Misplaced Pages

#203796

90-579: Roundhay Garden Scene is a short silent motion picture filmed by French inventor Louis Le Prince at Oakwood Grange in Roundhay , Leeds , in Yorkshire on 14 October 1888. It is believed to be the oldest surviving film. The camera used was patented in the United Kingdom on 16 November 1888. According to Le Prince's son, Adolphe , Roundhay Garden Scene was made at Oakwood Grange,

180-503: A TV special , a few films from the studio have added theatrical shorts as well. Warner Bros. often includes old shorts from its considerable library, connected only thematically, on the DVD releases of classic WB movies. From 2010–2012, Warner Bros. also released new Looney Tunes shorts before family films. Shorts International and Magnolia Pictures organize an annual release of Academy Award -nominated short films in theatres across

270-736: A botanical laboratory in Fort Myers, Florida , in collaboration with businessmen Henry Ford and Harvey S. Firestone , and a laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey , that featured the world's first film studio , the Black Maria . With 1,093 US patents in his name , as well as patents in other countries, Edison is regarded as the most prolific inventor in American history. Edison married twice and fathered six children. He died in 1931 due to complications from diabetes . Thomas Edison

360-480: A low budget or no budget at all. They are usually funded by one or more film grants, nonprofit organizations , sponsors , or personal funds. Short films are generally used for industry experience and as a platform to showcase talent to secure funding for future projects from private investors, a production company , or film studios . They can also be released with feature films, and can also be included as bonus features on some home video releases. All films in

450-475: A "chunk of it". The representatives decided to give a cubic foot of solid copper weighing 486 pounds with their gratitude inscribed on it in appreciation for his part in the "continuous stimulation in the copper industry". Edison is credited with designing and producing the first commercially available fluoroscope , a machine that uses X-rays to take radiographs . Until Edison discovered that calcium tungstate fluoroscopy screens produced brighter images than

540-401: A $ 50-a-week profit by age 13, most of which went to buying equipment for electrical and chemical experiments. At age 15, in 1862, he saved 3-year-old Jimmie MacKenzie from being struck by a runaway train. Jimmie's father, station agent J. U. MacKenzie of Mount Clemens, Michigan , was so grateful that he trained Edison as a telegraph operator. Edison's first telegraphy job away from Port Huron

630-646: A Nation . By the 1920s, a ticket purchased a varied program including a feature and several supporting works from categories such as second feature , short comedy, 4–10 minute cartoon, travelogue , and newsreel. Short comedies were especially common, and typically came in a serial or series (such as the Our Gang movies, or the many outings of Charlie Chaplin 's Little Tramp character). Animated cartoons came principally as short subjects. Virtually all major film production companies had units assigned to develop and produce shorts, and many companies, especially in

720-471: A bid. He was surprised to hear them offer $ 10,000 ($ 269,294 in 2023), which he gratefully accepted. The quadruplex telegraph was Edison's first big financial success, and Menlo Park became the first institution set up with the specific purpose of producing constant technological innovation and improvement. Edison was legally credited with most of the inventions produced there, though many employees carried out research and development under his direction. His staff

810-574: A businessman. Ultimately, his entrepreneurship was central to the formation of some 14 companies, including General Electric , formerly one of the largest publicly traded companies in the world. In 1866, at the age of 19, Edison moved to Louisville, Kentucky , where, as an employee of Western Union , he worked the Associated Press bureau news wire . Edison requested the night shift, which allowed him plenty of time to spend at his two favorite pastimes—reading and experimenting. Eventually,

900-463: A chemistry course at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art to support his work on a new telegraphy system with Charles Batchelor . This appears to have been his only enrollment in courses at an institution of higher learning. Thomas Edison began his career as a news butcher , selling newspapers, candy, and vegetables on trains running from Port Huron to Detroit. He turned

990-436: A child, he became fascinated with technology and spent hours working on experiments at home. Edison developed hearing problems at the age of 12. The cause of his deafness has been attributed to a bout of scarlet fever during childhood and recurring untreated middle-ear infections . He subsequently concocted elaborate fictitious stories about the cause of his deafness. He was completely deaf in one ear and barely hearing in

