The very first motion picture camera patented in the
WORLD.. was patented in England by French-born Louis Aime Augustin Le Prince
in 1888.
The first films were made on a sensitised paper roll
a little over 2 inches wide. In 1889, Prince was able to obtain celluloid
roll film from Eastman when it was introduced in England.
Prince started commercial development of his motion
picture camera in early 1890 with an updated version. He arranged for a demostration
to M. Mobisson, the Secretary of the Paris Opera.
On September 16 1890, Prince boarded a train at Dijon
bound for Paris with his motion picture camera and films. He never arrived
in Paris. No trace of Prince OR his motion picture camera were EVER found.
The mystery was never solved.
2 fragments of film is all that has survived from Prince
and his camera. Both taken in 1888, one at 10 frames per second and one at
20 frames per second. For full biography, click here.
Other Firsts
The first presentation of film
to the public was at 70 Oxford St. in London. The Continental Commerce Co.
of New York opened a Kinetoscope parlour with 12 machines on October 18, 1894.
This was individuals and not a public screening.
Birt Acres gave the first public
screening at the London headquarters of the Royal Photographic Society at
14 Hanover Square on January 14, 1896. The films shown were films that he
had taken himself.
The first public screening to
a paying audience was on February 20, 1896 by Felicien Trewey. Felicien was
a French magician that gave a 3 weeks at the Rengent Street Polytechnic. Trewey
used the Lumiere Cinematographe and used Lumiere films in his program. Admission
was 1s.
The first public screening to
a paying audience outside of London was done by Birt Acres at Cardiff Town
Hall on May 5, 1896.
The first feature film shown was
the Australian film The Story of the Kelly Gang. The film was shown by the
Colonial Picture Combine at the Assembly Rooms, Bath in January 1908.
Progress in early silent films was measured in the length
of films released. Here's the records in silent
films development;
It was customary for British film producers to shoot
without a script or write their own. Britain's first hired scriptwriter was
Harold Brett hired by British and Colonial Kinematograph Co. His first script
was for A Soldier's Honour released in 1911.
The first western film in colour was a British film
'Fate' released in 1911. If was filmed in Kinemacolor by the Natural Colour
Kinematograph Co.