FIST 210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Star Film Company, Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, Egyptian Hall
Document Summary
Melies moon: iconic symbol of popular culture/early film history. He came to cinema through being a magician/performer. Traveled to london where he was exposed to upscale magic shows at maskelyne and cook"s egyptian. A higher scale form of entertainment compared to lantern shows. Purchased the robert houdin theatre 1888- magic performances, magic lantern shows, feeries. Feeries- french form of theatrical entertainment- included themes of fantasy, over the top special effects, lavish set design, music, dance, acrobatics, magic. Melies continuously working to design and perfect new magic tricks or illustrious often markerted to public. He went to england to procure a machine of his own (animatograph)- similar to edison"s machine. He begins to show films at his theatre in 1896. Melies and reulos create their own machine- kinetograph. Build their own film studio in 1897- right outside of paris, all glass, utilization natural lights, same dimensions as his robert houdin theatre.
