CIN201Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Athanasius Kircher, Celluloid, Wield
Professor Charles Keil Sept. 20, 2016
CIN201 LECTURE 2
PRE-CINEMA & EARLY CINEMA
BEGINNINGS VS. CONTEXTS
• There was a gradual emergence of cinema, its development is extended
• Instead of asking “when did cinema begin?”, we will ask “How and why did cinema
come about at the time that it did?”
• QUESTIONS
- What ideas and fascinations gave rise to cinema?
- What traditions of art and popular entertainment did cinema perpetuate?
- What cultural currents of the late 19th century helped foster cinema’s introduction?
- What technological innovations fed into the combination of elements that came to
define cinema?
- How do you construct a film history?
FRAMEWORKS FOR UNDERSTANDING CINEMA’S CONVENTION
• All historians wield facts, but not all facts are created equal
1. Bazin “The Myth of Total Cinema”
André Bazin sees the origins of cinema residing in a shared dream of the recreation of
reality (IDEALIST HISTORY)
2. Musser the history of screen practice
Charles Musser sees cinema as one stage in an ongoing history of screen entertainments
(CULTURAL HISTORY)
- big on projection
- in contrast to Bazin’s approach realism is not relevant to his framework
3. Technological series of inventions (some argue that the history of cinema should be
seen from the sense of technological history, including optics/the illusion of motion)
- The earliest version of the MAGIC LANTERN can be traced back to the writings
of Athanasius Kircher (1646)
PHOTOGRAPHY can be traced back to “CAMERA OBSCURA” (requires a medium
on which to record the projected images)
- First photographic image developed by Joseph Niépce on a glass plate (1826)
- George Eastman made the first rolls of celluloid film available for photography
(1889)
- Photography becomes an important pre-condition for the development of motion
pictures
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
Beginnings vs. contexts: there was a gradual emergence of cinema, its development is extended. Instead of asking when did cinema begin? , we will ask how and why did cinema come about at the time that it did? : questions. Frameworks for understanding cinema"s convention: all historians wield facts, but not all facts are created equal, bazin the myth of total cinema . Andr bazin sees the origins of cinema residing in a shared dream of the recreation of reality (idealist history: musser the history of screen practice. Charles musser sees cinema as one stage in an ongoing history of screen entertainments (cultural history) The earliest version of the magic lantern can be traced back to the writings of athanasius kircher (1646) Photography can be traced back to camera obscura (requires a medium on which to record the projected images) First photographic image developed by joseph ni pce on a glass plate (1826)
