A movie projector (or film projector ) is an opto - mechanical device for displaying motion picture film by projecting it onto a screen . Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras . Modern movie projectors are specially built video projectors (see also digital cinema ).
82-693: R. W. Paul presented Britain's second film projector , and the first commercially produced 35mm projector, the Theatrograph, on 20 February 1896. It was first demonstrated at Finsbury Technical College. The use of Paul's Theatrograph in music halls up and down the country popularised early cinema in Britain. It was first revealed to the public at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly , London . Carl Hertz sailed from England on 28 March 1896 aboard
164-422: A "changeover douser" or "changeover shutter"). Some projectors have a third, mechanically controlled douser that automatically closes when the projector slows down (called a "fire shutter" or "fire douser"), to protect the film if the projector stops while the first douser is still open. Dousers protect the film when the lamp is on but the film is not moving, preventing the film from melting from prolonged exposure to
246-786: A 1.25 m (4 ft 1 in) disc. It was demonstrated at the Elektrotechnischen Messe in Frankfurt on 16 May 1891 and exhibited there from 18 July to December, with over 17,000 spectators in the first 2.5 months. Models were demonstrated or installed in Berlin, Warschau, Amsterdam, Brussels und New York. The machine was licensed to Joe Livingston for Schwarz & Co in New York for the US since 9 September 1891, and to Edgar Cohen for worldwide exploitation (except for Germany and
328-527: A Single Bowl) , Raufende Jungen (Boys Fighting) , Zwei Herrn eine Prize Schnupftabak nehmend (Two Men Taking a Pinch of Snuff) , Einseifen beim Barbier (Latherin Up at The Barber's) , Tabakschnupfender Alter (Old Man Taking Snuff) and Skatspieler (Card Players) . Little of Anschütz' motion picture output has yet resurfaced. Although many examples of his printed chronophotography survived, all that could be found (as of 2016) from his later entertainment-oriented work
410-414: A base to form the zoetrope-type drum. Each strip had the appropriate amount of slots in between the lithographed pictures and the base could be turned into a vertical position. Anschütz produced two simplified versions in 1891. The zoetrope-type Schnellsehers were mainly made for people to use at home and Anschütz probably wanted to make his work available to many people through commercial exploitation, but he
492-481: A camera shooting speed – was inadvisable for projection, due to the risk of the nitrate -base prints catching fire in the projector. Nitrate film stock began to be replaced by cellulose triacetate in 1948. A nitrate film fire and its devastating effect is featured in Cinema Paradiso (1988), a fictional film which partly revolves around a projectionist and his apprentice. The birth of sound film created
574-402: A certain speed (the feed reel rotates faster as the film is exhausted), or based on the diameter of the remaining film (Premier Changeover Indicator Pat. No. 411992), although many projectors do not have such an auditory system. During the initial operation of a changeover, the two projectors use an interconnected electrical control connected to the changeover button so that as soon as the button
656-407: A combination of motion detectors, detail detectors and pattern detectors, the outputs of all of which are combined to create the visual experience. The frequency at which flicker becomes invisible is called the flicker fusion threshold , and is dependent on the level of illumination and the condition of the eyes of the viewer. Generally, the frame rate of 16 frames per second (frame/s) is regarded as
738-508: A definitive system, Le Prince eventually seemed satisfied with the result and had a demonstration screening scheduled in New York in 1890. However, he went missing after boarding a train in France and was declared dead in 1897. His widow and son managed to draw attention to Le Prince's work and eventually he came to be regarded as the true inventor of film (a claim also made for many others). After years of development, Edison eventually introduced
820-753: A different scene. This Elektro-tachyscope was shown to paying spectators in Vienna in November 1890, and probably in Brussels in 1891. In 1893, the Edison Manufacturing Company started the wide distribution of their long-awaited Kinetoscope , which had been in slow development since 1888. After initial experiments based on phonograph cylinders, they had shortly worked on a design based on the Schnellseher automat. Their main ambition
