Film History in Britain
Introduction
British Film industry had its inception in the late 19th century leading to creative footage in its time. The varied film styles comprising of documentaries, plays and news as well as films have kept viewers glued to their screens. This paper aims to focus on the path through history that the film industry in the country has passed through giving due consideration to the styles employed and the development it has acquired. Additionally, the paper aims to look at the people involved in the film making process as well as offer an analysis of certain films.
History
Britain was the first country to present a patented single lens motion picture by Louis Aime Augustin Le Prince in Leeds. He began his commercial business in 1890 and presented it to Paris Opera. The first films in Britain were created from sensitized paper roll of 2 inches wide. Later, Le Prince was able to acquire a celluloid film from Eastman when it was created. He was the first producer of the real cinema mystery.
Prior to this, George Georgiades and Tragides, bought six kinematics that led to the formation of the American Kinetoscope Company which later spread in London among them The Strand and Old Broad Street. Their effort to grow the business was met with resistance of expensive machines and scarcity. Edison was approached to sell films which he later declined (Anonymous, 23). This led them to Birt Acres, a pioneer in taking and projecting a 35mm film in Britain, to make a camera that would enable them shoot films. They were able to get films from American Celluloid Company and made their own films Acres as the cameraman.
Commercial film production started with Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race and with time a number of comic, dramatic and real subjects were easy to access. They comprised of The Arrest of Pickpocket, The Boxing Kangaroo and The Derby. The films are funny to the viewers and keeps them interested. The pictures screened in 1896 at the London Headquarters can still be accessed.
Later that year, Felicien Trewey, a French national introduced the first British screening prior to paying using Lumiere Cinematography in Regent Polytechnic. The charges I shilling extra for every viewer for a seat. A few years later, William Friese-Green through his research created the British cameras (Miller, 122). Though much credit is given to his rival Albert Smith for his massive contribution in the film industry. He created his film factory from a garden located in Hove, Brighton that he got through leasing. This garden has produced most of the early British films. The garden house was used for producing, and printing and later he created a glasshouse film studio. There were varied people in the film factory who played useful roles in the film production; Alfred Darling was the engineer who manufactured cameras, projectors an perforators, on the other hand Laura Bayley, Smiths wife took part in acting in the films same as Tom Brighton (Miller, 123). Come the later 1890s, Smith had created a successful film business. Some of the film produced were Carry On Films and Hammer Horror Films.
In the 1900s was noted with a surge of British films rocking the market and UK was fast trailing. The First World War slowed the film production industry as Britain took part in the war in all fronts. When the war, the industry started to rise and continue production, but the films still stuck to live theatre with the producers producing films as they have been acted in terms of actors and sets.
In comparison to other thriving industries in other countries, the British Film industry was trailing and technically irrelevant (Anonymous, 27). The industry thrived only on an audience that wanted to see American films. In 1918, finances ran dry and home production declined.
In 1924 the film industry came to a halt, however the Parliament allowed Cinematographers Trade Bill. This bill was made to make sure that the home market for the British films would thrive. This led to the reduction of films from other nations and more British films which, however, were of poor quality (Evans, 34). With time, the presence of sound made the British Film Industry to be stable and about 138 films hit the market and looked hopeful.
By 1933, it saw the production of religious films by J. Arthur Rank who founded several studios. He founded British National, Pinewood Studios with C.M. Woolf and Rank Organizations as well as the Odeon chain. In 1937, the rise was fast affected with a decline (Anonymous, 38). The quality of films produced were of poor quality and led to American Companies to acquire British companies so as to operate under the law of the market.
In the start of the WWII, the studio staff were taking part in the war leading to the decline of labour power with most studios being used as military houses resulting to just 60 films produced in a year. The public’s desire for realistic films led the British companies to focus on documentaries and movies about war. This was successful with Rank Organization being involved in the industry (Laurie, 37). The aim was to make British films to connect to the viewers from other countries. Moreover, television led to a drop in theatre films till closure.
The studios turned to producing television shows and TV movies so as to remain relevant. Albeit there were a limited number of successful spots in the coming few years, for instance Horror films, British production which were dying out. In the 50s to 70s, there have been restrictions on US studio soon had the US producing movies in the UK (Barber, 63). This made the US markets to have them taking over the British Industry.
The late 70s and 80s saw the British production shift to focus more on TV production and integrate it with special effects for big studios of American origin. This happened for movies like Superman, and Star Wars which had humans with special features and flashy. This offered the viewers with fantasies and appealed to most young viewers. However, the late 80s saw a drop of US production in Britain.
The British Film Industry can be termed to as resilient. It was filled with a number of autonomous British movies (Evans, 92). All through the 1990s, the British film production went up drastically with major movies like Trainspotting, Brassed Off, and Elizabeth, among others.
Conclusion
Today, the British industry is a formidable force and offers something more to look forward. The industry has gone through thick and thin to be where it is today and has pulled several viewers from other countries. The paper has focused on the history the British film has gone through from the 1890s to date. It has been able to show how the film industry came to be from the theatre performances to the modern movies. The development has passed through notable hands to be where it is. The Industry has since grown to be a strong resilient force in the film industry.
Works Cited
Anonymous. The British film and television industries: decline or opportunity?, 1st report of session 2009-10, Vol. 1: Report. The Stationery Office, 2010.
Barber, S. The British Film Industry in the 1970s: Capital, Culture and Creativity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
- Evans. British films die another day? (film industry). Accountacy, Volume 130, Issue 1312, 2002: pp. 34-36.
Miller, T. (ed). Who Are These People? Cinema Journal 47, no. 4, 2008: pp. 121-26.
N. Laurie. British Film Design: A History. New York: I.B. Tauris, 2010.
