Important 'Firsts' In Film History
By Priyanka Mehta
October 09, 2022
Have you seen these films?
First Film Ever
Labelled as the first film made with a moving picture camera, the short silent film Roundhay Garden Scene runs a mere 2.11 seconds.
Image Source: Wikipedia
Roundhay Garden Scene, 1888
Directed by: Louis Le Prince
First Film to Show a Rocket Launching
Before we even knew space travel was a real possibility, the film had a fantastical take on a rocket launch with its unusual length, lavish production values, innovative special effects, and emphasis on storytelling.
Image Source: Alamy
A Trip to the Moon, 1902
Directed by: Georges Méliès
First 3D Film
An American silent drama film, The Power of Love is the first 3D feature film worldwide. The film used red and green "anaglyph" 3D glasses.
Image Source: Wikipedia
The Power of Love, 1922
Directed by: Harry K. Fairall, Nat G. Deverich
First Talkies Ever
The first non-silent or Talkies ever, as well as the first feature-length motion picture, The Jazz Singer uses Warner Brothers' Vitaphone sound-on-disc technology to reproduce the musical score and sporadic episodes of synchronised speech.
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The Jazz Singer, 1927
Directed by: Alan Crosland
First Film Shown On Television
During a time when most people didn’t even own a television set, Los Angeles was able to broadcast The Crooked Circle (1932) over their experimental station W6XAO to every television in the city.
Image Source: Wikipedia
The Crooked Circle, 1932
Directed by: H. Bruce Humberstone
First Animated Feature
It was a risk to draw an audience based on a full-length animated film. With storyboarding, evolutionary character building, the film became path-breaking.
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Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, 1937
Directed by: David Hand, Ben Sharpsteen, Larry Morey, Wilfred Jackson, Perce Pearce, William Cottrell
First Entirely CGI Movie
Toy Story is the movie that turned animation from being hand-drawn to digital animation and visual effects with an amazing 3D world with lighting, shading, and textures, and some beautifully created characters including human characters and living toys.
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Toy Story, 1995
Directed by: John Lasseter
First Single Shot Film
The film is a historical drama filmed at the Winter Palace of the Russian State Hermitage Museum using one uninterrupted 96-minute Steadicam shot. There are no edits, no cuts in the film. If there were a mistake 95 minutes into the shot, the entire movie had to be filmed again.
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Russian Ark, 2002
Directed by: Alexander Sokurov
First Computer Animated Motion Capture Film
Polar Express is the first film that used 3D motion capture techniques to digitally record the actors' physical performances before "skinning" them with their animated forms.
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Polar Express, 2004
Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
First Photorealistic Animated Film
The Lion King worked with numerous animators to bring photorealistic animated filming to reality. The film was shot with a mix of CGI animation and live-action filming techniques.
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The Lion King, 2019
Directed by: Jon Favreau