may have heard 121 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:28,360 Speaker 1: that the prolific inventor and businessman Thomas Alva Edison invented 122 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:30,920 Speaker 1: the motion picture, And I think if that is what 123 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 1: you believe, you are sort of unwittingly a part of 124 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 1: Thomas Edison's diabolical plan. Uh, though he did play a 125 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:39,839 Speaker 1: very important role in the early development of the motion 126 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:42,280 Speaker 1: picture I don't want to play that game. A lot 127 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:45,880 Speaker 1: of people really love to sort of over demonize Thomas Edison. 128 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:48,800 Speaker 1: I think there are some very valid critiques of the 129 00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:52,640 Speaker 1: man historically, but you know, a lot of people just 130 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:55,400 Speaker 1: like that. They go the Tesla versus Edison route, and 131 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:58,159 Speaker 1: like Tesla is the hero and Edison's the villain. But 132 00:06:58,279 --> 00:07:00,640 Speaker 1: I do think it's basically true. A lot of what 133 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:04,520 Speaker 1: Thomas Edison did was come up with, or catch wind 134 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:08,200 Speaker 1: of innovative technological concepts that are sort of on the 135 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:11,720 Speaker 1: edge of discovery, and then hire other people to do 136 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:14,920 Speaker 1: the heavy lifting of designing these things, so then Edison 137 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 1: could reap the much of the profit and the credit himself. 138 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:21,280 Speaker 1: And one of these assistants that Edison hired who worked 139 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:25,200 Speaker 1: for Edison was a guy named William Kennedy Lorie Dickson, 140 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:28,680 Speaker 1: also known often in books referenced as W. K. L. 141 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:32,240 Speaker 1: Dixon and Dickson was a photographer, and this may have 142 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:35,600 Speaker 1: been part of the reason that in June eight eighty nine, 143 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: Edison selected him to actually design a device that Edison 144 00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:44,600 Speaker 1: had kind of conceptualized, which he was calling the kinetoscope, 145 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:47,560 Speaker 1: of course, from kineto meaning movement and scope meaning like 146 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:50,000 Speaker 1: to see or to watch. But you might wonder where 147 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:52,960 Speaker 1: did Edison get this idea from. Well, we can't know 148 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:56,600 Speaker 1: for sure all of what Edison had in mind before this, 149 00:07:56,720 --> 00:07:58,600 Speaker 1: so I think there's some indication he may have already 150 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:00,960 Speaker 1: been interested in the idea of move being images. But 151 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:03,520 Speaker 1: one thing we do know that I was reading about 152 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 1: is that in eighty eight Edward my Bridge visited Edison's 153 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:11,120 Speaker 1: laboratory in New Jersey. Apparently my Bridge was there to 154 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:15,680 Speaker 1: suggest a partnership. UH see, Edison and his lab workers 155 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:18,880 Speaker 1: had recently invented a device, or not not quite so recently. 156 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:21,160 Speaker 1: It was around eighteen seventy seven. I think it was 157 00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:25,480 Speaker 1: patented in eighteen seventy eight called the phonograph, And the 158 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:28,640 Speaker 1: phonograph was huge. It was a big breakthrough. It was 159 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:33,880 Speaker 1: a sound recording and playback device that was immensely popular. 160 00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:36,880 Speaker 1: It would later evolve into the record player, though the 161 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:42,400 Speaker 1: original uh phonograph both recorded and played back cylinders, not disks, 162 00:08:42,760 --> 00:08:45,280 Speaker 1: you know, if I remember correctly, These pop up in 163 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:49,120 Speaker 1: brom Stoker's novel Dracula Really yeah, some of the you know, 164 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:52,000 Speaker 1: it's all a little bits, tidbits from various people's journals 165 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:55,480 Speaker 1: and diaries and in some cases their cylinder recording. Oh 166 00:08:56,080 --> 00:09:00,240 Speaker 1: Dr Seward does he do dictation on phonograph cylinders? See, 167 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:03,560 Speaker 1: I don't remember exactly which characters. I know it's not Dracula, 168 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 1: and there are no chapters from Dracula's perspective, unfortunately. But yeah, 169 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:14,320 Speaker 1: So so Edison and his people they had the phonograph, 170 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:18,440 Speaker 1: and that was this very popular revolutionary technology could record 171 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:23,120 Speaker 1: in playback sound. And so in February of eight, my 172 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:27,280 Speaker 1: Bridge showed up with an idea. He said, Hey, let's collaborate. 173 00:09:27,559 --> 00:09:31,760 Speaker 1: I'll pare your phonograph with Miso practice scope, and we'll 174 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:37,600 Speaker 1: have sound accompanying moving pictures, which is perfect. Like, that's 175 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:41,080 Speaker 1: exactly the direction things we're gonna go in. Edison passed, 176 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:44,719 Speaker 1: and he was like not interested. But then pretty much 177 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:49,079 Speaker 1: immediately Edison moved on the idea of creating an improved 178 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:53,120 Speaker 1: motion picture capture and playback device quote to do for 179 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:56,600 Speaker 1: the eye what the phonograph does for the ear. And 180 00:09:56,679 --> 00:09:59,320 Speaker 1: this would be the kinetoscope that we mentioned a moment ago. 181 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:02,440 Speaker 1: So I don't think you can say that Edison was 182 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:05,600 Speaker 1: stealing my Bridge's idea because what they would eventually come 183 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:08,880 Speaker 1: up with was so much better and more practical than 184 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:12,360 Speaker 1: the Zoo practice practice code. But it does seem right 185 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:14,800 Speaker 1: that he thought, you know, instead of partnering with this guy, 186 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:17,400 Speaker 1: I can just make a much better version of his thing. 187 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:20,480 Speaker 1: Whether that's crooked or not, I don't know. I'll leave 188 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:23,959 Speaker 1: that up to you to judge. So in eighteen eighty nine, 189 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:29,000 Speaker 1: Edison tasks uh William Dixon, his his worker W. K. L. Dixon, 190 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:32,840 Speaker 1: with inventing this device that he has conceptualized to do 191 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:35,760 Speaker 1: for the eye what the phonograph did for the year, 192 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:40,880 Speaker 1: essentially a video recording and playback device, and apparently early 193 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:44,160 Speaker 1: prototypes did not work very well. One idea seemed to 194 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:47,320 Speaker 1: be inspired by the phonograph cylinder, Uh, and it was 195 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:51,079 Speaker 1: the idea that you would place tiny reflective photos on 196 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:54,800 Speaker 1: a cylinder that would simulate motion through reflected light. As 197 00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:57,560 Speaker 1: the cylinder spun, you can kind of just like picture. 