The history of filmmaking is the history of human invention and innovation.
From the crankshaft cameras that captured the flickering slapstick and epic
images of the silent era to modern Hollywood's digitally created blockbusters,
the evolution of moviemaking is just as fascinating as the stories that capture
generation after generation of audiences' imaginations.
Film expert and author Andrew J. Rausch presents the 30 most pivotal moments
of the many historic turning points that changed the way movies were produced.
Accompanied with photos and insights from noted film historians and filmmakers,
Rausch's essays analyze the significance of each influential event, industry
pioneer, and technological breakthrough-from Thomas Edison's Kinescopes to
computer-generated imagery:
· George Melies's introduction of narrative story in A Trip to the
Moon
· D.W. Giffith's first landmark motion picture, The Birth of a
Nation
· French Impressionism, German Expressionism, and Sergei
Eisenstein's montage techniques
· The establishment of the Academy
Awards
· Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs-the first
animated feature film
· The innovative camerawork and nonlinear
storyline of Orson Welles's
· Citizen Kane
· The dark
side of America-film noir
· The French New Wave
· The creation
of the ratings system under MPAAA president Jack Valenti
· The
Blaxploitation movement
· "Realist" filmmakers from Hollywood's New
Wave
· Home Video
· Jaws, Star Wars, and the birth of the modern
blockbuster
· Pixar's Toy Story-the first fully computer-animated
film
A must have for any movie lover's library, Turning Points in Film History is a unique and authoritative exploration of the art form that has entertained the world for over a century-and changed it forever.