SECTION 10

#1732776829204

1080-582: A coiled platinum filament but the high cost of platinum kept the bulb from becoming a commercial success. Many other inventors had also devised incandescent lamps, including Alessandro Volta 's demonstration of a glowing wire in 1800 and inventions by Henry Woodward and Mathew Evans . Others who developed early and commercially impractical incandescent electric lamps included Humphry Davy , James Bowman Lindsay , Moses G. Farmer , William E. Sawyer , Joseph Swan , and Heinrich Göbel . These early bulbs all had flaws such as an extremely short life and requiring

1170-471: A commercial category. The year 1938 proved to be a turning point in the history of film comedies. Hal Roach , for example, had discontinued all short-subject production except Our Gang , which he finally sold to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1938. The Vitaphone studio, owned by Warner Bros. , discontinued its own line of two-reel comedies in 1938; Educational Pictures did as much that same year, owing to its president Earle W. Hammons unsuccessfully entering

1260-688: A commercially viable electric light bulb on October 21, 1879, Edison developed an electric " utility " to compete with the existing gas light utilities. On December 17, 1880, he founded the Edison Illuminating Company , and during the 1880s, he patented a system for electricity distribution . The company established the first investor-owned electric utility. On September 4, 1882, in Pearl Street , New York City, his 600 kW cogeneration steam-powered generating station, Pearl Street Station 's, electrical power distribution system

1350-521: A draftsman and an expert witness in patent litigation, began working for the United States Electric Lighting Company run by Edison's rival Hiram S. Maxim . While working for Maxim, Latimer invented a process for making carbon filaments for light bulbs and helped install broad-scale lighting systems for New York City, Philadelphia, Montreal, and London. Latimer holds the patent for the electric lamp issued in 1881, and

1440-541: A grooved cylinder. Despite its limited sound quality and that the recordings could be played only a few times, the phonograph made Edison a celebrity. Joseph Henry , president of the National Academy of Sciences and one of the most renowned electrical scientists in the US, described Edison as "the most ingenious inventor in this country... or in any other". In April 1878, Edison traveled to Washington to demonstrate

1530-402: A high electric current to operate which made them difficult to apply on a large scale commercially. In his first attempts to solve these problems, Edison tried using a filament made of cardboard, carbonized with compressed lampblack. This burnt out too quickly to provide lasting light. He then experimented with different grasses and canes such as hemp, and palmetto, before settling on bamboo as

1620-415: A large part of the market without electrical service. AC companies expanded into this gap. Edison expressed views that AC was unworkable and the high voltages used were dangerous. As George Westinghouse installed his first AC systems in 1886, Thomas Edison struck out personally against his chief rival stating, " Just as certain as death, Westinghouse will kill a customer within six months after he puts in

1710-561: A number of nearby private dwellings, but was shut down in September 1886 as uneconomic, since he was unable to extend the premises. On January 19, 1883, the first standardized incandescent electric lighting system employing overhead wires began service in Roselle, New Jersey . As Edison expanded his direct current (DC) power delivery system, he received stiff competition from companies installing alternating current (AC) systems. From

1800-440: A regular series in 1946 and lasted until 1956. By and large, however, the movies' one-reel subject of choice was the animated cartoon, produced by Walt Disney , Warner Bros. , MGM, Paramount , Walter Lantz , Columbia, and Terrytoons . One of the movies' oldest short-subject formats was the adventure serial , first established in 1912. A serial generally ran for 12 to 15 chapters, 15 to 20 minutes each. Every episode ended with

1890-552: A second patent for the "process of manufacturing carbons" (the filament used in incandescent light bulbs), issued in 1882. On October 8, 1883, the US patent office ruled that Edison's patent was based on the work of William E. Sawyer and was, therefore, invalid. Litigation continued for nearly six years. In 1885, Latimer switched camps and started working with Edison. On October 6, 1889, a judge ruled that Edison's electric light improvement claim for "a filament of carbon of high resistance"

SECTION 20

#1732776829204

1980-453: A short along with each of its feature films during its initial theatrical run since 1995 (producing shorts permanently since 2001). Since Disney acquired Pixar in 2006, Disney has also produced animated shorts since 2007 with the Goofy short How to Hook Up Your Home Theater and produced a series of live-action ones featuring The Muppets for viewing on YouTube as viral videos to promote