198 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:00,400 Speaker 1: That not working very well, so you might want or okay, 199 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:03,400 Speaker 1: how do we solve these problems? Well. In the last episode, 200 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:07,640 Speaker 1: we talked about the French physiologist A Tene Jules Moray 201 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:11,080 Speaker 1: who in the eighteen seventies invented this device that was 202 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:14,000 Speaker 1: called the Chrono photographic gun, or at least that's what 203 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:17,760 Speaker 1: we called it at the Chrona Photograph uh And it 204 00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:20,120 Speaker 1: was like this scientific instrument. It's kind of like a 205 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:24,160 Speaker 1: machine gun for taking pictures. Its goal was to rapidly 206 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:28,280 Speaker 1: capture a lot of photographs very quickly, around twelve photos 207 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:32,080 Speaker 1: per second on a rotating piece of glass on which 208 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:36,240 Speaker 1: photographic emulsions had been prepared inside a drum. That makes 209 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:38,880 Speaker 1: it look kind of like a mutated Tommy gun. Yeah, 210 00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:42,240 Speaker 1: it's super weird. It's like a Wizards machine gun. It's whatever. Yeah, 211 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:45,560 Speaker 1: that's right. Uh So, so it's a precursor in the 212 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:48,040 Speaker 1: movie camera in a way. But it also straight up 213 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:52,160 Speaker 1: looks like a rifle. And Murray was inspired by Edward 214 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:55,160 Speaker 1: my Bridge's work and he used the chrona Photographic gun 215 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:58,040 Speaker 1: to take lots of pictures really fast, of like birds 216 00:11:58,080 --> 00:11:59,920 Speaker 1: in flight, to get a better idea of what's happened 217 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:03,240 Speaker 1: with the movements of a bird's wings and body during flight, 218 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:05,520 Speaker 1: which normally happens too fast for us to see is 219 00:12:05,559 --> 00:12:08,040 Speaker 1: just a blur. So Murray was very much in the 220 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:10,280 Speaker 1: in the spirit of science. He was not trying to 221 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:13,520 Speaker 1: create an entertainment device. He was trying to study nature, 222 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:16,760 Speaker 1: study the locomotion and of birds in this case. So 223 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:18,760 Speaker 1: in a way, Murray's Gun was a step in the 224 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:22,679 Speaker 1: right direction toward motion pictures. But because it it has 225 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:27,000 Speaker 1: some limitations that either variously relied on either plate glass 226 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:31,280 Speaker 1: exposures or relatively fragile paper film, there's no way you 227 00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:34,160 Speaker 1: could use it to record more than a very short 228 00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:37,400 Speaker 1: period of motion, maybe like a second or two, and 229 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:40,679 Speaker 1: you couldn't effectively load and have ready enough of the 230 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:43,720 Speaker 1: medium it recorded the images on to make it, you know, 231 00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:46,680 Speaker 1: something that could record for extended periods of time. But 232 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:50,840 Speaker 1: it seems Edison did draw some inspiration from Murray in principle. 233 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:54,040 Speaker 1: And this is where another individual from a past episode 234 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:57,000 Speaker 1: pops up, an individual who played an important role in 235 00:12:57,240 --> 00:13:02,120 Speaker 1: the development of photographic technology. G George Eastman. That's right. 236 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:05,840 Speaker 1: So Eastman played an important role, uh with helping come 237 00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:09,480 Speaker 1: up with the medium. So Eastman of Eastman Kodak, of course, 238 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:14,200 Speaker 1: who we discussed previously, had created paper film rolls that 239 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:18,120 Speaker 1: did not require glass plates. And this is this is 240 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:20,760 Speaker 1: an important step in in thinking about the media on 241 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:24,320 Speaker 1: which photographs are recorded, because just think about if you 242 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:27,800 Speaker 1: had to create a movie cameras capturing I don't know, 243 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:30,400 Speaker 1: so you're trying to capture forty frames per second or 244 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:32,560 Speaker 1: even if you're going low and just trying to do 245 00:13:32,679 --> 00:13:35,960 Speaker 1: like sixteen frames per second or something, and you want 246 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:39,560 Speaker 1: to do that all on like glass plates. How do 247 00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:42,680 Speaker 1: you do that? You do use like glass glass plates 248 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:45,160 Speaker 1: framed with wood that are on like a belt chain 249 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:48,520 Speaker 1: together to go past the camera to get exposed. How 250 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:51,679 Speaker 1: many times per second? You can imagine how the medium 251 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:55,920 Speaker 1: there makes the camera set up really unwieldy and and 252 00:13:56,360 --> 00:13:59,240 Speaker 1: to a certain extent, impossible to record more than a 253 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:01,520 Speaker 1: few seconds at a time. Right, Yeah, you're coming up 254 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:03,719 Speaker 1: against the hard limits of the of the material there. 255 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:05,800 Speaker 1: I would love to see one of these, though. I'm 256 00:14:05,880 --> 00:14:08,079 Speaker 1: sure there's a great version of like a steampunk video 257 00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:11,320 Speaker 1: game or something that has like just like giant drums 258 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:15,000 Speaker 1: of glass plate belts rattling through as the cameras shooting 259 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:18,000 Speaker 1: on them. Uh So, one thing Eastman had created by 260 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:21,040 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty eight was paper film roles that didn't require 261 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:23,960 Speaker 1: glass plates. Uh this wasn't the first paper film, but 262 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:26,680 Speaker 1: this was a version of paper film. Uh and and 263 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:30,040 Speaker 1: this is an improvement because you can imagine at least okay, 264 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:33,320 Speaker 1: paper can be like rolled up in great quantities that 265 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:35,760 Speaker 1: you could feed through a camera if you needed to 266 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:39,520 Speaker 1: shoot tons of photos in quick succession. Right, it begins 267 00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:44,000 Speaker 1: to to make it possible to really um capture footage 268 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:47,320 Speaker 1: of of of the world in action. Yeah, but this 269 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:51,320 Speaker 1: paper film was relatively fragile, flimsy, difficult to work with. 270 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:54,720 Speaker 1: It just wasn't very good. Meanwhile, a year before, in 271 00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:59,720 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty seven, an American Episcopalian rector named Hannibal Goodwin 272 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:02,320 Speaker 1: who lived in Newark, New Jersey, came up with a 273 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:06,720 Speaker 1: different ideas, an idea for a medium for photographic exposures, 274 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:10,800 Speaker 1: and that would be celluloid. Now, celluloid is a transparent 275 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:15,480 Speaker 1: kind of synthetic plastic invented in the eighteen sixties. And 276 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:18,400 Speaker 1: to to make it, you can start with natural cellulose, 277 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:21,360 Speaker 1: which is a plant polymer that you'd find in cotton 278 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:25,400 Speaker 1: or wood or in himp. Cotton is like mostly cellulose, 279 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:27,760 Speaker 1: so you can just picture a ball of cotton, and 280 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:30,120 Speaker 1: then you take that cell cellulose and you treat it 281 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:33,480 Speaker 1: with nitric acid and this gives you an extremely flammable 282 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:39,080 Speaker 1: plastic compound called nitro cellulose, and nitro cellulose and celluloid 283 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:43,480 Speaker 1: become the early basis of film technology, creating these continuous 284 00:15:43,520 --> 00:15:47,120 Speaker 1: strips of plastic that could serve as film roles. Uh 285 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:50,040 Speaker 1: And originally, though it's funny reading about how celluloid plastic 286 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:53,680 Speaker 1: in the like eighteen sixties seventies that served all kinds 287 00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:56,400 Speaker 1: of weird uses, or at least people imagined it would 288 00:15:56,480 --> 00:16:00,760 Speaker 1: like as a substitute for expensive precious materials like ivory, 289 00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:05,160 Speaker 1: or it was also used in clothing. I've read something 290 00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:11,359 Speaker 1: about like men's shirts and stuff being having cell celluloid components. 