My argument is that we pioneered the camera. The Lumieres may have screened the first film, but Dickson created the sprocket hole technology that's still used to this day. If one wanted to split hairs, you could say that Muybridge or possibly Marey created the first camera, but Muybridge captured his images on glass plates, and Marey could only get about 12 frames total. It wasn't until Dixon, in 1891, created the technology that stuck. Edison took the credit, but it was Dixon. No disrespect to the Lumieres, because they came up with the projector four years later, but the camera was nearly 100% American.
And I completely agree with you about your take on Hollywood. But it's capitalism that's behind that, and not Americans themselves. Since Jaws, the greedy bastards who saw a way to exploit the form found ways to cut corners with the things that matter and just use gimmicks to sell tickets. I'm with you.
However, that's a very short-sighted approach, I think. Yeah, modern Hollywood is the devil, but there's been a lot of wonderful things that are a byproduct of that hell, not the least of which is world (including American) independent cinema. My professors often argue that the golden age of indie filmmaking was back in the seventies, but they're dead wrong. To be independent, the time is now. With HD and DSLR making shooting affordable and the internet/Blu Ray players making distribution plausible, all it takes is a an earnest dedication to the craft to get things done now, even if it's on a smaller scale. And I think it's naive to not say that has a lot to do with Hollywood's exploitation. They're mucking things up so badly that counterculture is becoming cool. Which is why world cinema and indie film are on the up in the States.
Hate Hollywood as much as you'd like; I certainly do. But there are good things that are coming out of this dry state.
Okay. Now I'm going to do his teeth and cut off his fingers. You might want to leave room.
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TheLastStop41
13 years ago
My argument is that we pioneered the camera. The Lumieres may have screened the first film, but Dickson created the sprocket hole technology that's still used to this day. If one wanted to split hairs, you could say that Muybridge or possibly Marey created the first camera, but Muybridge captured his images on glass plates, and Marey could only get about 12 frames total. It wasn't until Dixon, in 1891, created the technology that stuck. Edison took the credit, but it was Dixon. No disrespect to the Lumieres, because they came up with the projector four years later, but the camera was nearly 100% American.
While pioneering the camera is no small feat by any means, you're still greatly undervaluing the French and their achievements in the early history of cinema. Georges Melies, for example, maybe the most important name in cinema that virtually no one today has heard of. He is the father of motion pictures as a narrative form and the innovations he achieved with special effects are nothing less than jaw dropping given the technology of his era.
This clip of "The Conjuror" never fails to blow me away no matter how many times I watch it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs5BBaNJ6mgIllusions Michael. Tricks are something a whore does for money.
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