2070-466: A system of any size. He has got a new thing and it will require a great deal of experimenting to get it working practically. " Many reasons have been suggested for Edison's anti-AC stance. One notion is that the inventor could not grasp the more abstract theories behind AC and was trying to avoid developing a system he did not understand. Edison also appeared to have been worried about the high voltage from misinstalled AC systems killing customers and hurting

2160-598: Is notably the first US patent for an electronic device due to its use of an Edison effect bulb as an active component . Subsequent scientists studied, applied, and eventually evolved the bulbs into vacuum tubes , a core component of early analog and digital electronics of the 20th century. In 1878, Edison formed the Edison Electric Light Company in New York City with several financiers, including J. P. Morgan , Spencer Trask , and

2250-582: Is now the Czech Republic), opened in 1882, and was the first public building in the world to use Edison's electric lamps. Francis Jehl , Edison's assistant in the invention of the lamp, supervised the installation. In September 2010, a sculpture of three giant light bulbs was erected in Brno, in front of the theater. The first Edison light bulbs in the Nordic countries were installed at the weaving hall of

2340-500: Is registered on 1,093 patents. Edison began his career as an inventor in Newark, New Jersey , with the automatic repeater and his other improved telegraphic devices, but the invention that first gained him wider notice was the phonograph in 1877. This accomplishment was so unexpected by the public at large as to appear almost magical. Edison became known as "The Wizard of Menlo Park". His first phonograph recorded on tinfoil around

2430-586: The Columbia . Although hesitant at first, Edison agreed to Villard's request. Most of the work was completed in May 1880, and the Columbia went to New York City, where Edison and his personnel installed Columbia 's new lighting system. The Columbia was Edison's first commercial application for his incandescent light bulb. The Edison equipment was removed from Columbia in 1895. In 1880, Lewis Latimer ,

2520-530: The 1st Middlesex Militia during the War of 1812. His father, Samuel Edison Jr. moved to Vienna, Ontario , and fled to Ohio after his involvement in the Rebellion of 1837 . Edison was taught reading, writing, and arithmetic by his mother, a former school teacher. He attended school for only a few months. However, one biographer described him as a very curious child who learned most things by reading on his own. As

2610-401: The 2011 movie of the same name . In 2009 the horror short film, No Through Road, that would go viral was released, creating analog horror. The short film would spark 3 sequels, creating No Through Road (web series) DreamWorks Animation often produces a short sequel to include in the special edition video releases of major features, and are typical of a sufficient length to be broadcast as

2700-794: The Finlayson 's textile factory in Tampere, Finland in March 1882. In 1901, Edison attended the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York . His company, the Edison Manufacturing Company , was given the task of installing the electric lights on the various buildings and structures that were built for the exposition. At night Edison made a panorama photograph of the illuminated buildings. After devising

2790-535: The Thomson-Houston Electric Company of Lynn, Massachusetts (another AC-based competitor) built 22 power stations. Parallel to expanding competition between Edison and the AC companies was rising public furor over a series of deaths in the spring of 1888 caused by pole mounted high voltage alternating current lines. This turned into a media frenzy against high voltage alternating current and

Roundhay Garden Scene - Misplaced Pages Continue

2880-489: The silent and very early sound era, produced mostly or only short subjects. In the 1930s, the distribution system changed in many countries, owing to the Great Depression . Instead of the cinema owner assembling a program of their own choice, the studios sold a package centered on a main and supporting feature, a cartoon and little else. With the rise of the double feature , two- reel shorts went into decline as

2970-407: The 1880s that used wax-coated cardboard cylinders. In 1876, Edison began work to improve the microphone for telephones (at that time called a "transmitter") by developing a carbon microphone , which consists of two metal plates separated by granules of carbon that would change resistance with the pressure of sound waves. A steady direct current is passed between the plates through the granules and

3060-609: The 1889 merger that formed Edison General Electric. In 1890 he told president Henry Villard he thought it was time to retire from the lighting business and moved on to an iron ore refining project that preoccupied his time. Edison's dogmatic anti-AC values were no longer controlling the company. By 1889 Edison's Electric's own subsidiaries were lobbying to add AC power transmission to their systems and in October 1890 Edison Machine Works began developing AC-based equipment. Cut-throat competition and patent battles were bleeding off cash in