291 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:15,400 Speaker 1: Another one was I read about somebody's idea to use 292 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 1: celluloid to make billiard balls. Um. But eventually Eastman and 293 00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:25,680 Speaker 1: collaborators would switch over to producing roles of celluloid based film, 294 00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:28,760 Speaker 1: and this could be manufactured in the kinds of long, 295 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:33,640 Speaker 1: durable roles necessary for exposing the dozens or hundreds or 296 00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:37,600 Speaker 1: thousands of shots necessary to record more than a second 297 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:40,560 Speaker 1: or two of motion picture. Uh. Though Eastman did have 298 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:44,120 Speaker 1: a long running patent dispute with Hannibal Goodwin and his 299 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:47,040 Speaker 1: estate about celluloid film. They had to go back and 300 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:49,200 Speaker 1: forth about who had the rights to do what with it. 301 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:54,520 Speaker 1: But once this durable plastic film celluloid film was available 302 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:58,000 Speaker 1: in bulk from Eastman, William Dixon and Edison and colleagues 303 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:00,760 Speaker 1: suddenly had new kinds of option is open to them, 304 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:03,240 Speaker 1: Like this would allow you to do a lot more 305 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:06,120 Speaker 1: with filming the world and why did they ever film 306 00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:08,040 Speaker 1: the world? We're going to take a quick break and 307 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:10,879 Speaker 1: when we come back we'll continue our discussion with the 308 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:19,760 Speaker 1: history of the motion picture. Alright, We're back, all right, 309 00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:22,640 Speaker 1: So I guess we should discuss some design issues with 310 00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:26,919 Speaker 1: the movie camera that William Dixon in Edison's lab was 311 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:30,600 Speaker 1: trying to create. One problem would be this, do you 312 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:33,280 Speaker 1: ever think about the like, how does a movie camera 313 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:36,199 Speaker 1: simulate motion? In the last episode we talked about how 314 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:39,680 Speaker 1: it has to simulate motion by showing you still images 315 00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:42,800 Speaker 1: in a very rapid succession. This is the way that 316 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:46,320 Speaker 1: the optical illusion works. Uh. And it doesn't work to 317 00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:49,480 Speaker 1: take say a few hundred photos in succession and then 318 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:53,160 Speaker 1: roll them past your eyes in one smooth emotion, right, 319 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:56,000 Speaker 1: because what would you see there? Just a blur? Right? 320 00:17:56,080 --> 00:17:58,560 Speaker 1: That won't cut it right. I mean, that's not showing 321 00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:01,320 Speaker 1: you a succession of still in images. That's just showing 322 00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:03,920 Speaker 1: you images that are moving top to bottom or moving 323 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:06,080 Speaker 1: side to side too fast for you to look at them. 324 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:08,080 Speaker 1: So instead, what you have to do is find a 325 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:13,360 Speaker 1: way to project lots of distinct, unmoving images very rapidly, 326 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:16,159 Speaker 1: one after another. So how to do that? Well, if 327 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:20,080 Speaker 1: you've ever think about what celluloid film roles look like, 328 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:23,359 Speaker 1: especially movie film, you know those holes in the sides 329 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:26,879 Speaker 1: of the film strip, Well that's where they come in. Uh. 330 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:31,720 Speaker 1: These holes allowed their devices to rapidly grab the film 331 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:34,520 Speaker 1: strip with a fast moving lever that had teeth to 332 00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:39,240 Speaker 1: fit the holes, advance exactly one frame, project that frame 333 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:42,199 Speaker 1: through the shutter without moving it, and then close the 334 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:45,320 Speaker 1: shutter and advance the next frame. So you're hitting here's 335 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:47,240 Speaker 1: the image, and then here's the new image, here's the 336 00:18:47,359 --> 00:18:49,639 Speaker 1: here's the next image. Yeah again, not just running it 337 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:53,000 Speaker 1: through like it's the like the belt on an engine, right, 338 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:54,960 Speaker 1: but dozens of frames for second and it has to 339 00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:59,280 Speaker 1: stop on each one. So in AUGUSTE. Edison filed for 340 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:03,399 Speaker 1: a patent on two separate machines, the kinetic graph, which 341 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:06,760 Speaker 1: was the movie camera and the Kineta scope, which was 342 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:10,159 Speaker 1: the movie playback device. And these were two separate things, 343 00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:15,120 Speaker 1: so that the Kinetic Graph camera was this gigantic, monstrous 344 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:18,800 Speaker 1: electrical device for shooting films. It weighed like a thousand 345 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:22,320 Speaker 1: pounds or something. It was huge. Uh. It used components 346 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:25,919 Speaker 1: modeled on the internal workings of a clock to ensure 347 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:29,080 Speaker 1: the regular stop and start motion of advancing the film 348 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:31,679 Speaker 1: and stopping it one frame at a time, and to 349 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:34,879 Speaker 1: synchronize the opening of the shutter with the placement of 350 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:37,560 Speaker 1: the next frame. And this device initially filmed at a 351 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:40,840 Speaker 1: rate of about forty frames per second. Meanwhile, the Kineta 352 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:45,639 Speaker 1: scope was a large wooden cabinet about four ft high 353 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:49,520 Speaker 1: that held a film strip inside, and this was the 354 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:53,200 Speaker 1: dedicated playback device for films made on the Kinetic graph. 355 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:56,200 Speaker 1: The viewer would look through a lens at the top 356 00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:58,080 Speaker 1: of the cabinet, kind of like the eyepiece for a 357 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:02,400 Speaker 1: view master. Did you ever have one of those? Okay, yeah, yeah, 358 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:05,280 Speaker 1: So it's not really a screen. It's like binoculars that 359 00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:07,359 Speaker 1: you know, you put your eyes in and you look 360 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:10,840 Speaker 1: down into the machine, and inside the machine the film 361 00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:15,000 Speaker 1: hung from rollers and during playback it would be advanced rapidly, 362 00:20:15,119 --> 00:20:18,400 Speaker 1: one frame at a time by an electrically powered sprocket 363 00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:21,920 Speaker 1: with an electric lamp shining up through each frame into 364 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:24,639 Speaker 1: the viewing lens, which allows you to see the motion 365 00:20:24,680 --> 00:20:27,760 Speaker 1: picture projected into your eyes. Right, and now that this 366 00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:30,399 Speaker 1: is impressive, don't get me wrong. But but obviously the 367 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:33,560 Speaker 1: limitations are apparent, Like this is a device that can 368 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:36,280 Speaker 1: be used by one person at a time. It is 369 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:40,600 Speaker 1: a large cabinet. Uh, it's more like a peep show 370 00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:43,160 Speaker 1: as opposed to what you might think of as a 371 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:46,880 Speaker 1: as movie viewing, certainly as a communal experience. That's exactly right. 