902-409: A flicker-rate of two times (48 Hz) or even sometimes three times (72 Hz) the frame rate of the film, so as to reduce the perception of screen flickering. (See Frame rate and Flicker fusion threshold .) Higher rate shutters are less light efficient, requiring more powerful light sources for the same light on screen. A projection objective with multiple optical elements directs the image of
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#1732787685894984-532: A large debt with Siemens & Halske for large orders of Schnellsehers. Siemens & Halske started to commercially exhibit the remaining 52 copies themselves as an attempt to lift some of Anschutz' debt and helped him with the development of his new project that aimed to project motion pictures on a large screen. On 6 November 1894, Anschütz patented a projector with two intermittently rotating large disks and continuous light. On 25, 29 and 30 November 1894, he introduced his new device with two linked discs projecting
1066-522: A light source to help direct as much light as possible through a painted glass picture slide and a lens, out of the lantern onto a screen. Simple mechanics to have the painted images moving were probably implemented since Christiaan Huygens introduced the apparatus around 1659. Initially candles and oil lamps were used, but other light sources, such as the argand lamp and limelight were usually adopted soon after their introduction. Magic lantern presentations may often have had relatively small audiences, but
1148-643: A minimum amount of 35 mm film from Kodak . The decision ensured that Kodak's 35 mm film production would continue for several years. Although usually more expensive than film projectors, high-resolution digital projectors offer many advantages over traditional film units. For example, digital projectors contain no moving parts except fans, can be operated remotely, are relatively compact and have no film to break, scratch or change reels of. They also allow for much easier, less expensive, and more reliable storage and distribution of content. All-electronic distribution eliminates all physical media shipments. There
1230-440: A need for a steady playback rate to prevent dialog and music from changing pitch and distracting the audience. Virtually all film projectors in commercial movie theaters project at a constant speed of 24 frame/s. This speed was chosen for both financial and technical reasons. A higher frame rate produces a better looking picture, but costs more as film stock is consumed faster. When Warner Bros. and Western Electric were trying to find
1312-600: A new camera in 1889 but never seems to have been successful in projecting his movies. Eadweard Muybridge developed his Zoopraxiscope in 1879 and gave many lectures with the machine from 1880 to 1894. It projected images from rotating glass disks. The images were initially painted onto the glass, as silhouettes. A second series of discs, made in 1892–94, used outline drawings printed onto the discs photographically, then colored by hand. Ottomar Anschütz developed his first Electrotachyscope in 1886. For each scene, 24 glass plates with chronophotographic images were attached to
1394-399: A safe voltage under 36V AC and is viewable from both sides. In a commercial theater, the screen also has millions of very small, evenly spaced holes in order to allow the passage of sound from the speakers and subwoofer which often are directly behind it. In the two-reel system the projector has two reels–one is the feed reel, which holds the part of the film that has not been shown, the other
1476-422: A short subject (a newsreel, short documentary, a "2-reeler," etc.), a cartoon, and the feature. Some theaters would have movie-based commercials for local businesses, and the state of New Jersey required showing a diagram of the theater showing all of the exits. Because a single film reel does not contain enough film to show an entire feature, the film is distributed on multiple reels. To prevent having to interrupt
1558-511: A studio at Charlottenstr. 59 in Berlin, where frequent demonstrations of Schnellsehers took place to at least 1900 (and less frequently until years later). Early January 1890, Anschütz presented a new type of chronophotography on the glass wheel Schnellseher to emperor Wilhelm II's family: "Sprechende Porträts" (Speaking Portraits). He introduced it publicly on 16 January 1890 at the Photographic Association in Berlin. At
1640-685: A tour to several large European cities for over a year. His Phantaskop had a front with separate lenses for each of the 12 pictures on a disc and two separate lenses were cranked around to direct light through the pictures. Wordsworth Donisthorpe patented ideas for a cinematographic film camera and a film presentation system in 1876. In reply to the introduction of the phonograph and a magazine's suggestion that it could be combined with projection of stereoscopic photography, Donisthorpe stated that he could do even better and announce that he would present such images in motion. His original Kinesigraph camera gave unsatisfactory results. He had better results with