3150-507: The 1960s before exiting the short film business in 1969 (by which point the shorts had been in televised reruns for years ). MGM continued Tom and Jerry (first with a series of poorly-received Eastern European shorts by Gene Deitch , then a better-received run by Warner Bros. alumnus Chuck Jones ) until 1967, and Woody Woodpecker lasted to 1972; the creative team behind MGM's 1940s and 1950s cartoons formed Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1957, mainly focusing on television. The Pink Panther

3240-450: The 1970s when confined to two 35 mm reels or less, and featurettes for a film of three or four reels. " Short " was an abbreviation for either term. The increasingly rare industry term "short subject" carries more of an assumption that the film is shown as part of a presentation along with a feature film. Short films are often screened at local, national, or international film festivals and made by independent filmmakers with either

3330-475: The Goldenrod plant. Edison decided on Solidago leavenworthii , also known as Leavenworth's Goldenrod. The plant, which normally grows roughly 3–4 feet tall with a 5% latex yield, was adapted by Edison through cross-breeding to produce plants twice the size and with a latex yield of 12%. During the 1911 New York Electrical show, Edison told representatives of the copper industry it was a shame he did not have

3420-634: The US electrical business and would compete with Westinghouse for the AC market. Edison served as a figurehead on the company's board of directors for a few years before selling his shares. Edison moved from Menlo Park after the death of his first wife, Mary, in 1884, and purchased a home known as " Glenmont " in 1886 as a wedding gift for his second wife, Mina , in Llewellyn Park in West Orange, New Jersey . In 1885, Thomas Edison bought 13 acres of property in Fort Myers , Florida, for roughly $ 2,750 (equivalent to $ 93,256 in 2023) and built what

3510-492: The US, UK, Canada and Mexico throughout February and March. Shorts are occasionally broadcast as filler when a feature film or other work does not fit the standard broadcast schedule. ShortsTV was the first television channel dedicated to short films. However, short films generally rely on film festival exhibition to reach an audience. Such movies can also be distributed via the Internet . Certain websites which encourage

3600-424: The barium platinocyanide screens originally used by Wilhelm Röntgen , the technology was capable of producing only very faint images. The fundamental design of Edison's fluoroscope is still in use today, although Edison abandoned the project after nearly losing his own eyesight and seriously injuring his assistant, Clarence Dally . Dally made himself an enthusiastic human guinea pig for the fluoroscopy project and

3690-452: The beginning of cinema were very short , sometimes running only a minute or less. It was not until the 1910s when films started to get longer than about ten minutes. The first set of films were presented in 1894 and it was through Thomas Edison 's device called a kinetoscope . It was made for individual viewing only. Comedy short films were produced in large numbers compared to lengthy features such as D. W. Griffith 's 1915 The Birth of

Roundhay Garden Scene - Misplaced Pages Continue

3780-409: The best filament. Edison continued trying to improve this design and on November 4, 1879, filed for U.S. patent 223,898 (granted on January 27, 1880) for an electric lamp using "a carbon filament or strip coiled and connected to platina contact wires". The patent described several ways of creating the carbon filament including "cotton and linen thread, wood splints, papers coiled in various ways". It

3870-428: The competing companies and the idea of a merger was being put forward in financial circles. The War of Currents ended in 1892 when the financier J.P. Morgan engineered a merger of Edison General Electric with its main alternating current based rival, The Thomson-Houston Company, that put the board of Thomson-Houston in charge of the new company called General Electric . General Electric now controlled three-quarters of

3960-591: The cost of interior furnishings. Edison and Mina spent many winters at their home in Fort Myers, and Edison tried to find a domestic source of natural rubber. Due to the security concerns around World War I , Edison suggested forming a science and industry committee to provide advice and research to the US military, and he headed the Naval Consulting Board in 1915. Edison became concerned with America's reliance on foreign supply of rubber and

4050-436: The critical parameters of his electric lighting system including lamp resistance by an analysis of Ohm's law , Joule's law and economics. Nearly all of Edison's patents were utility patents, which were protected for 17 years and included inventions or processes that are electrical, mechanical, or chemical in nature. About a dozen were design patents , which protect an ornamental design for up to 14 years. As in most patents,