372 00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:50,240 Speaker 1: I mean, can you imagine a world where everybody was 373 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:54,439 Speaker 1: just walking around staring into their own individual devices to 374 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:59,480 Speaker 1: watch video and weren't interacting with each other. Yes, but 375 00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:03,359 Speaker 1: it is a great point because the history of of 376 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:06,960 Speaker 1: motion picture technology, cinematic technology, the ability to watch the 377 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:10,320 Speaker 1: moving image. Uh, it's kind of you see these different 378 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:13,840 Speaker 1: trends like the like, like something will be individual and 379 00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:15,719 Speaker 1: then it will go communal, and then there'll be new 380 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:19,800 Speaker 1: ways to make it more individual again and generally with 381 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:22,720 Speaker 1: the we see it both ways. Like here, the advancements 382 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:26,720 Speaker 1: would make movie viewing more communal, and then later on 383 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:29,120 Speaker 1: it would be in the different direction. Let's take let's 384 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:31,240 Speaker 1: take this thing that is that has to be communal, 385 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:33,040 Speaker 1: and let's let you do it in the privacy of 386 00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:36,760 Speaker 1: your own home. Um, and I imagine you know, they're 387 00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:41,320 Speaker 1: they're they're pros and cons with with both with both directions. Yeah, exactly. 388 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:45,160 Speaker 1: I mean this was a very different viewing experience, even 389 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:48,360 Speaker 1: then looking at a video on your phone. Uh, it 390 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:52,800 Speaker 1: was just extremely different because number one, um, we'll talk 391 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:55,480 Speaker 1: a little bit more about where these kinetoscopes were deployed, 392 00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:58,160 Speaker 1: but they would be out in public semi public places, 393 00:21:58,200 --> 00:21:59,960 Speaker 1: you know, and you could go use one. And while 394 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:02,400 Speaker 1: the kinetoscope parlor might be a happen and hang out 395 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:05,359 Speaker 1: when you view the movie, you're viewing it alone with 396 00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:08,240 Speaker 1: your face attached to a box. That's not like going 397 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:11,240 Speaker 1: to a movie theater, like you're saying. It's completely different 398 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:14,720 Speaker 1: kind of culture around how these things are viewed. But 399 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:18,200 Speaker 1: also the films had to be very different then because 400 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:22,800 Speaker 1: of the technical physical limitations on the film strips, on 401 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:26,200 Speaker 1: the kinetograph, and on the kinetoscope the way they were built, 402 00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:29,160 Speaker 1: you can only accommodate about fifty feet or about fourteen 403 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:32,720 Speaker 1: meters of celluloid film at a time and then play 404 00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:35,760 Speaker 1: it back. So this severely limits the length that the 405 00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:37,840 Speaker 1: film can be. It makes it you know, it could 406 00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:41,119 Speaker 1: be maybe fifteen seconds or so. So let's say you 407 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:43,879 Speaker 1: saunter up to a kinetoscope, you know, you go, you 408 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:46,600 Speaker 1: go to the local kinetoscope parlor and you're gonna have 409 00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:48,720 Speaker 1: a look see into one of these things. What did 410 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:52,680 Speaker 1: you watch in there? Well, Edison essentially had to become 411 00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:56,919 Speaker 1: not just an inventor, but a a media mogul, like 412 00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:59,760 Speaker 1: a film producer, because nobody else was making films to 413 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:01,840 Speaker 1: go in this thing. He had to make the content 414 00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:04,720 Speaker 1: to go in the device. So he founded a movie 415 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:08,720 Speaker 1: studio in West Orange, New Jersey to record the first 416 00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:12,560 Speaker 1: real commercial motion pictures. And these movies tended to be 417 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:18,000 Speaker 1: like short spectacles. Uh. Again, due to the limitations on 418 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:20,680 Speaker 1: the technology, they couldn't be more than, you know, fifteen 419 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:23,760 Speaker 1: seconds or so. And they didn't have dedicated sound because 420 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:27,000 Speaker 1: even though Edison was into pairing this thing with the phonograph, 421 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:29,760 Speaker 1: they couldn't yet figure out how to synchronize the movie 422 00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:33,440 Speaker 1: and the sound right. And at the time, there wasn't 423 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:36,800 Speaker 1: really a practice of film editing, which meant that the 424 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:39,879 Speaker 1: you know, the convention was that the film would be 425 00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:42,720 Speaker 1: shot in one take. So what ended up on these 426 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,320 Speaker 1: early films were things that were brief and kind of 427 00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:47,640 Speaker 1: interesting to look at and could be done all at 428 00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:50,280 Speaker 1: once in one take. Many of them were like quick 429 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:55,600 Speaker 1: vaudeville acts featuring slapstick comedy or circus performances like you know, 430 00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:59,480 Speaker 1: so Ballerina's dancing, or people like doing trapeze acts, or 431 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:02,840 Speaker 1: a strong man lifting something. Right. I mean, basically, the 432 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:06,399 Speaker 1: technology allowed you to capture motion, and so you just 433 00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:09,320 Speaker 1: had to go out and find interesting examples of motion. 434 00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:11,920 Speaker 1: The person doing this, an animal doing this, a machine 435 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:14,360 Speaker 1: doing this. Now that might sound boring to us, but 436 00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:17,959 Speaker 1: these things people were very interested in seeing this, Like 437 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:20,800 Speaker 1: this was a hot technology. People were into it. Yeah, 438 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:22,679 Speaker 1: Like I mean, I can imagine, you know, we can 439 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:25,359 Speaker 1: talking about how it's not a communal thing to watch it, 440 00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:27,159 Speaker 1: but you know, you might go with somebody to see this. 441 00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:29,800 Speaker 1: You would each have your turn looking into the machine, 442 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:33,000 Speaker 1: witnessing the motion, and then you would inevitably talk about it. 443 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:35,560 Speaker 1: Did you see that? Was that not amazing? You just 444 00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:38,000 Speaker 1: you looked in it and and there it was brought 445 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:41,160 Speaker 1: to life. Yeah, and so in the eight ten nineties, kinetoscopes, 446 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:44,240 Speaker 1: the viewing machines were bought and put anywhere I would say, 447 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:47,119 Speaker 1: you might normally see some kind of cabinet attraction or 448 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:51,960 Speaker 1: game machine, So amusement parks, the lobbies of public buildings, 449 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:56,560 Speaker 1: stuff like that. Dedicated kinetoscope parlors also became popular, starting 450 00:24:56,600 --> 00:24:58,600 Speaker 1: in New York City. They were sort of like a 451 