Screen Arts 3/3

George Melies was a french professional magician, who began experimenting with motion pictures after viewing movies created by the Lumiere brothers in 1895. He was also the first to film fictional narratives. He built a studio near paris, wrote scripts and used actors to film his stories.

What new techniques did he create? He discovered stop motion, slow motion, dissolve, fade-out, superimposition and double exposure.

How did the new techniques influence future films in general? His techniques and illusions helped to inspire movie creators of the time to branch out into fiction. Many big budget films in this day and age employ special effects to create the desired end results, allowing fiction movies to portray non-realistic environments, creatures and events ie. Avatar 3D, Jurassic Park, Rampage.

From your Top Ten list of films, describe how George Melies may have been an influence.
Pirates of the Caribbean contains a set of scenes where Captain Jack Sparrow is surrounded by multiple copies of him self, using superimposition .
300 has several scenes where it uses "bullet" time, extreme slow motion.


Citation

Contributor: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Article Title: Georges Méliès
Website Name: Encyclopædia Britannica
Publisher: Encyclopædia Britannica, inc.
Date Published: January 17, 2019
URL: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Georges-Melies
Access Date: March 03, 2019