4140-539: The early 1880s, AC arc lighting systems for streets and large spaces had been an expanding business in the US. With the development of transformers in Europe and by Westinghouse Electric in the US in 1885–1886, it became possible to transmit AC long distances over thinner and cheaper wires, and "step down" (reduce) the voltage at the destination for distribution to users. This allowed AC to be used in street lighting and in lighting for small business and domestic customers,

4230-406: The feature-film field. With these major comedy producers out of the running, Columbia Pictures actually expanded its own operations and launched a second two-reel-comedy unit in 1938. Columbia and RKO Radio Pictures kept making two-reel comedies into the 1950s. Theater managers found it easier and more convenient to fit shorter, one-reel (10-minute) subjects into their double-feature programs. In

4320-519: The hero or heroine trapped in a life-threatening situation; audiences would have to return the following week to see the outcome. These "chapter plays" remained popular through the 1950s, although both Columbia and Republic Pictures were now making them as cheaply as possible, reusing action highlights from older serials and connecting them with a few new scenes showing identically dressed actors. Even after Republic quit making serials in 1955 and Columbia stopped in 1956, faithful audiences supported them and

4410-490: The home of Joseph and Sarah Whitley , in Roundhay , Leeds , West Riding of Yorkshire , on 14 October 1888. The footage features Adolphe, the Whitleys, and Annie Hartley leisurely walking around the garden of Oakwood Grange. Sarah is seen walking – or dancing – backward as she turns around, and Joseph's coattails fly as he turns also. Joseph (1817–1891) and Sarah (née Robinson, 1816–1888) were

4500-482: The incandescent electric lamp and was put in charge of tests and records on that device. In 1880, he was appointed chief engineer of the Edison Lamp Works. In his first year, the plant under general manager Francis Robbins Upton turned out 50,000 lamps. According to Edison, Hammer was "a pioneer of incandescent electric lighting". Frank J. Sprague , a competent mathematician and former naval officer ,

4590-408: The inventions he described were improvements over prior art . The phonograph patent, in contrast, was unprecedented in describing the first device to record and reproduce sounds. In just over a decade, Edison's Menlo Park laboratory had expanded to occupy two city blocks. Edison said he wanted the lab to have "a stock of almost every conceivable material". A newspaper article printed in 1887 reveals

SECTION 50

#1732776829204

4680-498: The latter preoccupation cost him his job. One night in 1867, he was working with a lead–acid battery when he spilt sulfuric acid onto the floor. It ran between the floorboards and onto his boss's desk below. The next morning Edison was fired. His first patent was for the electric vote recorder, U.S. patent 90,646 , which was granted on June 1, 1869. Finding little demand for the machine, Edison moved to New York City shortly thereafter. One of his mentors during those early years

4770-440: The list goes on. Over his desk Edison displayed a placard with Sir Joshua Reynolds ' famous quotation: "There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking." This slogan was reputedly posted at several other locations throughout the facility. In Menlo Park, Edison had created the first industrial laboratory concerned with creating knowledge and then controlling its application. Edison's name

4860-448: The live-action field, humorist Robert Benchley had been making short comedies since the dawn of sound; his various series for Fox, Vitaphone, MGM, and Paramount ran from 1928 to 1944. MGM's Pete Smith Specialties had been a standard "added attraction" in moviehouse programming since 1935 and lasted through 1955. RKO's Flicker Flashbacks revivals of silent films ran from 1943 to 1956, and Warner Bros. ' Joe McDoakes comedies became

4950-468: The market Edison's patented low voltage DC incandescent lamp system was designed to supply. Edison's DC empire suffered from one of its chief drawbacks: it was suitable only for the high density of customers found in large cities. Edison's DC plants could not deliver electricity to customers more than one mile from the plant, and left a patchwork of unsupplied customers between plants. Small cities and rural areas could not afford an Edison style system, leaving

5040-680: The members of the Vanderbilt family . Edison made the first public demonstration of his incandescent light bulb on December 31, 1879, in Menlo Park. It was during this time that he said: "We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles." Henry Villard , president of the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company , attended Edison's 1879 demonstration. Villard was impressed and requested Edison install his electric lighting system aboard Villard's company's new steamer,

