Assignment #1 Jimmy Wong

The Kinetoscope and Kinetograph was invented by William Laurie Dickinson, who was Thomas Edison’s assistant and worked for Edison Laboratories. The Kinetograph being a crude and one of the first cameras capable of recording motion pictures. The Kinetoscope being the device in where a single customer would deposit a coin and view thru lenses, a very short film on a loop. Edison viewed film as a novelty meant for a single viewer and didn’t support the idea of a projector for an audience. He thought it more lucrative to sell multiple Kinetoscope machines than a single projector for a audience. With the advent of projectors and rise in popularity of this form of viewing film, Edison would follow suit, unable to produce his own projector he would purchase a projection machine and rename it the Vitascope.

As the popularity of film flew thru the roof, so did the demand for longer and different films. Edison following a strict moral code along with believing the industry plateaued, didn’t listen to the public and continued to produce movies he thought appropriate. Edison also tried to shut out the European films by monopolizing what stock and raw footage could be used and what films are screened in US theaters. Carl Leammle, a German immigrant from Chicago created the Independent Movie Pictures, a small production company where he used French and German stock footage. Leammle also exclusively signed Florence Lawrence, one of the first movie stars, in a move to produce longer dramatic films with actors the audience can relate with and recognize. IMP would later become Universal Pictures.

Edison sought to own all of the Film Industry and being the owner of most of the technological patents, would wage a campaign to shut down his competitors. From investigating sets for the illegal use of patent licensed cameras and equipment to shutting out inventors by filing infringements suits to both. The infringement suits would financially ruin his competitors and in turn have the inventors sell the patent adding to already large Edison Empire. The films released by Independent Movie Pictures were successful and would satisfy the publics demand for longer films. Edison’s film didn’t evolve due to his belief that the films were just novelties, proving to be a major fault with the public and economic profits.

Assignment # 1 Viviana Cano

Motivated by the work of Marey and Muybridge Edison wrote on October 8th 1888 that, “I am experimenting upon an instrument which does for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear.” Most of the experimentation and research was carried out by Edison’s assistant, Dickson, with early experiments employing techniques developed with the phonograph. These involved arranging rows of tiny photographs on the outside of a cylinder with a light, or igniting sparks inside. Experiments using this idea as a starting point continued for some years.

One of the first films made for the Kinetoscope and copyrighted by Dickson was the now legendary “Record of a Sneeze” made in early January 1894. The subject of this film was one Fred Ott and each individual frame showing his antics were recorded on paper with its own number and sent, on January 7th to the Library of Congress for copyright. (earlycinema.com)

Thomas Edison was a genius who patented a revolutionary and hundreds of great inventions, but more than that, was a businessman who saw the great potential Kinetoscope money … But Edison made ​​a big mistake … the non-patented correctly the Kinetoscope and its competitors not only copied his great invention but also improved it… The Luminere Brothers for example created a projector to show films to large audiences… They called it “the cinematographe”…

When one door closes, another opens.#Ke Wang

   

         Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. Of course he was crazy about his invention. Life images, everyone was excited about it. However, when it came to business, great invention meant money. He invented kinetograph first. So showing it became more excited and the potential market became huge. Therefore, he invented kinetoscope which might be little bit rush of publishing without studying the long-term market. Then when the first projector was published, it was a major hit for kinetoscope. That’s also one of the reson the paten war come along. In 1898, Edison sued American Mutoscope and Biograph Pictures, claiming that the studio had infringed on his patent for the Kinetograph. He had entrusted the development of the machine to his assistant, W.K. Dickson, who left Edison’s company in 1895 and helped found Biograph.

       During Edison‘s patent war, lots of companies that used and distributed non-Edison films withdrew from the film industry. However, not all companies decided to withdraw from the industry as the strength of Edison’s company grew. American Mutoscope & Biograph Company didn’t give up and hence appealed to the court. In March, 1902, the court announced that Edison only owned rights to the sprocket system that moved perforated film through the camera, not the entire concept of the movie camera. So it didn’t stymie other film companies too long, but it killed all the small industry at that time in East Coast. Only few larger ones survived. However, those small film industries, which couldn’t survive from Edison’s patent war, flee all the way to the West Coast, and started overwhelmly growing there. Dramatically,That was the beginning of today’s Hollywood.

Re: Deadline for Assignment #1 – 9/16/14

Tomorrow is the due date for the “Edision and Early Cinema” blog post assignment.
If it’s one day late it gets one point taken off and if it’s more than a day late it is not
counted.

Each post is worth 2 points. The details for the assignment are under the menu heading “Assignments”.

 

RE: Reminder Tomorrow’s Trip to Museum of Moving Image

I posted the information about the trip in a previous post with all the relevant details including the address and map links. It’s under the menu item “Trips”. Be at the Museum of Moving Image in Astoria, Queens at 10:15 am. Please bring $7.50 for admission. I cannot pay for your entrance. This trip is worth 5 percent of your grade and there will be a blog post related to it.

Bring your camera or smartphone to take photos and videos of the exhibits. The tour
starts at 10:30 sharp. After the tour there is a screening of Charlie Chaplin’s “The Immigrant” which is part of the visit and your course work. We will break at 1:15 so
the last 45 minutes can count as your lunch break.

