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.

Image Source: Alamy

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.

Image Source: Alamy

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.

Image Source: Alamy

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.

Image Source: Alamy

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.

Image Source: Alamy

The Lion King, 2019

Directed by: Jon Favreau