The Lumiere Legacy Assignment Two: Part B

Task One:

1.  Who were the Lumiere brothers?

The Lumière brothers, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas and Louis Jean, were the first filmmakers in history. They patented the cinematograph, which in contrast to Edison's "peepshow" kinetoscope allowed simultaneous viewing by multiple parties. The Lumière brothers, Auguste and Louis, were sons of well known Lyons based portrait painter Antoine Lumière. They were both technically minded and excelled in science subjects and were sent to Technical School.

Antoine, noting the financial rewards of new photographic processes, abandoned his art and set up business manufacturing and supplying photographic equipment. Joining him in this venture was Louis who began experimenting with the photographic equipment his father was manufacturing.

2.  When and where did they live?

The Lumière brothers were born in Besancon, France and moved to Lyon in 1870, where both attended La Martiniere, the largest technical school in Lyon. Their father, Claude-Antoine Lumière (1840–1911), ran a photographic firm where both brothers worked for him: Louis as a physicist and Auguste as a manager. Louis had made some improvements to the still-photograph process, the most notable being the dry-plate process, which was a major step towards moving images.

3.  Who ruled their country?

Laurent Fabius was born 20 August 1946; he is a French socialist politician who has been foreign minister of France since 16 May 2012. Previously he served as Prime Minister of France from 17 July 1984 to 20 March 1986. He was 37 years old when he was appointed and is, so far, the youngest Prime Minister of the fifth republic. However Laurent Fabius was known as Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development due to the actual Prime Minster in office from 17^th July 1984 to 20th march 1986 was François Mitterrand. 

4.  What was going on in the world around that time?

1985 and 1986 including the Westland crisis, which prompted the resignation of Michael Heseltine (the then Defence Secretary) from the Cabinet. They also reveal discussions around the financial arrangements for the UK nations and the deregulation of the financial markets known as the ‘Big Bang’.

Also during that time the government tackled social issues such as football hooliganism. They cover discussions on various ideas and strategies to influence behaviour at football stadiums. As ever, also reveal the comments and replies made by then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Her response to the defection of KGB officer Oleg Gordievsky, where she provided comforting words of support, offers a different perspective of the Prime Minister who was well-known for being the ‘Iron Lady’. 

1985 As the spread of aids increases Governments round the world start screening Blood donations for AIDS. On the technology front the first .com is registered and the first version of Windows is released Ver. 1.0. Terrorists continue to perform acts of terrorism including the hijack of TWA Flight 847 and the Italian Cruise Liner "Achille Lauro ". Famine in Ethiopia is shown more on TV News in July and Live Aid concerts around the world raise many millions to help the starving in Africa and the pop industry in US joins together to sing "We Are The World". 

1986 Following a number of trouble free years in Space Exploration the Space Shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after takeoff watched by people live on TV around the world. The Internet Mail Access Protocol defined which opens the way for E-Mail and the same year the Human Genome Project is launched to understand the Human Makeup , this will open the way for great advances in the treatment of many illnesses. The worst ever Nuclear Disaster occurs as the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station Explodes causing the release of radioactive material across much of Europe. In the UK (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease is identified which causes many deaths over the next few years and a major reform in farming practices. 

5.  What are the films about?

The Lumière brothers were born in Besancon, France and moved to Lyon in 1870, where both attended La Martiniere, the largest technical school in Lyon. Their father, Claude-Antoine Lumière (1840–1911), ran a photographic firm where both brothers worked for him: Louis as a physicist and Auguste as a manager. Louis had made some improvements to the still-photograph process, the most notable being the dry-plate process, which was a major step towards moving images. 

It was not until their father retired in 1892 that the brothers began to create moving pictures. They patented a number of significant processes leading up to their film camera, most notably film perforations (originally implemented by Emile Reynaud) as a means of advancing the film through the camera and projector. The original cinematographer had been patented by Leon on 12 February 1892. The brothers patented their own version on 13 February 1895. The first footage ever to be recorded using it was recorded on March 19, 1895. This first film shows workers leaving the Lumière factory. However the history of the film that was made by Lumière brothers was based on their life during the times in the 18^th and 19^th century. The film was based on real life stories and is to emotionally and intellectually be heart touching towards people and also a way of understanding and putting things into perspectives for people in the future.

6.  How long are they? Why?

Auguste and Louis Lumière are credited with the world’s first public film screening on December 28^th 1895, The showing of approximately ten shorts film lasting twenty minutes in total was held in the basement lounge of the Grande cafe on the boulevard des capucines in Paris. The first public demonstration of their device was called the Cinematograph which effectively functioned as camera, projector and printer all in one. However the Lumière brothers have been credited with over 1,425 different short films and had even filmed aerial shots years before the very first aiplane would take the skies. For example his film The “Arrival of a train at the station 1895” showed the train coming diagonally across the screen. a very unconventional method of framing. Therefore the Lumière pioneered not just the technical attributes of the camera but also its artistic attributes, creating a dialogue of realism.

7.  What can you say about the cinematography and other aspects of the films language?

The Lumière Brothers were not the only ones to claim the title of the first cinematographers. The scientific chronophotography devices developed by Eadweard Muybridge, Étienne-Jules Marey and Ottomar Anschütz in the 1880s were able to produce moving photographs, as was William Friese-Greene's 'chronophotographic' system, demonstrated in 1890, and Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope (developed by W K-L Dickson), premiered in 1891. Since 1892, the projected drawings of Émile Reynaud's Théâtre Optique were attracting Paris crowds to the Museé Grevin. Louis Le Prince and Claude Mechant had been shooting moving picture sequences on paper film as soon as 1888, but had never performed a public demonstration. Polish inventor, Kazimierz Prószyński had built his camera and projecting device, called Pleograph, in 1894. Max and Emil Skladanowsky, inventors of the Bioscop, had offered projected moving images to a paying public one month earlier (November 1, 1895, in Berlin). Nevertheless, film historians consider the Grand Café screening to be the true birth of the cinema as a commercial medium, because the Skladanowsky brothers' screening used an extremely impractical dual system motion picture projector that was immediately supplanted by the Lumière cinematographe.

Although the Lumière brothers were not the first inventors to develop techniques to create motion pictures, they are often credited as among the first inventors of the technology for Cinema as a mass medium, and are among the first who understood how to use it.