00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:02,119 Speaker 1: video arcade where people would go and line up at cabinets, 452 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:04,600 Speaker 1: not to play street fighter, but to look through the 453 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:07,720 Speaker 1: peep hole and watch the films inside the boxes. I 454 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:10,159 Speaker 1: am trying to imagine what it would what what it 455 00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:12,560 Speaker 1: would have been like to be in one of these 456 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:16,320 Speaker 1: uh kinetoscope parlors, because you'd have it was like a 457 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:22,200 Speaker 1: public setting, but you would be frequently while you were there, 458 00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:25,320 Speaker 1: like going into this other world for fifteen seconds or so, 459 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:28,080 Speaker 1: where you would lose your body and you disappear into 460 00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:31,480 Speaker 1: the machine and the machine is your awareness, but everybody 461 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:34,440 Speaker 1: could see you. So you're just standing there with your 462 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:38,159 Speaker 1: face in this cabinet and like you, I don't know 463 00:25:38,359 --> 00:25:40,600 Speaker 1: this this weird public, private kind of thing, you know, 464 00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:42,639 Speaker 1: I know exactly what it would be like. I remember 465 00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:45,480 Speaker 1: when when we went to New York City and we 466 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:48,879 Speaker 1: went to a premiere of One Strange Rock. Okay, they 467 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:51,400 Speaker 1: had these helmets. When you put the helmet on and 468 00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:53,640 Speaker 1: you would it was like part of the marketing thing. Yeah, 469 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:55,640 Speaker 1: the daft punk helmets, and it was like this daft punk, 470 00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:58,160 Speaker 1: like really cool helmets, very well designed. You put them 471 00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:00,600 Speaker 1: on and you would get to see in here in 472 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:04,160 Speaker 1: this case, um like essentially a trailer for the show, 473 00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:07,600 Speaker 1: and it was pretty impressive projecting it inside a screen 474 00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:10,080 Speaker 1: on the inside of the helmet. So you're just sitting 475 00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:12,439 Speaker 1: there in a room full of people having cocktails and 476 00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:14,960 Speaker 1: wandering around and you've got a helmet on and you're 477 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:18,399 Speaker 1: like drooling. Well yeah, so I imagine that's kind of 478 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:22,240 Speaker 1: what this was like. Okay, well that was I'm not 479 00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:24,960 Speaker 1: saying I didn't appreciate the experience. It was a little 480 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:28,120 Speaker 1: awkward standing there in a room full of people with 481 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:32,959 Speaker 1: your own consciousness engaged inside a device. Yeah, but then 482 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:35,160 Speaker 1: when you put the device on, it's pretty cool. And likewise, 483 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:38,440 Speaker 1: the kinetoscope would have had a similar experience. Again, it's 484 00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:41,080 Speaker 1: just I imagine a lot of people standing around talking 485 00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:42,879 Speaker 1: about it, like man what was it like when you 486 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:45,600 Speaker 1: looked into it. Did you see that horse running? Did 487 00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:49,439 Speaker 1: you see that you know whatever, the particular bit of 488 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:52,400 Speaker 1: motion that was captured, whatever it was like, people would 489 00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:56,000 Speaker 1: just be geeking out over it. Yeah, And so what 490 00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:59,120 Speaker 1: did Edison think about the potential of this this thing? 491 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:03,040 Speaker 1: I mean, obviously people were excited about it. You get 492 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:05,800 Speaker 1: kind of mixed feelings reading about this that in some 493 00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:08,040 Speaker 1: ways it seems like he didn't at first seem to 494 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:12,680 Speaker 1: fully realize the potential of films as their own extended medium, 495 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:16,120 Speaker 1: Like he obviously failed to make some certain leaps from 496 00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:20,200 Speaker 1: the kinetoscope and the kinetograph immediately, right, Like it's easy 497 00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:23,320 Speaker 1: to imagine, I'm guessing where you're thinking, Like, Okay, I've 498 00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:28,600 Speaker 1: created an entertaining, uh side show, a machine for amusement, 499 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:31,840 Speaker 1: and I can see them continuing to be a successful thing. 500 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:34,720 Speaker 1: Like maybe it's it's like a pinball machine exactly, there's 501 00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:36,800 Speaker 1: the one in the front of a pizza joint. Yeah, 502 00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:39,160 Speaker 1: and maybe if you're like really savvy, you might see 503 00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:43,439 Speaker 1: the future nefarious uses of essentially peep show machines. But 504 00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:46,879 Speaker 1: for the most part, like you're not imagining the Academy 505 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:49,639 Speaker 1: Awards but then at the same time, I mean Edison, 506 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:53,080 Speaker 1: he says like some grandiose stuff about it there. This 507 00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:55,240 Speaker 1: was later, I think this was in like in the 508 00:27:55,359 --> 00:27:58,600 Speaker 1: nineteen teens or something, But I found a quote where 509 00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:02,120 Speaker 1: he once remarked, I am spending more than my income 510 00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:04,840 Speaker 1: getting up a set of six thousand films to teach 511 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:07,800 Speaker 1: the nineteen million students in the schools of the United 512 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:14,159 Speaker 1: States to do away entirely with books. Dear god Edison, 513 00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:18,280 Speaker 1: step back, friend, Well, I mean, clearly he was. He 514 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:20,800 Speaker 1: he had doubled down on that point and said, no, 515 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:25,360 Speaker 1: not only is this an important technology, it's the important technology. 516 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:32,080 Speaker 1: It's going to erase the written word from our schools. Now. Edison, Dixon, 517 00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:34,720 Speaker 1: and and the people we've mentioned so far definitely were 518 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:37,679 Speaker 1: not the only people to serve in the creation of 519 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:40,600 Speaker 1: motion pictures around the you know, the eighteen eighties. This 520 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:42,680 Speaker 1: was in the air and other people were sort of 521 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:45,160 Speaker 1: working on this. It does seem that Dixon and Edison 522 00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:50,320 Speaker 1: got there first with commercially viable, patented machines, but it 523 00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:54,080 Speaker 1: seems that a French inventor named Louis la Prince got 524 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:57,640 Speaker 1: there before Edison's lab to make a movie camera that worked, 525 00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:00,600 Speaker 1: though he never got to capitalize on his work. Uh 526 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:03,760 Speaker 1: La Prince invented a motion picture camera. He shot several 527 00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:06,360 Speaker 1: films in England around the year eighteen eighty eight, and 528 00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:08,680 Speaker 1: he'd been planning to show off his invention in the 529 00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:11,560 Speaker 1: United States in the year eight teen ninety. But then 530 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:16,080 Speaker 1: something very strange happened. Mysteriously, he disappeared before he had 531 00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:18,440 Speaker 1: a chance to show off his invention. And we're actually 532 00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:21,760 Speaker 1: going to devote an entire episode to this