5130-452: The oldest film festivals dedicated to short films are Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival , France (since 1979), Tampere Film Festival , Finland (since 1969) and International Short Film Festival Oberhausen , Germany (since 1954). All of them are still considered the most important short film festival in the world to date. Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931)

5220-422: The other. It is alleged that Edison would listen to a music player or piano by clamping his teeth into the wood to absorb the sound waves into his skull. As he got older, Edison believed his hearing loss allowed him to avoid distraction and concentrate more easily on his work. Modern-day historians and medical professionals have suggested he may have had ADHD . It is known that early in his career he enrolled in

5310-492: The parents of Elizabeth, Louis Le Prince's wife, and Hartley is believed to have been a friend of the Le Princes. Sarah Whitley died ten days after the scene was filmed. Oakwood Grange was demolished in 1972 and replaced with modern housing; the only remnants of it are the garden walls at the end of Oakwood Grange Lane. The adjacent stately home, Oakwood Hall, still stands, and is now a nursing home . Roundhay Garden Scene

5400-423: The phonograph before the National Academy of Sciences, Congressmen, Senators and President Hayes . The Washington Post described Edison as a " genius " and his presentation as "a scene... that will live in history". Although Edison obtained a patent for the phonograph in 1878, he did little to develop it until Alexander Graham Bell , Chichester Bell , and Charles Tainter produced a phonograph-like device in

5490-426: The physics of loose-contact carbon transmitters (work that Hughes did not bother to patent). Edison used the carbon microphone concept in 1877 to create an improved telephone for Western Union . In 1886, Edison found a way to improve a Bell Telephone microphone, one that used loose-contact ground carbon, with his discovery that it worked far better if the carbon was roasted . This type was put in use in 1890 and

SECTION 60

#1732776829204

5580-614: The principles of organized science and teamwork to the process of invention, working with many researchers and employees. He established the first industrial research laboratory . Edison was raised in the American Midwest . Early in his career he worked as a telegraph operator , which inspired some of his earliest inventions. In 1876, he established his first laboratory facility in Menlo Park, New Jersey , where many of his early inventions were developed. He later established

5670-437: The project, while Edison did all the research. Edison, however, wished to contribute $ 25,000 as well. Edison did the majority of the research and planting, sending results and sample rubber residues to his West Orange Lab. Edison employed a two-part Acid-base extraction , to derive latex from the plant material after it was dried and crushed to a powder. After testing 17,000 plant samples, he eventually found an adequate source in

5760-481: The sales of electric power systems in general. The primary reason was that Edison Electric based their design on low voltage DC, and switching a standard after they had installed over 100 systems was, in Edison's mind, out of the question. By the end of 1887, Edison Electric was losing market share to Westinghouse, who had built 68 AC-based power stations to Edison's 121 DC-based stations. To make matters worse for Edison,

5850-452: The seemingly greedy and callous lighting companies that used it. Edison took advantage of the public perception of AC as dangerous, and joined with self-styled New York anti-AC crusader Harold P. Brown in a propaganda campaign, aiding Brown in the public electrocution of animals with AC, and supported legislation to control and severely limit AC installations and voltages (to the point of making it an ineffective power delivery system) in what

5940-457: The seriousness of his claim, stating the lab contained "eight thousand kinds of chemicals, every kind of screw made, every size of needle, every kind of cord or wire, hair of humans, horses, hogs, cows, rabbits, goats, minx, camels ... silk in every texture, cocoons, various kinds of hoofs, shark's teeth, deer horns, tortoise shell ... cork, resin, varnish and oil, ostrich feathers, a peacock's tail, jet, amber, rubber, all ores ..." and

6030-434: The signal so generated to the telephone line. Edison was one of many inventors working on the problem of creating a usable microphone for telephony by having it modulate an electric current passed through it. His work was concurrent with Emile Berliner 's loose-contact carbon transmitter (who lost a later patent case against Edison over the carbon transmitter's invention ) and David Edward Hughes ’ study and published paper on

6120-421: The studios re-released older serials through the mid-1960s. The 1964 revival of Columbia's Batman serial resulted in a media frenzy, spurring a new Batman TV series and a wave of Batman merchandise. With the rise of television , the commercial live-action short was virtually dead; most studios canceled their live-action series in 1956. Only The Three Stooges continued making two-reel comedies; their last

