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Filmmaking is a relatively new world industry, although Americans like to claim most of the credit for themselves. Like the exploration of space, filmmaking has been a labor of love around the entire world. Thomas Edison is mainly credited (in the U.S.) with inventing the ability to project a moving image onto a screen. This was first showcased at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893.
But Edison didn’t actually patent the process, most likely because very similar inventions were occurring simultaneously worldwide. He simply drew upon existing science and took it to its next logical step. Many others did the same in Britain, France, Germany and Italy.
It was British inventor Robert William Paul who hit upon the idea of displaying the moving pictures for group audiences to enjoy. From there, it was a small step to asking audiences to pay for the privilege. Robert Paul gave his first public showing in England in 1895 – the same year as the Chicago World’s Fair. From those varied beginnings the world’s first movie studio was born.
Initially, moving pictures drew crowds merely based on the novelty that they MOVED. Hundreds of people would cue up for a chance to see ‘Fred Ott’s The Sneeze, an early silent clip of just that – a man sneezing. But soon, the novelty of mere moving pictures wore off. Both filmmakers and their audiences wanted more; longer films, more developed stories and masterful acting.
In fact, the world’s first filmmaker to systematically develop narrative filmmaking was a woman, Alice Guy-Blaché. Ms. Guy-Blaché was head of production for Leon Gaumont, a major filmmaking studio in France in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
In 1906 Alice Guy-Blaché created her first feature length film, The Life of Christ, and went on to produce and/or direct over 1,000 films of varying lengths. She was also one of the first filmmakers to shoot in COLOR. She pioneered the use of recording her actors’ dialogue on wax cylinders that allowed the pictures’ soundtrack to be played in conjunction with the films. The usual method of the era was text subtitles for the dialogue, accompanied by a live musical orchestra or organ in the theater.
In 1907, Alice Guy married Herbert Blaché and they immigrated to the U.S. to found one of the most successful film production companies of the day, Solax Company. It is worth noting that in its early years the film industry employed more women as directors, producers, editors and cinematographers than at any other time in its history! As a woman writer, I certainly consider that interesting information.
You may be wondering just what all this ancient cinematic history has to do with your desire to write a screenplay today. First of all, the history isn’t that ancient. It happened within the scope of your grandparents’ or great-grandparents’ lives.
The film industry is really very new in the relative scheme of the human storytelling arc. And even though it might feel like getting a movie made is a huge nut to crack, it’s not. Like Guy-Blaché, you simply need to have a burning desire to tell a story and then find a camera and shoot it. She did it over 1,000 times and created a lasting impression on the industry. So can you!
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