Unit 26 Lumiere Leaflet

Lumiere Brothers

The Lumière Brothers (Auguste and Louis Lumiere) created the very first film screening in 1895. They mainly done short films around 52 seconds long about everyday life and things that people do on a daily basis. They were both technically minded and where both very advanced in science subjects and were sent to Technical School to learn a range of different topics. They later become the French inventors and manufacturers of photographic equipment and photography itself who devised an early motion-picture camera and projector called the Cinématographe, which is now known as Cinema. They created the first motion picture.

During his experimentation in video and picture, the Lumière brothers discovered a process which assisted and developed the idea and amazement of photography. They developed something called a dry plate and by 1894 the Lumières were producing around 15,000,000 plates a year. As well as this by now the Lumière brothers where successful and well known businessman in the film industry and was invited to a demonstration of Edison’s Peephole Kinetoscope in Lyons, which is in France. After this invitations and viewing of Edison camera, the Lumières picked faults in the camera and later in 1895 came up their own device combining camera with printer and projector and called it the Cinématographe. This was a light weight hand cranked camera.

The Lumières held their first private screening of projected motion pictures in 1895 called sortie des usines Lumière a Lyon, which is translated to Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory. The film ran for approximately 50 seconds. This was one of the 10 films that was at the public debut at the salon indien du grand cafe in Paris a few months later and consisted of the following ten short films made by the Lumière Brothers.

1.      Sortie des usines Lumière a Lyon which was 50 seconds long, and was the longest film.

2.      Le Jardinier which was 49 seconds long.

3.      Le Débarquement du Congrès de Photographie à Lyon which was 48 seconds long.

4.      La Voltige which was 46 seconds long.

5.      La Pêche aux poissons rouges which was 42 seconds long.

6.      Les Forgerons which was 49 seconds long.

7.      Repas de bébé which was 41 seconds long.

8.      Le Saut à la couverture which was 41 seconds long.

9.      La Places des Cordeliers à Lyon which was 44 seconds long.

10.   La Mer which was 38 seconds long and was also the shortest film.

After this in 1896 the Lumières went on tour with the cinématographe around the world visiting the most powerful and famous places, even today. Such as London and New York. With the creation of films and moving images they created and had an immediate significant influence on popular culture with these. Especially with the film L'Arrivée d'un Train en Gare de la Ciotat which was simply a train pulling into the station in the morning to La Ciotat. This is known as arrival of the train to La Ciotat.

By 1897 the Lumières had 358 film titles. This quickly escalated to 2113 titles by the year 1903. And less than 50 of these films taken where from the actual Lumière Brothers, the rest of the films where created by other operators who worked for the Lumière Brothers. This was because at this time they had devoted their time to the manufacture and make profit by selling off their inventions.

But In 1907 they produced the first practical colour photography process, the Auto chrome Plate. This method was fairly expensive and also provided a level of convenience similar to the dry plates and there purposes. Auto chrome achieved recognition as the best way at the time of producing colour images remained the favoured means of colour photography for the next 30 years.

The Lumière brothers were each recognized for their numerous technological and scientific achievements.

The Lumière Brothers lived long and adventurous lives and their inventions and creations will be forever remembered Louis Lumière died in Bandol, France, on June 6, 1948 at the age of 83. And the older brother Auguste died in his long-time home of Lyons, France, on April 10, 1954 at the age of 91. For their work together in creating improvements in both photography and motion pictures creating something has changed the future and the focus of creating movies for everybody. Filmmakers and Film viewers.