“The cinema is an invention without a future.”
These words were from none other than Louis Lumiere who invented the concept of “Cinema” with his brother Auguste Lumiere! Can you imagine that? An invention considered to be of no use by its inventors went on to become a major force in social, economical and political history of the world.
Lumiere Brothers
Its only 115 years since cinema came in to existence. The first public screening of a cinema happened at the Grand Cafe on Paris’s Boulevard de Capuchines on December 28, 1895. It mainly contained 10 shorts filmed by the Lumiere brothers.
The basic technologies for the existence of Cinema were invented by Thomas Alwa Edison. But He is not considered as the “Father of Cinema” for the simple reason that he was not in favour of taking out that moving image from his “Kinetoscope”. Antonie Lumiere, father of Louis Lumiere after watching the demo of Edison’s Kinetoscope told Louis, “You can do better. Try to get the image out of the box” , which eventually led to the invention of a novel art called “Cinema”
But for the Lumiere brothers Cinema was only an extension of photography. They were not much carried away by the marketing possibilities of their “Cinematographe”. But soon they discovered that Cinema has immense possibilities in itself! Thus Cinema started to evolve.
The grammar and structure of film was not decided on a single day. It took decades to evolve and is still evolving. Edwin.S.Porter, George Melis, D.W.Griffith, Sergie Eisenstien etc were the early pioneers who tried to bring in a grammar and structure for Cinema.
A lot of enthusiasists and dreamers were fascinated by the possibility of cinema as a medium and they started to make their kind of films through out the world. Ingmar Bergman, Vittori De Sica, Akira Kurosowa, Sathyajith Ray, Kryztof Kieslowski, Roman Polanski, Andre Tharkovisky, Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Stephen Spielberg, Majid Majidi…. The list of the film makers from all over the world who have made their own mark goes on and on….
Once the film grammars and theories became complicated.. there was a necessity for a structured learning of the art and craft of film making. . Early film theorists were more interested in writing essays on film theory than in teaching students in a classroom environment. The “Moscow Film School” was founded as early as 1919 with Russian filmmakers including Sergei Eisenstein, Vsevolod Pudovkin, and Lev Kuleshov serving as faculty to disseminate their very distinct viewpoints on the purpose of film.
Those seeking to learn the technical craft of filmmaking in the early days of cinema were largely self taught engineers or still photographers who experimented with new film technology. With the rise of commercial film making in the 1920s, most notably the Hollywood studio system, those seeking to learn the technical skills of film making most often started at the bottom of a hierarchical system and apprenticed under a more experienced person to learn the trade. Filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock and David Lean started in this way, beginning as a title card designer and clapperboard assistant, respectively, in the early 1920s. The “USC School of Cinematic Arts” was founded in the midst of this Hollywood system in 1929, and continues to be widely recognized as one of the most prestigious film schools in the world.
“The Evolution of Cinema”
Now we have reputed film institutes like ‘NewYork Film Academy’, British Film Institute’, our own prestigious “Film and Television Institute of India’ etc. which imparts professional film education to a selected few. But the demand to learn the craft of film making grows day by day and that resulted in the popping up of small independent film making schools through out the
FTII
With passion and dedication for cinema and the students, we, Neo Film and Broadcasting School is here for those who seek a professional training and guidance in learning and training the art and craft of film making. Get in touch with us to know more….
