Early Film History - Luminère Brothers

Luminère Brothers  

The Lumiere brothers were two French brothers who were born in 1862 (Auguste) and 1864 (Louis).     They were sons of a wealthy middle-class photographer who had a small factory that produced photographic plates. The brothers had an idea which changed the film industry forever, that was the projection of a film shown to a big audience. Their main competition at the time was Thomas Edison who believed the most effective way to show the film was to use a Kinetoscope which was a device where you look through a scope into a machine allowing you to see the image. However, the duo had different plans, their idea was to project the film into a bigger experience making it a shared experience between people which all in all blew Thomas Edison's idea out of the water. The first-ever showcase of the projection of the film was in 1895, Paris, in a salon (because cinemas had not been invented yet) where 200 people attended. 

All this was made possible by the camera they created Cinematograph which was much better, quieter and all-round a better camera than Thomas Edison's creation.  The brothers would project short clips of everyday life including the following:

Workers Leaving The Lumière Factory in Lyon – INVENTORIUM!

Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory

MoMA | Louis Lumière. Arrivée d'un train (à la Ciotat) (Arrival of a Train  at La Ciotat). 1895

Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat



The brothers would charge 1 franc for an entry. To start with it was slow money, but they quickly started to earn more and more.

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