1722-405: Is also the ability to display live broadcasts in theaters equipped to do so. The illusion of motion in projected films is a stroboscopic effect that has been traditionally been attributed to persistence of vision and later often to (misinterpretations of) beta movement and/or the phi phenomenon known from Gestalt psychology . The exact neurological principles are not yet entirely clear, but
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#17327876858941804-401: Is pressed, the changeover douser on the outgoing projector is closed in sync with the changeover douser on the incoming projector opening. If done properly, a changeover should be virtually unnoticeable to an audience. In older theaters, there may be manually operated, sliding covers in front of the projection booth's windows. A changeover with this system is often clearly visible as a wipe on
1886-427: Is the takeup reel, which winds the film that has been shown. In a two-reel projector the feed reel has a slight drag to maintain tension on the film, while the takeup reel is constantly driven with a mechanism that has mechanical 'slip,' to allow the film to be wound under constant tension so the film is wound in a smooth manner. The film being wound on the takeup reel is being wound "head in, tails out." This means that
1968-744: The Royal Mail Ship RMS ; Norman and during the voyage exhibited Paul's Theatrograph to the passengers. He also exhibited films in South Africa and Australia . The screenings in South Africa were the first public screenings of moving pictures in that country. After Australia, Hertz took the Theatrograph to Ceylon ( Sri Lanka ), India , China , Japan , the Fiji Islands , and Hawaii . George Melies purchased one of Paul's theatrographs in 1896. The Theatrograph
2050-420: The "START" in the gate of the projector. When the first cue is seen, the motor of the starting projector is started. Seven seconds later the end of the leader and start of program material on the new reel should just reach the gate of the projector when the changeover cue is seen. On some projectors, the operator would be alerted to the time for a change by a bell that operated when the feed reel rotation exceeded
2132-767: The Elektrotachyscope. He started with chronophotography studies of horses for the military in 1885. In 1888, he made motion studies of animals in the Breslau Zoo . He also recorded acrobats, dancers, athletes, boxers, wrestlers, sports and horse races. Already more an artistic and skilful photographer than a scientist, he chose different subjects when he started commercially exploiting the Schnellseher as an attraction. He recorded several comical scenes based on everyday life, including Lustige Fahrt (Funny Journey) , Zwei ZimmerleuteFrüstückend (Two Carpenters Breakfasting) , Familie essend aus einem Topfe (Family Eating from
2214-629: The Prussian minister of Culture. Initially, he used 12 cameras, later on 24. The quality of his pictures was generally regarded to be much higher than that of pioneer Eadweard Muybridge 's chronophotographic series. He continued with studies of horses in motion at the Königlichen Militärreitinstitut [ de ] (Royal Military Institute) in Hanover during 1886. From the beginning, Anschütz wanted to reproduce
2296-497: The Schnellseher picture loops and after 1895 Anschütz' career in motion pictures was diminished to the sales of home model Tachyscopes at his studio. Inventory of known presentations of Schnellsehers Hardly any differentiation between the many variations of Schnellseher is clear from the available reports. For this table, if no precise information is available, devices exhibited before 1890 are assumed to be rotating wheel Electrotachyscopes, those exhibited in 1890 are assumed to be
2378-789: The US) since 19 October 1892 (as Electrical Wonder Company from 12 November 1892 to 2 December 1893). Electrotachyscope automats were installed in popular venues in New York, in Paris, in Boston, at The Crystal Palace in London, at the Berlin Zoo, and in more cities. About 34,000 people came to view the motion pictures in July and August 1892 at the Ausstellungspark in Berlin. The Elektrotachyscope
2460-418: The beginning (or "head") of the reel is in the center, where it is inaccessible. As each reel is taken off of the projector, it must be re-wound onto another empty reel. In a theater setting there is often a separate machine for rewinding reels. For the 16 mm projectors that were often used in schools and churches, the projector could be re-configured to rewind films. The size of the reels can vary based on
