Pioneers And Early Animation

Pioneers and Early Animation

George Melies  -  George Melies was the one who created the Jump Cut, when The Lumiere Brothers unveiled their Cinematographe to the public on December the 28th 1895 Melies was in the audience watching. After the show he had then approached The Lumiere Brothers with a view to buying their machine but unfortunately they had turned him down. He was that determined to investigate moving pictures he sought out Robert Paul in London and viewed his camera, projector building his own, soon afterwards. He was then able to present his first film screening on the 4th of April 1896. 

He then started by screening other peoples films - mainly those that were made for the Kinetoscope but within months he was making and showing his own work, his first films being one reel, one shot views lasting about one minute. Melies job to the cinema was the combination of traditional theatrical elements to motion pictures. He sought to present spectacles of a kind not even possible in live theatre. 

In the autumn of 1896 something happened which has since passed into film folklore and changed the way that George looked at filming. While he was filming a simple street scene Melies' camera jammed and it took him a couple of seconds to rectify the problem. Thinking no more about what had happened, he carried on the film and was struck by the effect such a incident had on that scene. Then objects suddenly appeared, disappeared or were transformed into other objects. Melies the discovered from his incident that cinema had the capacity for manipulating and distorting time and space. He then expanded upon his initial ideas and devised some complex special effects. He pioneered the first double exposure (La Caverne Maudite 1898), the first split screen with performers acting opposite themselves (Un Homme De Tete 1898),  and also the first dissolve (Cendrillon 1899).

George Melies sadly died in 1938 after making over five hundred films in total - finacing, directing, photographing and starring in nearly every one.

His video 'Trip to the moon' was his most famous film that he had made.