6210-908: The submission of user-created short films, such as YouTube and Vimeo , have attracted large communities of artists and viewers. Sites like Omeleto, FILMSshort, Short of the Week, Short Films Matter, Short Central and some apps showcase curated shorts. Short films are a typical first stage for new filmmakers, but professional actors and crews often still choose to create short films as an alternative form of expression. Amateur filmmaking has grown in popularity as equipment has become more accessible. The lower production costs of short films often mean that short films can cover alternative subject matter as compared to higher budget feature films. Similarly, unconventional filmmaking techniques such as Pixilation or narratives that are told without dialogue, are more often seen in short films than features. Tropfest claims to be

6300-417: The varying resistance results in a modulation of the current, creating a varying electric current that reproduces the varying pressure of the sound wave. Up to that point, microphones, such as the ones developed by Johann Philipp Reis and Alexander Graham Bell , worked by generating a weak current. The carbon microphone works by modulating a direct current and, subsequently, using a transformer to transfer

6390-468: The world's largest short film festival. Tropfest now takes place in Australia (its birthplace), Arabia, the US and elsewhere. Originating in 1993, Tropfest is often credited as being at least partially responsible for the recent popularity of short films internationally. Also Couch Fest Films , part of Shnit Worldwide Filmfestival, claimed to be the world's largest single-day short film festival. Among

6480-627: Was a fellow telegrapher and inventor named Franklin Leonard Pope , who allowed the impoverished youth to live and work in the basement of his Elizabeth, New Jersey , home, while Edison worked for Samuel Laws at the Gold Indicator Company. Pope and Edison founded their own company in October 1869, working as electrical engineers and inventors. Edison began developing a multiplex telegraphic system, which could send two messages simultaneously, in 1874. Edison's major innovation

6570-419: Was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation , mass communication , sound recording , and motion pictures. These inventions, which include the phonograph , the motion picture camera , and early versions of the electric light bulb , have had a widespread impact on the modern industrialized world . He was one of the first inventors to apply

6660-681: Was at Stratford Junction, Ontario, on the Grand Trunk Railway . He also studied qualitative analysis and conducted chemical experiments until he left the job rather than be fired after being held responsible for a near collision of two trains. Edison obtained the exclusive right to sell newspapers on the road, and, with the aid of four assistants, he set in type and printed the Grand Trunk Herald , which he sold with his other papers. This began Edison's long streak of entrepreneurial ventures, as he discovered his talents as

6750-856: Was born in 1847 in Milan, Ohio , but grew up in Port Huron, Michigan , after the family moved there in 1854. He was the seventh and last child of Samuel Ogden Edison Jr. (1804–1896, born in Marshalltown, Nova Scotia ) and Nancy Matthews Elliott (1810–1871, born in Chenango County, New York ). His patrilineal family line was Dutch by way of New Jersey ; the surname had originally been "Edeson". His great-grandfather, loyalist John Edeson, fled New Jersey for Nova Scotia in 1784. The family moved to Middlesex County, Upper Canada , around 1811, and his grandfather, Capt. Samuel Edison Sr. served with

6840-521: Was determined to find a native supply of rubber. Edison's work on rubber took place largely at his research laboratory in Fort Myers, which has been designated as a National Historic Chemical Landmark. The laboratory was built after Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey S. Firestone pulled together $ 75,000 to form the Edison Botanical Research Corporation. Initially, only Ford and Firestone were to contribute funds to

6930-467: Was exposed to a poisonous dose of radiation; he later died (at the age of 39) of injuries related to the exposure, including mediastinal cancer. In 1903, a shaken Edison said: "Don't talk to me about X-rays, I am afraid of them." Nonetheless, his work was important in the development of a technology still used today. Edison invented a highly sensitive device, that he named the tasimeter , which measured infrared radiation . His impetus for its creation

7020-511: Was generally told to carry out his directions in conducting research, and he drove them hard to produce results. William Joseph Hammer , a consulting electrical engineer , started working for Edison and began his duties as a laboratory assistant in December 1879. He assisted in experiments on the telephone, phonograph, electric railway, iron ore separator , electric lighting , and other developing inventions. However, Hammer worked primarily on

