EARLY DOCUMENTARY SHORTS

DVD: Landmarks of Early Film

SUMMARY:

The filmmaker John Grierson used the term documentary in 1926 to refer to any nonfiction film medium, including travelogues and instructional films. The earliest "moving pictures" were, by definition, documentaries. They were single-shot moments captured on film: a train entering a station, a boat docking, or a factory of people getting off work. Early film (pre-1900) was dominated by the novelty of showing an event. These short films were called "actuality" films. Very little storytelling took place before the turn of the century, due mostly to technological limitations, namely, that movie cameras could hold only very small amounts of film. Thus many of the first films are a minute or less in length... - Wikipedia

VIDEO:

ARRIVAL OF A TRAIN AT LA CIOTAT (Lumière Brothers 1896)



ELECTROCUTING AN ELEPHANT (Thomas A. Edison 1903)



ROUGH SEA AT DOVER (Birt Acres and Robert W. Paul 1895)



RINGKAMPFER (Max Skladanowsky 1895)



PRESIDENT MCKINLEY AT HOME (1897)

PACK TRAIN AT CHILKOOT PASS (1898)

LINKS:

• Who's Who of Victorian Cinema
• The History of the Discovery of Cinematography
• The films shown at the first public screening (VIDEO)
• Early Cinema.com