2542-451: The bulky, heavy film reels. (35mm reels as received by theaters came unrewound; rewinding was the task of the operator who received the reel.). The two-reel system, using two identical projectors, was used almost universally for movie theaters before the advent of the single-reel system. Projectors were built that could accommodate a much larger reel, containing an entire feature. Although one-reel long-play systems tend to be more popular with
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2624-491: The choice to look through one of three rows with 19, 20 and 21 apertures. This allowed the use of strips with different amounts of pictures and the choice to view the images either as staying in place or moving around. Scientific chronophotographer Étienne-Jules Marey bought such a Tachyscope in March 1889. It was followed in 1890 by a "Salon Tachyscope" for which the 180 cm (71 in) long picture bands had to be attached to
2706-513: The coin-operated peep-box Kinetoscope movie viewer in 1893, mostly in dedicated parlours. He believed this was a commercially much more viable system than projection in theatres. Many other film pioneers found chances to study the technology of the kinetoscope and further developed it for their own movie projection systems. The Eidoloscope , devised by Eugene Augustin Lauste for the Latham family,
2788-422: The condensing lens. A positive curvature lens concentrates the reflected and direct light toward the film gate. (Also spelled dowser.) A metal or asbestos blade which cuts off light before it can get to the film. The douser is usually part of the lamphouse, and may be manually or automatically operated. Some projectors have a second, electrically controlled douser that is used for changeovers (sometimes called
2870-482: The cylinder machines and the "Talking Portraits" presentations are assumed to be from wheels. From 16 May 1891 onward, most devices are assumed to be the Siemens & Halske automat. Anschütz developed four types of a patented "Schnellseher" or "Tachyscope" that were improved versions of the zoetrope . In September 1887, Anschütz introduced a hand-cranked Tachyscope with a diameter of 58 cm (23 in) and with
2952-423: The direct heat of the lamp. It also prevents the lens from scarring or cracking from excessive heat. If a roll of film is continuously passed between the light source and the lens of the projector, only a continuous blurred series of images sliding from one edge to the other would be visible on the screen. In order to see an apparently moving clear picture, the moving film must be stopped and held still briefly while
3034-416: The early Laurel & Hardy, 3 Stooges, and other comedies), and "features," which can take any number of reels (although most are limited to 1½ to 2 hours in length, enabling the theater to have multiple showings throughout the day and evening, each showing with a feature, commercials, and intermission to allow the audiences to change). In the "old days" (i.e., ca. 1930–1960), "going to the movies" meant seeing
3116-440: The edge of a large rotating wheel and thrown on a small opal-glass screen by very short synchronized flashes from a Geissler tube . He demonstrated his photographic motion from March 1887 until at least January 1890 to circa 4 or 5 people at a time, in Berlin, other large German cities, Brussels (at the 1888 Exposition Universelle), Florence, Saint Petersburg, New York, Boston and Philadelphia. Between 1890 and 1894 he concentrated on
3198-521: The exploitation of an automatic coin-operated version that was an inspiration for Edison Company's Kinetoscope . From 28 November 1894 to at least May 1895 he projected his recordings from two intermittently rotating discs, mostly in 300-seat halls, in several German cities. During circa 5 weeks of screenings at the old Berlin Reichstag in February and March 1895, circa 7.000 paying visitors came to see
3280-437: The film is advanced less than one full frame in order to reduce the unexposed area between frames. This method requires a special intermittent mechanism in all film handling equipment throughout the production process, from the camera to the projector. This is costly, and prohibitively so for some theaters. The anamorphic format uses special optics to squeeze a high aspect ratio image onto a standard Academy frame thus eliminating
3362-428: The film to a viewing screen. Projector lenses differ in aperture and focal length to suit different needs. Different lenses are used for different aspect ratios. One way that aspect ratios are set is with the appropriate aperture plate, a piece of metal with a precisely cut rectangular hole in the middle of equivalent aspect ratio. The aperture plate is placed just behind the gate, and masks off any light from hitting