subject to 533 00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:25,160 Speaker 1: explore this mystery, in an episode where we'll be joined 534 00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:27,200 Speaker 1: next time by our friend Scott Benjamin. But a short 535 00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:29,840 Speaker 1: version is that that Edison is the name that remains 536 00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:33,840 Speaker 1: important here. Yes, certainly is getting the credit, right, though 537 00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:37,240 Speaker 1: I think more recent historians would probably say it looks 538 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:39,840 Speaker 1: like Dixon did more of the work, and of course 539 00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:42,360 Speaker 1: Edison just sort of like owned his work and was 540 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:44,880 Speaker 1: his boss and then got the credit for it. All Right, Well, 541 00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:46,320 Speaker 1: on that note, we're going to take a quick break, 542 00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:48,600 Speaker 1: But when we come back, we're going to discuss another 543 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:51,760 Speaker 1: pair of individuals who are exceedingly important in the development 544 00:29:51,760 --> 00:30:01,440 Speaker 1: of motion picture technology. We're gonna talk about the Lumier brothers. Alright, 545 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:04,680 Speaker 1: we're back. So Robert tell me about the Loumier brothers. 546 00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:07,600 Speaker 1: All right, well, uh, just like it sounds, there are 547 00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:15,000 Speaker 1: two of them. They're brothers. There's Auguste Lumier and Louis Loumier. Um. Uh. 548 00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:18,720 Speaker 1: August lived eighteen sixty two through nineteen fifty four and 549 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:22,680 Speaker 1: Louis lived eighteen sixty four through ninety eight. So they 550 00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:28,200 Speaker 1: were the French sons of the painter turned photographer Antoine Lumier. Uh. 551 00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:32,480 Speaker 1: So basically they were both born into the photographic world. Uh. 552 00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:35,360 Speaker 1: And they both had an aptitude for science. At the 553 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:38,160 Speaker 1: age of eighteen, with his father's help, Louis opened a 554 00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:42,400 Speaker 1: factory for photographic plates and it was quite successful. Um. 555 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:44,800 Speaker 1: And so you know, this becomes this is the family 556 00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:49,640 Speaker 1: business at this point. Meanwhile, their father, Um, he attends 557 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:53,880 Speaker 1: a showing of Edison's kinetoscope in Paris and was really 558 00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:56,000 Speaker 1: impressed by it. So he comes back and he tells 559 00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:58,320 Speaker 1: his sons about it, and they began to work on 560 00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:02,880 Speaker 1: the problem of animating objections projections. Okay, so now remember 561 00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:06,160 Speaker 1: the kinetoscope we were just talking about is a cabinet 562 00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:09,680 Speaker 1: where you have a private experience with a moving picture. 563 00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:13,120 Speaker 1: The cabinet might be at a parlor or business somewhere, 564 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:14,880 Speaker 1: and you go and you stick your face in it 565 00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:17,959 Speaker 1: and you can watch a fifteen second movie of uh, 566 00:31:18,040 --> 00:31:21,200 Speaker 1: you know, a circus act or a vaudeville show. Right. Yes, 567 00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:24,760 Speaker 1: it's it's like it's like going to a gathering and 568 00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:28,880 Speaker 1: someone is showing something on a like a tiny iPhone screen. Yeah, 569 00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:30,600 Speaker 1: you know if you get to look at it one 570 00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:32,760 Speaker 1: at a time, right, yeah, that sort of thing. But 571 00:31:33,160 --> 00:31:36,560 Speaker 1: so the brothers here they questioned, you know, what else 572 00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:39,240 Speaker 1: was possible? What can we do with projection? So they 573 00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:44,680 Speaker 1: created a camera, uh this cinematography, and that could photograph 574 00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:48,000 Speaker 1: and project project at sixteen frames per second. And it 575 00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:50,480 Speaker 1: had a number of advantages over Edison's invention. It was 576 00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:54,800 Speaker 1: far lighter. Oh yeah, Edison's Now remember the kinematic graph 577 00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:57,360 Speaker 1: the camera they used that was like it was gigantic. 578 00:31:57,360 --> 00:31:59,600 Speaker 1: It was like a thousand pounds or said. This was lighter, 579 00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:02,920 Speaker 1: it was more portable, um and uh. And then when 580 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:06,480 Speaker 1: you're actually projecting the resulting footage, it moved at a 581 00:32:06,520 --> 00:32:09,840 Speaker 1: slower speed as well, creating a more fluid movement movement. 582 00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:12,680 Speaker 1: It was also far less noisy, because that was another 583 00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:15,400 Speaker 1: thing about Kinetograph is that it was it was noisy. 584 00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:18,800 Speaker 1: Another key improvement, though, is that more than one person 585 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:21,200 Speaker 1: could watch the film at a time. Seems like a 586 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:25,120 Speaker 1: big deal. Yeah. To quote Caroline Slade in her two 587 00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:28,720 Speaker 1: thousand twelve Telegraph article about the Brothers, uh quote, the 588 00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:34,200 Speaker 1: Lumier's cinema, cinematography not only created the filmmaker, it created 589 00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:40,200 Speaker 1: the viewer. That's interesting because again there's no I mean, 590 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:43,640 Speaker 1: when you have when you create media, you created for 591 00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:49,080 Speaker 1: an audience, and when there was previously no wide audience 592 00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:51,640 Speaker 1: for a certain kind of media, you have to make 593 00:32:51,760 --> 00:32:54,720 Speaker 1: that audience somehow. You have to like teach them how 594 00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:58,520 Speaker 1: to receive what you're producing. And kind of like what 595 00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:00,480 Speaker 1: I said earlier, cinema was for the longest time, and 596 00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:03,680 Speaker 1: in large part still is about communal viewing. I mean, 597 00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:07,400 Speaker 1: technology has introduced different waves of private viewing over the years, 598 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:10,480 Speaker 1: you know, be it uh you know, TV broadcasts or 599 00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:14,160 Speaker 1: VHS tapes, etcetera. Uh, you know, and it's it's impacted 600 00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:15,959 Speaker 1: the medium and the way we engage with it. But 601 00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:19,480 Speaker 1: we still place a high priority on communal viewing. We 602 00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:21,920 Speaker 1: may not like the people that sometimes we have to 603 00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:24,760 Speaker 1: watch a film with if they're like too noisy, or 604 00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:27,160 Speaker 1: they you know, they eat your popcorn too loud. But 605 00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:31,520 Speaker 1: you know, I think by and large, if we want 606 00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:35,520 Speaker 1: to share the viewing experience with someone, yes, I mean 607 00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:37,760 Speaker 1: it's it's like the experience of going to a play, 608 00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:40,600 Speaker 1: except of course it's a movie. I mean, being an 609 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:43,720 Speaker 1: audience is a communal experience, and there is it can 610 00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:46,360 Speaker 1: be moving at times, like when you go see a 611 00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:48,560 Speaker 1: big new movie that's really good and the audience is 612 00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:50,960 Speaker 1: excited about it and they're cheering and they're clapping. That's 613 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:53,840 Speaker 1: part of the experience too. It's not just like you know, 614 00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:55,840 Speaker 1: you're there with the movie and