Motion Picture
The fundamental principle underlying motion picture is the persistence of vision – whereby the human eye and brain can process ten to twelve images per second. This phenomenon thus produces the illusion of motion when viewing a series of moving pictures.
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What is interesting is that the motion picture was initially not developed for entertainment purposes, but for the analysis of scientific research such as the movements of animals.
1845
The First “Movie Camera”
The first known photo-recording machine or “Movie Camera,” was invented by Sir Francis Ronalds at Kew Observatory. With the invention of photography, he patented for a continuous recording device that allowed continuous scientific observation without constant human efforts. How the invention differs from photography was that it had a photosensitive surface that travelled slowly along the aperture diaphragm of the camera box and was driven by a clockwork. Thus, this allowed the instrument to record and monitor the minute by minute variations of physical parameter – atmospheric pressure and electricity, temperature, humidity, and geomagnetism – for twenty-four hours.
Eadweard Muybridge
1878
Perhaps one of the most prominent figures that pioneered the motion picture is Eadweard Muybridge. In 1878, he produced a photographic sequence of a horse galloping using multiple cameras linked to a tape wire. Thus, he created the first set of image sequences photographed on a photographic glass plate. The still images broke down and showcased the illusion of motion that simulated the motion of moving pictures.
fun
fact
Muybridge was hired to settle a bet on whether all four hooves of a horse were off the ground at the same time while galloping.
(It did)
Chronophotograhic Gun
1882
Unlike Muybridge’s use of multiple cameras to study the movements of animals, Etienne-Jules Marey – a French physiologist – invented a single recording device, the chronophotographic gun, to study birds in flight. The instrument used octagonal glass plates that took up to 12 consecutive frames per second. His research and invention on Chronophotography helped with the then-emerging field of cinematography.
Before the entertainment industry capitalised the technology, the use of motion pictures was significant in the scientific community. It was ideal as a research and educational tool to learn about the details of the movements of animals that cannot be monitored through motion pictures in real life.
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Although Muybridge and Marey’s technology did not create films in the same manner as with contemporary technology, they constituted the motion picture framework that was essential and historically significant in the development of the cinematic camera. The technology serves the same constructive purpose that captures and produces the illusion of moving pictures. Moreover, their work subsequently inspired and influence future inventors to create and improve on their design, which inevitably led to the rise of the cinematic camera