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3444-594: The ideal compromise projection speed for the new sound pictures, Western Electric went to the Warner Theater in Los Angeles, and noted the average speed at which films were projected there. They set that as the sound speed at which a satisfactory reproduction and amplification of sound could be conducted. There are some specialist formats (e.g. Showscan and Maxivision ) which project at higher rates—60 frames/sec for Showscan and 48 for Maxivision. The Hobbit
3526-415: The illusion of one full frame being replaced exactly on top of another full frame. The gate holds the film still while the shutter is open. A rotating petal or gated cylindrical shutter interrupts the emitted light during the time the film is advanced to the next frame. The viewer does not see the transition, thus tricking the brain into believing a moving image is on screen. Modern shutters are designed with
3608-414: The image outside of the area intended to be shown. All films, even those in the standard Academy ratio, have extra image on the frame that is meant to be masked off in the projection. Using an aperture plate to accomplish a wider aspect ratio is inherently wasteful of film, as a portion of the standard frame is unused. One solution that presents itself at certain aspect ratios is the "2-perf" pulldown, where
3690-648: The images at the time had visible pixels. By 2006, the advent of much higher 4K resolution digital projection reduced pixel visibility. The systems became more compact over time. By 2009, movie theatres started replacing film projectors with digital projectors. In 2013, it was estimated that 92% of movie theaters in the United States had converted to digital, with 8% still playing film. In 2014, numerous popular filmmakers—including Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan —lobbied large studios to commit to purchase
3772-455: The late 1960s, carbon arc lamps were the source of light in almost all theaters in the world. The Xenon arc lamp was introduced in Germany in 1957 and in the US in 1963. After film platters became commonplace in the 1970s, Xenon lamps became the most common light source, as they could stay lit for extended periods of time, whereas a carbon rod used for a carbon arc could last for an hour at
3854-425: The lowest frequency at which continuous motion is perceived by humans. This threshold varies across different species; a higher proportion of rod cells in the retina will create a higher threshold level. Because the eye and brain have no fixed capture rate, this is an elastic limit, so different viewers can be more or less sensitive in perceiving frame rates. It is possible to view the black space between frames and
3936-465: The most. Most lamp houses in a professional theatrical setting produce sufficient heat to burn the film should the film remain stationary for more than a fraction of a second. Because of this, absolute care must be taken in inspecting a film so that it should not break in the gate and be damaged, particularly necessary in the era when flammable cellulose nitrate film stock was in use. A curved reflector redirects light that would otherwise be wasted toward
4018-579: The moving images on a 6 by 8 m (20 by 26 ft) screen in the darkened Grand Auditorium of a Post Office Building in Berlin. From 22 February to 30 March 1895 commercial 1,5-hour program of 40 different scenes was screened for audiences of 300 people at the old Reichstag and received around 4,000 visitors. In 1895, other motion picture pioneers entered the market of motion pictures projected on large screens, including Max and Emil Skladanowsky with their Bioscop , and Auguste and Louis Lumière with their cinematograph . Their films were much longer than
4100-471: The moving pictures were screened to around 15,000 paying customers at Stadtbahnbogen 21 in the Ausstellungspark in Berlin. During the next few years, Anschütz demonstrated his electrical Schnellseher at many international exhibitions, fairs and conventions, visiting Wiesbaden , Frankfurt and Dresden in 1887, Brussels and Florence in 1888 and Kassel , Saint Petersburg , New York City , Boston , and Philadelphia in 1889. In 1888, Anschütz moved to
4182-536: The need to change the costly precision moving parts of the intermittent mechanisms. A special anamorphic lens is used on the camera to compress the image, and a corresponding lens on the projector to expand the image back to the intended aspect ratio. In most cases this is a reflective surface which may be either aluminized (for high contrast in moderate ambient light) or a white surface with small glass beads (for high brilliance under dark conditions). A switchable projection screen can be switched between opaque and clear by