there happened to be 615 00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:58,880 Speaker 1: other people around you. I mean, all movies today could 616 00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:02,040 Speaker 1: be released directive video. There's no reason that they that 617 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:05,560 Speaker 1: they couldn't be except that there apparently just is still 618 00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:08,680 Speaker 1: desire for people to go to movie theaters, right. And 619 00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:10,239 Speaker 1: I think about that a lot because I'm often the 620 00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:13,719 Speaker 1: person who's like, I have to wait for this Avengers 621 00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:15,960 Speaker 1: movie to show up on an airplane. Can't I just 622 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:18,120 Speaker 1: watch it and let it? Now? You know why I 623 00:34:18,280 --> 00:34:20,120 Speaker 1: don't want to go to a theater and spend three 624 00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:23,920 Speaker 1: hours there and and so sometimes if i'm more, you know, 625 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:26,719 Speaker 1: I'm grumpier about it, I'll think, Oh, it's just the 626 00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:28,880 Speaker 1: nobody actually wants to go to a theater. This is 627 00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:31,719 Speaker 1: just the theater industry. But but no, I think people do. 628 00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:34,360 Speaker 1: I mean, we do want to go see films we 629 00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:37,239 Speaker 1: care about in a theater. There's something about the theater 630 00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:40,240 Speaker 1: experience especially, and at least there's something about the communal 631 00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:44,239 Speaker 1: viewing experience, especially if something is supposed to be funny. Yes, 632 00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:49,239 Speaker 1: that that is huge the laughter or I think actually also, um, 633 00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:53,880 Speaker 1: it's important with horror movies, horror movies that the audience 634 00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:55,640 Speaker 1: plays a role there too, and it might actually have 635 00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:57,680 Speaker 1: to do with laughter. I mean, if if you see 636 00:34:57,719 --> 00:35:01,160 Speaker 1: a horror movie in the theater, you will encounter sometimes 637 00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:03,880 Speaker 1: as much laughter as you do when you're seeing a 638 00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:07,080 Speaker 1: good comedy, either because the horror movie is bad, as 639 00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:10,120 Speaker 1: it often is, and it becomes very funny, or because 640 00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:12,720 Speaker 1: it's very good and there's a constant kind of low 641 00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:17,880 Speaker 1: level nervous release going on whenever tension is alleviated somehow 642 00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:20,520 Speaker 1: in the film. Yeah, Christian and I did an entire 643 00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:22,719 Speaker 1: episode of stuff to blow your mind about that a 644 00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:24,680 Speaker 1: few years back. So you can people can look for 645 00:35:24,719 --> 00:35:27,439 Speaker 1: that at stuff to blow your mind dot com. Uh so, 646 00:35:28,239 --> 00:35:31,400 Speaker 1: let's let's get back to the French brothers here, okay, 647 00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:34,120 Speaker 1: uh and the and essentially they were in the same 648 00:35:34,160 --> 00:35:38,040 Speaker 1: boat as as Edison, like, you create this technology, now 649 00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:40,160 Speaker 1: you've got to create some films. I don't know what. 650 00:35:40,239 --> 00:35:42,960 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I just realized I'm picturing both of them 651 00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:45,640 Speaker 1: as the candlestick from Beauty and the beast. That was 652 00:35:45,719 --> 00:35:50,160 Speaker 1: his name, right, was it? Was it Loumier? Okay, well 653 00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:52,680 Speaker 1: that was that must have been their their their reference there, No, 654 00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:56,480 Speaker 1: they were. They both looked more like Cogsworth alright. So 655 00:35:56,520 --> 00:35:59,480 Speaker 1: their initial experiments, for the most part, involved simple captures 656 00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:03,279 Speaker 1: of daily French life, um like. For instance, we look 657 00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:08,120 Speaker 1: at the ten short films that they initially unveiled. They 658 00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:11,120 Speaker 1: were all less than fifty seconds each, and most featured 659 00:36:11,160 --> 00:36:15,440 Speaker 1: scenes such as workers leaving the Lumier factory, which is 660 00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:18,640 Speaker 1: just you see a bunch of frenchmen, uh like, walking 661 00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:21,680 Speaker 1: out of a factory, and it's, you know, given given 662 00:36:21,719 --> 00:36:24,239 Speaker 1: the state of the technology at the time, it's impressive. Right. 663 00:36:24,760 --> 00:36:28,759 Speaker 1: There's also Baby's Breakfast, which is a pair of like 664 00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:32,839 Speaker 1: a mom and a dad, presumably feeding a baby, and uh, yeah, 665 00:36:32,840 --> 00:36:36,319 Speaker 1: it's it's impressive. But then the crazy thing we talked 666 00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:39,200 Speaker 1: about the importance of comedy. One of the films is 667 00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:43,680 Speaker 1: the Gardener or the Sprinkler Sprinkled, and this is a 668 00:36:43,719 --> 00:36:47,360 Speaker 1: forty nine second film of UH in which a gardener 669 00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:50,439 Speaker 1: is like spraying a garden and then a kid comes 670 00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:53,239 Speaker 1: behind him and stands on the hose, and then the 671 00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:55,520 Speaker 1: gardeners like, what why the water stop? And of course 672 00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:58,400 Speaker 1: he does the comedic thing. He looks at the hose 673 00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:00,960 Speaker 1: like stares down the barrel of the Then the kid 674 00:37:01,040 --> 00:37:03,520 Speaker 1: jumps off the hose and the gardener gets squirted in 675 00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:08,160 Speaker 1: the face. And so that's good. It's really good. But 676 00:37:08,200 --> 00:37:11,759 Speaker 1: it's clearly done for comedic effect. It is, you know, 677 00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:14,680 Speaker 1: it's you could compare it, I guess to like um 678 00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:19,160 Speaker 1: Blooper's show or Candid Camera or you know, later on 679 00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:23,359 Speaker 1: like the Jackass TV shows. You know, it's essentially uh, 680 00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:25,359 Speaker 1: you know, it's it's all about the comedy. It's meant 681 00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:28,520 Speaker 1: to generate laughter. So it's interesting to to to think 682 00:37:28,560 --> 00:37:30,560 Speaker 1: about that, like this is the first crop of tin 683 00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:34,840 Speaker 1: films and they've already touched on UH some sort of 684 00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:37,480 Speaker 1: narrative comedy. A friend of mine in high school I 685 00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:41,160 Speaker 1: actually remember, talked about this short film. He was talking 686 00:37:41,239 --> 00:37:44,279 Speaker 1: about it and he, uh, he said that basically the 687 00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:47,080 Speaker 1: film is mostly the same today, except now it would 688 00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:52,239 Speaker 1: say punked at the end, Yeah, exactly, punked. Um. So 689 00:37:52,360 --> 00:37:53,680 Speaker 1: from you know, from there that, you know, they would 690 00:37:53,680 --> 00:37:56,279 Speaker 1: get into you know, into shorts that were comedic, and 691 00:37:56,280 --> 00:37:59,239 Speaker 1: they would later present the first newsreel and some of 692 00:37:59,280 --> 00:38:03,320 Speaker 1: the first documents rays, uh, these covering the Leon fire Department. 693 00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:06,560 Speaker 1: And by eighteen eighty six they were sending crews out 694 00:38:06,560 --> 00:38:08,719 Speaker 1: to capture footage from around the world and they am 695 00:38:08,719 --> 00:38:11,520 Speaker 1: asked thousands of films. So you know, they were not 696 00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:14,400 Speaker 1: only inventors, but they are also some of our first cinematographers. 