motion picture

motion picture
Georges Méliès · Public domain · source
Name	Motion picture
Caption	Film projection in a cinema
Director	Various
Producer	Various
Starring	Various
Released	1890s–present
Country	Worldwide
Language	Multiple

motion picture

A motion picture is a sequence of images projected or displayed to create the illusion of continuous movement, produced for entertainment, documentation, or artistic expression. Originating in the late 19th century, the form rapidly intersected with innovations from inventors, studios, theaters, and festivals to become a global industry and cultural medium. Major figures, institutions, and events across Europe, North America, Asia, and beyond shaped its conventions, aesthetics, and markets.

Etymology and terminology

The term "film" became common in English alongside early technologies developed by inventors such as Thomas Edison, Louis Le Prince, Auguste and Louis Lumière, and William Friese-Greene, while alternative terms emerged in contexts tied to companies like Biograph Company, Vitagraph Studios, and Edison Manufacturing Company. Terminology reflects formats and institutions: reel, feature film, short film, serial, newsreel, and showroom terms tied to venues like Nickelodeon (movie theater), Rialto (San Francisco), and Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Lexical shifts were influenced by trade organizations such as the Motion Picture Association of America and festivals including the Venice Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, and Berlin International Film Festival, which standardized categories like Best Picture and influenced international nomenclature.

History and development

Early moving-image experiments by Eadweard Muybridge, Étienne-Jules Marey, and John Logie Baird prefigured public exhibitions by the Lumière brothers and devices like the Kinetoscope, propelling commercial circuits led by companies such as Pathé, Gaumont, and Paramount Pictures. The silent era featured directors like D. W. Griffith, Sergei Eisenstein, Fritz Lang, and Georges Méliès and studio systems exemplified by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Universal Pictures, RKO Pictures, and 20th Century Fox. Sound's advent—ushered in by The Jazz Singer and pioneers like Alan Crosland—transformed production, while movements such as German Expressionism, Soviet Montage, Italian Neorealism, and the French New Wave reshaped aesthetics. Postwar shifts saw the rise of auteurs like Alfred Hitchcock, Akira Kurosawa, Ingmar Bergman, and Federico Fellini, alongside industrial changes from companies like Disney, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., and the emergence of national cinemas in India (Bollywood), Nigeria (Nollywood), and China.

Production and technology

Production integrates screenplay development, pre-production, principal photography, and post-production using technologies pioneered by inventors and firms such as George Eastman, Kodak, Technicolor, Panavision, and ARRI. Camera systems evolved from hand-cranked models to digital sensors used by cinematographers like Roger Deakins and Emmanuel Lubezki; editing shifted from splicing by editors influenced by Margaret Booth and Thelma Schoonmaker to nonlinear systems from companies including Avid Technology and Adobe Systems. Sound design draws on practices developed by Walter Murch and studios like Dolby Laboratories; visual effects advanced via houses such as Industrial Light & Magic, Weta Workshop, and techniques seen in Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and The Matrix. Production financing involves studios, independent companies, and bodies like British Film Institute and national film boards; unions such as Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild of America regulate labor.

Distribution and exhibition

Distribution has ranged from early block-booking by studios like MGM to modern windows including theatrical release, broadcast on networks such as BBC Television, and streaming via platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu. Exhibition venues include grand palaces like Radio City Music Hall, art houses such as The Egyptian Theatre (Hollywood), repertory cinemas, and festival circuits including Sundance Film Festival and Telluride Film Festival. Box-office measurement uses metrics maintained by organizations like Box Office Mojo and trade publications such as Variety; awards circuits including the Academy Awards and César Award influence market visibility. Censorship and classification have been enforced by bodies like the British Board of Film Classification and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) ratings system.

Genres and styles

Genres encompass categories long codified by studios and critics: adventure film, comedy film, drama (film), horror film, musical film, science fiction film, documentary film, western (genre), and romantic comedy. Stylistic schools include film noir, realism, surrealism, dogme 95, and new Hollywood aesthetics associated with filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and Steven Spielberg. Cross-cultural hybrids emerged through collaborations among companies like Studio Ghibli, Toho, and Eros International; animation techniques span studios from Walt Disney Animation Studios to Pixar Animation Studios and independent animators like Hayao Miyazaki.

Cultural impact and reception

Motion pictures have influenced public discourse, national identity, and transnational flows of culture via phenomenon films such as Citizen Kane, Gone with the Wind, The Godfather, Pulp Fiction, Star Wars, and Spirited Away, while film criticism and scholarship developed in venues like Sight & Sound, Cahiers du Cinéma, and academic programs at institutions such as University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts and Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. Political uses appear in propaganda exemplified by works around World War I, World War II, and movements engaging with festivals and awards; preservation efforts are undertaken by archives like the Library of Congress, Academy Film Archive, and the British Film Institute National Archive. The medium continues to evolve amid debates over authorship, representation, digital rights managed by bodies like Creative Commons, and industrial concentration among conglomerates such as The Walt Disney Company.

Category:Film