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#17327876858944264-409: The newer multiplexes, the two-reel system is still in significant use to this day. As the reel being shown approaches its end, the projectionist looks for cue marks at the upper-right corner of the picture. Usually these are dots or circles, although they can also be slashes. Some older films occasionally used squares or triangles, and sometimes positioned the cues in the middle of the right edge of
4346-406: The next image. The intermittent mechanism advances the film within the gate to the next frame while the shutter is closed. Registration pins prevent the film from advancing while the shutter is open. In most cases the registration of the frame can be manually adjusted by the projectionist, and more sophisticated projectors can maintain registration automatically. It is the gate and shutter that gives
4428-443: The only projected photographic moving images he ever made featured a stop motion animation of the skeleton of a horse. The Roundhay Garden Scene , October 1888 by Louis Le Prince , is the oldest known cinematographic film. Anschütz publicly presented his first Schnellseher in March 1887, presumably as the first device dedicated to the presentation of cinematography. The presentation of his projection Schnellseher on 25 November 1894
4510-545: The passing of the shutter by rapidly blinking ones eyes at a certain rate. If done fast enough, the viewer will be able to randomly "trap" the darkness between frames, or the motion of the shutter. This will not work with (now obsolete) cathode-ray tube displays, due to the persistence of the phosphors, nor with LCD or DLP light projectors, because they refresh the image instantly with no blackout intervals as with traditional film projectors. Silent films usually were not projected at constant speeds, but could vary throughout
4592-537: The paying public, beginning the general conversion of the medium to projection. They quickly became Europe's main producers with their actualités like Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory and comic vignettes like The Sprinkler Sprinkled (both 1895). Even Edison, joined the trend with the Vitascope , a modified Jenkins' Phantoscope, within less than six months. In the 1910s a new consumer commodity
4674-422: The picture. The first cue appears twelve feet (3.7 metres) before the end of the program on the reel, equivalent to eight seconds at the standard speed of 24 frames per second. This cue signals the projectionist to start the motor of the projector containing the next reel. After another ten and a half feet (3.2 m) of film is shown (seven seconds at 24 frames/sec), the changeover cue should appear, which signals
4756-407: The projectionist to actually make the changeover. When this second cue appears, the projectionist has one and a half feet (460 mm), or one second, to make the changeover. If it does not occur within one second, the film will end and blank white light will be projected on the screen. Twelve feet before the "first frame of action," countdown leaders have a "START" frame. The projectionist positions
4838-812: The projectors, but generally films are divided and distributed in reels of up to 2,000 feet (610 metres), about 22 minutes at 24 frames/sec). Some projectors can even accommodate up to 6,000 feet (1,800 metres), which minimizes the number of changeovers (see below) in a showing. Certain countries also divide their film reels up differently; Russian films, for example, often come on 1,000-foot (300 m) reels, although it's likely that most projectionists working with changeovers would combine them into longer reels of at least 2,000 feet (610 metres), to minimize changeovers and also give sufficient time for threading and any possibly needed troubleshooting time. Films are identified as "short subjects," taking one reel or less of film, "two-reelers," requiring two reels of film (such as some of
4920-407: The recorded actions and worked on devices to enable this. In 1886, he built a machine with a 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) wheel that had twenty-four, 9 cm × 13 cm (3.5 in × 5.1 in) glass plate photographs attached to its circumference. The pictures were illuminated from behind by a fast succession of electric flashes from a synchronized Geissler tube , while the wheel
5002-449: The rest of the show. When the projectionist removes a finished reel from the projector it is "tails out," and needs to be rewound before the next show. The projectionist usually uses a separate rewind machine and a spare empty reel, and rewinds the film so it is "head out," ready to project again for the next show. Electrotachyscope The Elektrische Schnellseher (from German : 'Electrical Quick-Viewer') or Electrotachyscope