697 00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:16,560 Speaker 1: I do think this is interesting. We're seeing with both 698 00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:19,560 Speaker 1: Edison and the Lumire brothers that in the eighteen nineties, 699 00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:23,879 Speaker 1: again there wasn't yet this division between the technical side 700 00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:26,480 Speaker 1: and the artistic side. They were like fully merged. You know, 701 00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:29,000 Speaker 1: you're you're doing both because if you want to have 702 00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:31,480 Speaker 1: an audience for this thing you invented, you've got to 703 00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:33,839 Speaker 1: create media for it. Nobody else is doing that yet, 704 00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:38,319 Speaker 1: so uh, one thing I wonder is about what that 705 00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:41,720 Speaker 1: divergence looks like over time, Like Wind is making films 706 00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:44,680 Speaker 1: become an art and not something that's associated with the 707 00:38:44,719 --> 00:38:49,719 Speaker 1: technical side of like inventing or maintaining equipment for making films. Well, 708 00:38:49,719 --> 00:38:51,680 Speaker 1: this is something that becomes difficult to nail down, right 709 00:38:51,719 --> 00:38:55,160 Speaker 1: because even like these for first ten films from the Brothers, 710 00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:59,520 Speaker 1: you know, they're not just like Crewe demonstrations of of 711 00:38:59,560 --> 00:39:02,279 Speaker 1: the techno oology, like there is at least some art 712 00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:07,359 Speaker 1: to them. So, um, yeah, definitely in the Sprinkler Sprinkled, Yeah, 713 00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:08,920 Speaker 1: I mean, like if you if you have to, if 714 00:39:08,920 --> 00:39:11,360 Speaker 1: you're asking the question like what is the first film 715 00:39:11,440 --> 00:39:14,520 Speaker 1: that has made like for the joy of filmmaking, I 716 00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:17,359 Speaker 1: don't know. Um, like it's there's a lot a lot 717 00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:20,000 Speaker 1: of joy and the Sprinkler Sprinkled, Well, I just wonder 718 00:39:20,320 --> 00:39:22,320 Speaker 1: there probably is an answer to this that somebody is 719 00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:25,160 Speaker 1: positive before. But who was the first filmmaker who had 720 00:39:25,239 --> 00:39:29,919 Speaker 1: nothing to do with making cameras or anything? Uh, Well, 721 00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:31,680 Speaker 1: that's I think that's a question we'll have to come 722 00:39:31,680 --> 00:39:35,120 Speaker 1: back to now. As for the Loumire brothers, you know, 723 00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:37,480 Speaker 1: they were they were true innovators and they were they 724 00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:39,839 Speaker 1: were ahead of the curve on their invention, and yet 725 00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:43,040 Speaker 1: kind of like Edison was, at least initially, they may 726 00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:46,200 Speaker 1: not have really seen the full potential of what they 727 00:39:46,200 --> 00:39:48,759 Speaker 1: were they were working with. Well, I think they were 728 00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:52,600 Speaker 1: also still limited by their technology to like longer than 729 00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:55,600 Speaker 1: the Edison films, but still shorter than the films that 730 00:39:55,640 --> 00:39:58,760 Speaker 1: would come later. Right, Yeah, they were. They were limited 731 00:39:58,760 --> 00:40:00,279 Speaker 1: by what they could do at the time. But but 732 00:40:00,320 --> 00:40:03,400 Speaker 1: even then they're often quoted as having said, quote, the 733 00:40:03,440 --> 00:40:07,319 Speaker 1: cinema is an invention without any future. Uh. They didn't 734 00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:10,279 Speaker 1: sell their camera to other filmmakers. And now part of 735 00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:13,000 Speaker 1: it too with with both the Lumier brothers and Edison, 736 00:40:13,440 --> 00:40:17,120 Speaker 1: is they weren't like all in on films like Edison, 737 00:40:17,200 --> 00:40:19,960 Speaker 1: had a lot of interests. Uh. And then the Lumiser 738 00:40:20,040 --> 00:40:23,600 Speaker 1: brothers were also important made important in advancements in color photography. 739 00:40:23,680 --> 00:40:26,880 Speaker 1: They had their they had their whole photographic business going. 740 00:40:27,480 --> 00:40:30,080 Speaker 1: So you know, it's it's not what like they were 741 00:40:30,120 --> 00:40:32,600 Speaker 1: like clinging to this one invention or that they had 742 00:40:32,600 --> 00:40:35,359 Speaker 1: all their eggs in this one basket. So perhaps we can, 743 00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:38,600 Speaker 1: you know, forgive them for not having you know, the 744 00:40:38,640 --> 00:40:41,719 Speaker 1: clearest vision of where this technology was going but as 745 00:40:41,800 --> 00:40:43,960 Speaker 1: we said before, I mean that's the danger of hindsight. 746 00:40:44,120 --> 00:40:46,879 Speaker 1: Like it's easy to look back at this invention and say, well, 747 00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:50,120 Speaker 1: how come on, Lumier brothers, how come you couldn't predict 748 00:40:50,239 --> 00:40:55,520 Speaker 1: the box office success of the Avengers in game based 749 00:40:55,560 --> 00:40:58,680 Speaker 1: on this technology, based on the sprinkler sprinkled Well, I 750 00:40:58,680 --> 00:41:01,360 Speaker 1: would have to think one reason might not yet have 751 00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:04,239 Speaker 1: been able to predict that is that artists hadn't come 752 00:41:04,280 --> 00:41:07,719 Speaker 1: along yet, just pure artists who would take the craft 753 00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:10,040 Speaker 1: of filmmaking to new heights. I mean, one thing you 754 00:41:10,040 --> 00:41:14,800 Speaker 1: have to consider now is that is how crucial editing 755 00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:20,399 Speaker 1: is too good visual storytelling on on film and these 756 00:41:20,440 --> 00:41:23,640 Speaker 1: early things we're seeing, you know, the stuff made by 757 00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:27,040 Speaker 1: the Edison Labs and by the lomi Are brothers. Um. 758 00:41:27,239 --> 00:41:29,640 Speaker 1: I can't recall if the Lomie Air Brothers had used 759 00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:32,319 Speaker 1: editing yet. They may have employed editing, but if they did, 760 00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:34,160 Speaker 1: it was certainly not to the extent that it would 761 00:41:34,239 --> 00:41:37,359 Speaker 1: be employed by filmmakers later to you know, really get 762 00:41:37,360 --> 00:41:41,040 Speaker 1: the best of each angle and the best the best 763 00:41:41,080 --> 00:41:43,799 Speaker 1: performances out of a number of takes, and to put 764 00:41:43,840 --> 00:41:47,080 Speaker 1: things together in time different times in places like That's 765 00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:52,000 Speaker 1: how storytelling really takes off through the visual medium of 766 00:41:52,040 --> 00:41:54,280 Speaker 1: the motion picture, right, I mean, it's really it's almost 767 00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:57,319 Speaker 1: like thinking about the difference between just marveling at the 768 00:41:57,360 --> 00:42:02,000 Speaker 1: wonder of being able to say, capture spoken language in 769 00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:04,960 Speaker 1: written words, and comparing that in that to say, the 770 00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:08,080 Speaker 1: difference between just the wonder of watching footage of a 771 00:42:08,080 --> 00:42:13,760 Speaker 1: horse running versus seeing an actually fully composed motion picture. Um, 772 00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:16,560 Speaker 1: I mean, I think that's part of it. Like, we're 773 00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:21,240 Speaker 1: still discussing examples of of the of of motion pictures 774 00:42:21,239 --> 00:42:24,000 Speaker 1: that are not truly telling stories yet, and they're certainly 775 00:42:24,040 --> 00:42:29,600 Speaker 1: not manipulating our our our senses and our cognition to 776 00:42:29,680 --> 00:42:34,120 Speaker 1: the level that that films ultimately would manipulate us. But 777 00:42:34,160 --> 00:42:36,040 Speaker 1: we're gonna have to come back and discuss all that 778 00:42:36,480 --> 00:42:38,880 Speaker 1: in a future episode. That's right, We're not done with 779 00:42:38,920 --> 00:42:41,239 Speaker 1: the motion picture yet, And next time, we got a 780 00:42:41,320 --> 00:42:44,880 Speaker 1: murder mystery for you. That's right, all right. In the meantime, 781 00:42:44,920 --> 00:42:46,760 Speaker 1: if you want to check out more episodes of Invention, 782 00:42:46,840 --> 00:42:49,000 Speaker 1: head on over to invention pot dot com. That's where 783 00:42:49,000 --> 00:42:51,480 Speaker 1: you'll find them. Uh. And likewise, if you want to 784 00:42:51,520 --> 00:42:53,560 Speaker 1: support this show, the best thing to do is make 785 00:42:53,600 --> 00:42:56,399 Speaker 1: sure that you rate and review us and subscribe where 786 00:42:56,480 --> 00:42:58,040 Speaker 1: you have the power to do so. So wherever you 787 00:42:58,040 --> 00:43:02,040 Speaker 1: get your podcasts, find us, rate us, review us, and subscribe. 788 00:43:02,200 --> 00:43:06,160 Speaker 1: Huge thanks to Scott Benjamin for research assistants on this episode, 789 00:43:06,200 --> 00:43:09,560 Speaker 1: and to our excellent audio producer Tori Harrison. If you 790 00:43:09,560 --> 00:43:11,600 Speaker 1: would like to get in touch with us with feedback 791 00:43:11,840 --> 00:43:14,120 Speaker 1: on this episode or any other to just a topic 792 00:43:14,160 --> 00:43:16,319 Speaker 1: for the future, we're just to say hello, you can 793 00:43:16,360 --> 00:43:25,120 Speaker 1: email us at contact at invention pod dot com. Invention 794 00:43:25,200 --> 00:43:27,920 Speaker 1: is production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from 795 00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:30,640 Speaker 1: my heart Radio is the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 796 00:43:30,719 --> 00:43:32,360 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.