Assignment 1- Francisco Colon

 Thomas edison patented a version of the kinetoscope in 1888, proclaiming that he can make a device device which would “do for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear” he wanted to record and reproduce objects in motion so that people could see it as part of entertainment. His idea was to produce as many of these machines, which essentially were called peepshows. He believed that it was better to have a machine for every person rather than a few machines for numerous people.

 Thomas edison was a businessman to begin with, just like any other business man he was in it for the money besides being credited for the inventions. After realizing that the kinetoscope wasn’t going to cut it, The Phantascope which was invented by Thomas Armat came into existence. It showed the audience that more than one person could watch a show and became more important than the kinetoscope.

Thomas edison was credited a lot due to his inventions, but when it comes to films and the boom that escalated he is more known as a player in the early film revolution.

Assignment One by Scott Korn

Thomas Edison and William Kennedy Laurie Dickson can be credited with the first public viewing projector which was called the Kinetoscope. Essentially this was peepshow machine. It was big and bulky and could only be viewed by one person at a time. It was displayed at carnivals and roadshows.The Kinetoscope became very popular for some time after it was introduced to the public.

Edison’s idea was to sell many Kinetoscopes with the idea that film would be more of an arcade style form of entertainment. He failed to see that film could entertain entire audiences in a theater environment. The Phantascopethe (1895) was invented by Thomas Armat and Charles Francis Jenkins. Thomas Edison capitalized on that idea with the Vitascope.

Now the movie experience was well on it’s way and theaters were popping up in major cities. Edison was not the only inventor of film but he was a major player in early film.

Kinetoscope Illustration

Assignment #1 By Oswald Barrios

   Thomas Alva Edison and his young british assistant, William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, are credited with the invention of the Kinetophone and the Kinetograph. Their goal was to construct a divide which could record movement on film and another device to then view the film. Edison made it clear to the public that he was uninterested in making films on a day to day basis. However, he moved behind the scenes in an attempt to take out any competition. Instead of driving his competitors out of business he tried to force other companies to only use his cameras under license. Due to Edison’s financial resources, he was easily able to take out his competition with the exception of the Biograph.

  Biograph was able to survive due to the fact it had its own camera paten. However the company was not in the financial position to survive continuous court cases. Biograph then agreed to negotiate a truce which lead to the creation of The Motion Picture Patens Company. Out of this, nine companies were produced including Edison, Biograph and Vitagraph. This company was able to fulfill the goal Edison had been working toward which was a complete monopoly of motion picture activity in the U.S. Edison was able to obtain the major portion of the royalties made by the Patens Company, which led to 1$ million a year in profits.

I had always pictured Edison as a humble inventor. Little did I know he was actually the same type of business tyrant most film makers are opposed to today.

Assignment # 1 by Alex Fernandez

Edison’s vision for the kinetoscope was for the device to become the primary source of moving image entertainment. He believed that people would take more interest in using the kinetoscope and dismissed the idea of creating a projector that would display the images so more people can view the them once. Because Edison believed so strongly in his invention, he mass produced them in hopes of meeting the high demand for his product. This was his biggest mistake and since the idea of projecting moving images had been created by other inventors and it had been generating a lot of buzz with the public. In an attempt to cut off their success and keep himself ahead of his competition he attempted to obtain the patents for their devices which would leave him in control of the industry and prevent them from making profits.

Because of the fact that Edison would make more profit from selling his kinetoscope, it makes sense that he held on to the idea of mass producing his product. He felt that it would be the best selling product at its time. It appears the concept of a projector would have been counter productive for his cause. He intended for his kinetoscope to be the main seller but over time, this proved to be a huge mistake. I believe when he realized he made a mistake, he tried to remain a leader of the industry by getting his hands on competition’s patents. He may have felt that was his only option in staying ahead in the industry, so I understand where his motivation came from. I feel that Edison did what he could in order to keep himself on top of the industry. Also I feel that he was greedy to some extent and seemed like he wanted to keep all advancements and profits to himself even if he was not responsible for creating the patents. I understand why he chose to believe in his kinetoscope, but it seems that he refused to accept that he missed his train on the projector idea, and because of this tried to catch up and cut off the other rivaling companies.

 

 

 

Assignment # 1 – Edison and Early Cinema

In 1893, Thomas Edison patented the first efficient motion picture viewer, the kinetoscope. A customer could drop a penny into the kinetoscope, turn the crank, look through the viewfinder, and enjoy a short movie loop. In the 1890s and 1900s, kinetoscope parlors spread like crazy across the country. Although Edison didn’t immediately pursue
his invention beyond this early version, in 1896 the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company produced the first projection of moving images onto a screen in America following in the footsteps of the Lumiere Brothers with their Cinematographe.

Using your course pack and other research materials explain Edison’s vision for the kinetograph and kinetoscope? Explain how his view and strategy changed due to the competition from companies like American Mutoscope and Biograph?  Discuss how the patent wars he initiated attempted to stymie other film companies from competing with him?

“The Edison profits came from the sale of machines and prints, not from exhibition to the general public..from Edison’s viewpoint one machine for every viewer was more to be desired than a hundred or more views for every machine.” – Wonderful Inventions

Please write a few paragraphs with your response. Feel free to add images to illustrate your post. If you need help with embedding images there is a tutorial link at the bottom of this page.  http://learn.wordpress.com

Please put your name after the title in your post heading. e.g. Assignment #1 by First name, Last name. Also add the appropriate category to each post. e.g.
Assignment # 1.