7110-634: Was later called Seminole Lodge as a winter retreat. The main house and guest house are representative of Italianate architecture and Queen Anne style architecture . The building materials were pre-cut in New England by the Kennebec Framing Company and the Stephen Nye Lumber Company of Fairfield Maine. The materials were then shipped down by boat and were constructed at a cost of $ 12,000 each, which included

7200-476: Was not until several months after the patent was granted that Edison and his team discovered that a carbonized bamboo filament could last over 1,200 hours. Attempts to prevent blackening of the bulb due to emission of charged carbon from the hot filament culminated in Edison effect bulbs, which redirected and controlled the mysterious unidirectional current. Edison's 1883 patent for voltage-regulating

7290-563: Was now being referred to as a " war of the currents ". The development of the electric chair was used in an attempt to portray AC as having a greater lethal potential than DC and smear Westinghouse, via Edison colluding with Brown and Westinghouse's chief AC rival, the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, to ensure the first electric chair was powered by a Westinghouse AC generator. Edison was becoming marginalized in his own company having lost majority control in

7380-541: Was recorded on Eastman Kodak paper base photographic film using Le Prince's single-lens camera . In the 1930s, the Science Museum in London produced a photographic glass plate copy of 20 surviving frames from the original negative before it was lost. The copied frames were later printed on 35 mm film . Adolphe Le Prince stated that the film was shot at 12 frames per second (fps), but analysis suggests that it

7470-495: Was recruited by Edward H. Johnson and joined the Edison organization in 1883. One of Sprague's contributions to the Edison Laboratory at Menlo Park was to expand Edison's mathematical methods. Despite the common belief that Edison did not use mathematics, analysis of his notebooks reveal that he was an astute user of mathematical analysis conducted by his assistants such as Francis Robbins Upton, for example, determining

7560-432: Was released in 1959. Short films had become a medium for student, independent, and specialty work. Cartoon shorts had a longer life, due in part to the implementation of lower-cost limited animation techniques and the rise of television animation , which allowed shorts to have both theatrical runs and a syndication afterlife. Warner Bros. , one of the most prolific of the golden era, underwent several reorganizations in

7650-543: Was shot at 7 fps. The First Film , a 2015 documentary about Louis Le Prince, shows it at 7 fps. 53°49′31.8″N 1°29′44.5″W  /  53.825500°N 1.495694°W  / 53.825500; -1.495694  ( Location of the Roundhay Garden Scene at Oakwood Grange ) Short film In the United States, short films were generally termed short subjects from the 1920s into

7740-527: Was switched on, providing 110 volts direct current (DC), initially to 59 customers in lower Manhattan , quickly growing to 508 customers with 10,164 lamps. The power station was decommissioned in 1895. Eight months earlier in January 1882, to demonstrate feasibility, Edison had switched on the 93 kW first steam-generating power station at Holborn Viaduct in London. This was a smaller 110 V DC supply system, eventually supplying 3,000 street lights and

7830-488: Was the establishment of an industrial research lab in 1876. It was built in Menlo Park , a part of Raritan Township (now named Edison Township in his honor) in Middlesex County, New Jersey , with the funds from the sale of Edison's quadruplex telegraph . After his demonstration of the telegraph, Edison was not sure that his original plan to sell it for $ 4,000 to $ 5,000 was right, so he asked Western Union to make

7920-426: Was the last regular theatrical cartoon short series, having begun in 1964 (and thus having spent its entire existence in the limited animation era) and ended in 1980. By the 1960s, the market for animated shorts had largely shifted to television, with existing theatrical shorts being syndicated to television. A few animated shorts continue within the mainstream commercial distribution. For instance, Pixar has screened

8010-527: Was used in all telephones along with the Bell receiver until the 1980s. In 1878, Edison began working on a system of electrical illumination, something he hoped could compete with gas and oil-based lighting. He began by tackling the problem of creating a long-lasting incandescent lamp, something that would be needed for indoor use. However, Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb. In 1840, British scientist Warren de la Rue developed an efficient light bulb using

8100-515: Was valid. To avoid a possible court battle with yet another competitor, Joseph Swan , who held an 1880 British patent on a similar incandescent electric lamp, he and Swan formed a joint company called Ediswan to manufacture and market the invention in Britain. The incandescent light bulb patented by Edison also began to gain widespread popularity in Europe as well. Mahen Theatre in Brno (in what

#203796