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#17327876858945084-408: The retina, nerves and/or brain create the impression of apparent movement when presented with a rapid sequence of near-identical still images and interruptions that go unnoticed (or are experienced as flicker). A critical part of understanding this visual perception phenomenon is that the eye is not a camera , i.e.: there is no frame rate for the human eye or brain. Instead, the eye/brain system has
5166-555: The same 16 January 1890 presentation, Anschütz introduced a much smaller Schnellseher in a cabinet that could be mounted to a wall or otherwise placed at eye-height. By the end of the year, he was negotiating with Siemens & Halske about the commercial manufacture of such machines. In 1891, Siemens & Halske started production of a coin-operated peep-hole Electrotachyscope, of which approximately 152 copies were made. This version had eighteen to twenty-four, 9 cm × 12 cm (3.5 in × 4.7 in) celluloid pictures in
5248-421: The screen. Once the changeover has been made, the projectionist unloads the full takeup reel from projector "A," moves the now-empty reel (that used to hold the film just unloaded) from the feed spindle to the takeup spindle, and loads reel #3 of the presentation on projector "A." When reel 2 on projector "B" is finished, the changeover switches the live show from projector "B" back to projector "A," and so on for
5330-684: The second presentation of the Cinématographe Lumière in Paris on 28 December 1895, they seemed to choose not to compete. They still presented their motion pictures in several European cities until March 1897, but eventually the Bioscop had to be retired as a commercial failure. In Lyon , Louis and Auguste Lumière perfected the Cinématographe , a system that took, printed, and projected film. In late 1895 in Paris, father Antoine Lumière began exhibitions of projected films before
5412-423: The show because projectors were hand-cranked at the discretion of the projectionist, often following some notes provided by the distributor. When the electric motor supplanted hand cranking in both movie cameras and projectors, a more uniform frame rate became possible. Speeds ranged from about 18 frame/s on up – sometimes even faster than modern sound film speed (24 frame/s). 16 frame/s – though sometimes used as
5494-403: The show when one reel ends and the next is mounted, two projectors are used in what is known as a "changeover system". A human would, at the appropriate point, manually stop the first projector, shutting off its light, and start the second projector, which the projectionist had ready and waiting. Later the switching was partially automated, although the projectionist still needed to rewind and mount
5576-454: The show. In 1886 Louis Le Prince applied for a US patent for a 16-lens device that combined a motion picture camera with a projector. In 1888, he used an updated version of his camera to film the motion picture Roundhay Garden Scene and other scenes. The pictures were privately exhibited in Hunslet . After investing much time, effort and means in a slow and troublesome development of
5658-407: The shutter opens and closes. The gate is where the film is held still prior to the opening of the shutter. This is the case for both filming and projecting movies. A single image of the series of images comprising the movie is positioned and held flat within the gate. The gate also provides a slight amount of friction so that the film does not advance or retreat except when driven to advance the film to
5740-574: The very popular phantasmagoria and dissolving views shows were usually performed in proper theatres, large tents or especially converted spaces with plenty seats. Both Joseph Plateau and Simon Stampfer thought of lantern projection when they independently introduced stroboscopic animation in 1833 with a stroboscopic disc (which became known as the phenakistiscope ), but neither of them intended to work on projection themselves. The oldest known successful screenings of stroboscopic animation were performed by Ludwig Döbler in 1847 in Vienna and taken on
5822-428: The works of Anschütz. Although several are logical examples of motion studies, some seem to have been based on (lost) Schnellseher discs. The Barbershop (produced late 1893, premiered 14 April 1894) is probably an extended remake of Anschütz' (lost) Einseifen beim Barbier" (1890). Fred Ott's Sneeze was probably based on Tabakschnupfender Alter . Auguste and Louis Lumière 's Partie d’écarté (16 January 1896,
5904-559: Was a fuzzy image with three card players as seen in a detail of a 1926 photograph of a home model automat Schnellseher. By 1886, when Anschütz developed his first Schnellseher and presented it to family and friends, photographic motion pictures recorded in real-time (known as cinematography ) had only been seen from chronophotograph prints in zoetropes or similar devices (and rarely in public). Eadweard Muybridge had mostly shown moving silhouettes traced from his chronophotographs onto glass discs with his zoopraxiscope in lectures since 1880;
