By Wu Linying

At the world exposition held in 1900 in Paris, French born Lumi re brothers offered the world a chance to see their debut film. This attraction become one of the focuses of the exposition, as well as being a memory that would stay in peoples minds for a long while after the event.

Concerning the origin of the film industry, there is much debate and argument. Historical records about the invention of film-related apparatus, image projection and copying have been found in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Germany. However the invention of the film, by Lumi re brothers, is widely accepted as the official origin.. On December 28, 1895, the Lumi re brothers organized the first showing of a film, to an excited audience in the basement of the“big café”located in Boulevard des Capucines. This is regarded as the first ever public viewing of films on record. This day is consequently looked upon as the birthday of film, and the industry has witnesses a thriving development in the past 110 years.

The Lumi re brothers were originally involved in the sale of camera devices. When their film projector obtained its patent, they sent people traveling around the world, filming many different cultures and customs. In 1896, more than ten projectionists had been sent to show films in various places. These are the first documentary films. Their many works have become an indispensable part of research into the history of the world’s films. Their films include Arrivée d'un trainàla Ciotat, L' (1895), Sortie des ouvriers de l'usine Lumière, La (1895), Jardinier et le petit espiègle, Le (1895) and so on.

It is said that film is a comprehensive art form, which encompasses literature, drama, painting, dancing, sculpture and architecture. It is a unique form of mass media. The birth of films in that era could be attributed to the emergence of audio and visual technologies in the second half of the 19th century. It could be said that the invention of film is related to and owes much to contributions made by Edison.

Firstly in the area of audio technologies, the most important inventions are Edison’s phone recorder and phonograph. The phone recorder is used to record sound through its vibrating chords and voice amplifier. His phonograph is also capable of recoding sounds almost without any distortions. Next came the visual recording technology. The year of 1870 witnessed much progress in lens and camera making techniques. The shutter speed had been drastically cut down to 0.001 second. All these show a higher degree of perfection for the visual recording technology. In 1872, the then California governor employed the cameraman Muybridge to take 12 photos of galloping horses. Later Muybridge placed these photos on a turning wheel. When the wheel was turning at great speed in front of a light, a complete moving image materialized. Thanks to the persistence of vision in our brain, people believed that what they saw was a series of connected actions. The whole picture lasted for only a few seconds. It wasn’t until Eastman’s invention of roll films, that the recording time hugely increased.

Under his supervision, the research staff working in Edison’s labs had brought about inventions like the film making camera, the camera lens and the projector, all of which relied upon Eastman’s roll films (The film itself is a man-made wonder first displayed in the world exposition.). It is very noteworthy that the birth of film cameras is based upon a device capable of showing pictures continuously and the new sensitive film, both of which were exhibited at the 1900 Paris world exposition.

Between 1908 and 1914, the film industry in France saw the first peak period of development. The films produced by French studios accounted for 60 to 70 percent of the global market shares. French films had attracted a large number of fans in Europe, the United States of America and Russia. Meanwhile the film fervor in Paris had evolved into a huge commercial force. With the fast advancement of film production and commercialization, France not only developed a monopoly system covering films’production, distribution and showing, but also exported plenty of productions to the United States, Russia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and Japan. It was at this time that France entered into the first golden period of film commercialization in its film history.

The film is one of the magnificent art forms in the 20th century. It has brought to humanity innumerable living experiences and artistic enjoyments.