Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge (1888)

Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 1888

In the history of early film, the cinematic output of Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince is of a seminal value. His Roundhay Garden Scene (1888) is the first film shot with a single-lens camera, but many historians and film critics still consider the twenty frames of Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge as the most important of his works.

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William K.L. Dickson

Direction - Male Acting Performance - Cinematography - Production | French Republic

Born in France of Anglo-Scottish descent, William Kennedy Laurie Dickson can easily be considered the most important individual in the history of motion pictures. His pivotal role in the development of the craft can be exemplified by just a few achievements.

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Poor Pierrot (Pauvre Pierrot | 1892)

Émile Reynaud | French Republic | 1892

During a quiet night, Harlequin jumps the fence to enter Columbine’s garden. This first sequence of rudimentary images is the earliest proof of an animated moving picture. The director was the celebrated French inventor Charles-Émile Reynaud, the man that gave the world the first animated public projection, the same man that was to die in utter obscurity.

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Dickson Greeting (1891)

William K.L. Dickson | United States of America | 1891

There are multiple debates concerning the origins of film. Photographers in the nineteenth century were anxious to find a way to capture movement, almost from the moment they discovered the art of photography. It took less than half a century, and by the 1870s Eadweard Muybridge has already made significant advances.

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Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince

Direction - Cinematography - Editing | French Republic

Le Prince found his place in the history of cinema quite late (and long after his disappearance in Dijon on the 16th of September 1890). However, by now, he has earned the acknowledgement as the undisputed father of motion pictures. His Roundhay Garden Scene (1888) is (still) the earliest proof of filmmaking from one point of view.

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Sallie Gardner at a Gallop (1878)

Eadweard Muybridge | United States of America | 1878

The history of being able to view images in motion is nearly two millennia old. It started with Ting Huan’s chao hua chich kuan (the pipe which makes fantasies appear), an early version of the zoetrope developed in 180 AD under the Han Dynasty, and the camera obscura, dating from the 6th century.

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Roundhay Garden Scene (1888)

Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - French Republic | 1888

Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince was a good provincial artist. Some of his paintings can still be seen in museums in France, UK and the USA. However, by now, they are often exhibited less for their artistic merit, than merely as a historical record to testify to the existence of the author.

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Eadweard Muybridge

Direction - Male Acting Performance - Cinematography - Production | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

It is often said that discoveries hardly ever start with individuals concerned in the subject matter. This is certainly true in the case of motion pictures. Eadweard Muybridge, a book-seller turned photographer, developed the first projected live-action images with the use of his zoopraxiscope.

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