5986-483: Was also known as the Animatograph. This film technology article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Movie projector Many projectors are specific to a particular film gauge and not all movie projectors are film projectors since the use of film is required. The main precursor to the movie projector was the magic lantern . In its most common setup it had a concave mirror behind
6068-633: Was an early motion picture system developed by chronophotographer Ottomar Anschütz between 1886 and 1894. He made at least seven different versions of the machine, including a projector , a peep-box viewer and several versions with illuminated glass photographs on a rotating wheel viewed on a 12.5 cm (4.9 in) wide milk glass screen by up to seven people at the same time. Before working on chronophotography and motion pictures, Anschütz had already received much acclaim for his instantaneous pictures of flying storks in 1884. In 1885, Anschütz made his first chronophotographs of horses, sponsored by
6150-546: Was demonstrated for members of the press on 21 April 1895 and opened to the paying public on May 20, in a lower Broadway store with films of the Griffo-Barnett prize boxing fight, taken from Madison Square Garden 's roof on 4 May. It was the first commercial projection. Max and Emil Skladanowsky projected motion pictures with their Bioscop , a flickerfree duplex construction, from 1 to 31 November 1895. They started to tour with their motion pictures, but after catching
6232-539: Was exhibited at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 as "Greatest Wonder of the World". These machines may have been mistaken for Edison's long-awaited Kinetoscopes that were planned to be installed at the fair, but seem never to have arrived. Before Siemens & Halske were involved, Anschütz had also developed an automated 65 cm (26 in) cylindrical Schnellseher. It had six milk glass screens, each showing
6314-572: Was hand-cranked to rotate at a speed of approximately 30 frames per second. About four spectators could watch the images on a 12.5 cm (4.9 in) wide milk glass screen in a wall in a small darkened room. Anschütz introduced the first successful model from 19 to 21 March 1887 at the Kultusministerium (Ministry of Culture) in Berlin , receiving much praise from invited colleagues, politicians, and scientists. From 16 July to 26 August 1887,
6396-501: Was introduced aiming at familial activity, the silent home cinema. Hand-cranked tinplate toy movie projectors, also called vintage projectors, were used taking standard 35 mm 8 perforation silent cinema films. In 1999, digital cinema projectors were being tried out in some movie theaters. These early projectors played the movie stored on a computer, and sent to the projector electronically. Due to their relatively low resolution (usually only 2K ) compared to later digital cinema systems,
6478-436: Was presumably the first public instance of the cinematographic projection. The Kinetoscope made by the Edison Manufacturing Company was most likely much influenced by the coin-operated Schnellseher automat, but mainly intended to show longer scenes. Of the 22 films produced by the company from 20 May 1891 ( Dickson Greeting ) to mid-March 1894 ( Boxing Match ), at least 15 have subjects that are very similar to those found in
6560-413: Was shot at 48 frames/sec and projected at the higher frame rate at specially equipped theaters. Each frame of regular 24 fps movies are shown twice or more in a process called "double-shuttering" to reduce flicker. As in a slide projector there are essential optical elements: Incandescent lighting and even limelight were the first light sources used in film projection. In the early 1900s up until
6642-529: Was to enable longer motion pictures that ideally would reproduce opera performances in combination with the phonograph. The disc format had therefore been abandoned and experiments continued with celluloid film strips. The eventual coin-operated peep-box Kinetoscope automats did show relatively long scenes, but the company was unable to offer a combination with sound. When the Electrical Wonder Company went under in 1893, it left Anschütz with
6724-410: Was very careful to keep the image quality high and chose to manufacture all image strips personally at his studio, which resulted in relatively small quantities. At his own studio in Berlin, Anschütz offered hand-cranked home models with glass wheels and Geissler tubes as well as zoetrope Schnellsehers until at least 1905. Anschütz made many chronophotography series and adapted at least 60 of them for
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