So I've agreed to be the mentor of an 8th grader who's doing some filmmaking for his "8th grade challenge" and today he emailed me some rather lofty qestions about filmmaking (e.g., "What is successful editing and how can I teach that [to other students]?). In the process of trying to answer one of the questions, I ended up summerizing the significant events in (narrative) film history, according to me (along with relevant the Wikipedia and IMDb links). Here now, for your amusement and edification, is my reply to the young gentleman's question:
He asked:
- How has movie making changed throughout history?
I replied:
- When we meet I can talk to you a little about this. I can't think of any books specifically but there are loads out there. Significant events in the history of narrative (as oppsed to documentary or experimental) movie-making include:
- The The Lumière Brothers inventing technology and popularizing the new invention of motion pictures: link
- D.W. Griffith is credited with creating the language of cinema: link
- Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein invented his theory of montage and showed how powerful moviemaking is as a propaganda tool: link
- Orson Welles reinvented the language of cinema with his masterpiece Citizen Kane--considered one of the greatest films of all time: link 1 link 2
- French critics described what they called the "auteur theory" and cited films by American directors Howard Hawkes, John Ford, Billy Wilder and Alfred Hitchcock (and others) as examples of how the director of the film was the primary author of the work no matter who the screenwriter was: link
- American motion pictures in the 1960s and 70s revolutionized the art form and incorporated styles and techniques from documentary filmmaking and the fine arts: link This period of film history is also significant because it's when film directors started appearing who were film school graduates.
- The American indy revolution began in the late 1980s and marked the time when do-it-yourself filmmaking came into vogue: link
- The advent of digital editing and cinematography in the 1990s further enhanced the do-it-yourself filmmaking culture and now the means of producing films are available to almost everyone (even middle school students!): link
Here endeth the lesson.
Upon further reflection I think I probably should have at least mentioned the French new wave and Italian neo-realists, but whatever. What else did I miss?