The Lumière brothers' cinematograph could be used for filming, printing, and projection. In 1895, they held commercial screenings in Paris that presented several short films.
Images such as Workers Leaving the Factory captured ordinary life. As cinema moved from technical experiment to public entertainment, early films were often very brief.
1894–1895
On 26 December 1894, the Lyon républicain reported that the Lumière brothers were working on a new kinetograph (a name for the camera that recorded the pictures for the kinetoscope viewer). The brothers filed a patent for their 'apparatus for obtaining and viewing chronophotographic prints' on 13 February 1895, which would eventually receive four additions (on 30 March and 6 May 1895, 28 March and 18 November 1896).
A few weeks later, on 16 April, Lumière presented the same film at the Réunion de sociétés savantes des départements de la Sorbonne in Paris.
The first commercial, public screening of cinematographic films happened on 20 May 1895 at 156 Broadway, New York City, when the "Eidoloscope", invented by Woodville Latham and Eugene Lauste was presented. Nonetheless, this has often been incorrectly attributed to the first Lumière show on 28 December 1895 at Salon Indien du Grand Café in Paris, which was organised by the Lumière brothers. This presentation featured ten short films, including a new version of Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory. Each of these early films was 17 meters long (approximately 56 feet), which, when hand cranked through a projector, ran approximately 50 seconds.
Technical details of the Cinématographe Lumière
The Lumières' company previously had success with photographic dry plates that were much easier to use and faster than earlier wet plate processes. With the many amateur photographers among their clientele, simplicity of the design remained key in all phases of development. Where the kinetoscope as main competitor was bulky, needed electricity and Edison's company had its own experts producing the moving images with a single camera installed in a small studio, the use of the Cinématographe Lumière should be about as simple and economic as that of a common photographic camera. An important aspect was the reversible role: the same machine was used for taking pictures as well as for viewing pictures, and on top of what Bouly's patents had already envioned, printing (or copying) a positive film from the negative could also be done with the Cinématographe Lumière.
The device weighed only 16 lb (7.3 kg), which allowed for ease of transportation and placement. Printing only needed the addition of products for development and fixation that photographers were familiar with, while projection only needed a source of light and a flat surface in a dark space, as well-known from magic lantern shows and the camera obscura.
To project the images in their 1895 presentations, the Lumières used a common magic lantern, produced by Alfred Molteni.
The Cinématographe Lumière used the same 35 mm gauge and 1.33 aspect ratio film stock format as the kinetoscope, but with a single perforation on each side of each frame (rather than the four in the kinetoscope). Although operated manually, the Lumières advocated a 15 frames per second speed, and typically recorded about 50 seconds of action in 800 pictures. The stroboscopic presentations thus were below the flicker fusion threshold, resulting in a slightly distracting shimmer that was identified as a shortcoming by Jules Janssen at the 12 June 1895 convention, and by many later commenters.
Popularity
After the success of the Lumières's initial public screening in 1895, the Cinématographe became a popular attraction for people all over the world. The Lumière brothers took their machine to China and India and it was enjoyed by people of all classes and social standings. The Cinématographe was used to show films in nickelodeons, where even the poorest classes could pay the entry fee. It was exhibited at fairs and used as entertainment in vaudeville houses in both Europe and the United States. While vaudeville is typically associated with the working and middle classes, the machine also found its way into more sophisticated venues, where it appealed to the artistic tastes of high society.