The Lumiere Brothers
Antoine Lumiere farther of the Lumiere twins started of as a portrait artist but due to the low financial rewards he began manufacturing photographic equipment. With the help of his sons he developed a new 'Dry Plate' process known as 'Etiquette Bleue' which helped boost their financial status as they were producing 15,000,000 plates a year. Due to his success he was invited to a demonstration of Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope in Paris. Inspired by the Kinetoscope he bought back a piece of Kinetoscope film and presented it to his son's, he told them this is what they had to make as Edison sells at expensive prices. the brothers experimented in 1894 trying to improve of the size and weight problems of the Kinetoscope they also wanted to change the nature of the Kinetoscope as only one could experience the films at a time.
In 1895 the Brothers invented their own device called the Cinematographe, it was smaller than Edison's design,a lot lighter and was hand cranked. To use less film they reduced the frames per second to 16 compared to Edison's 48, this also helped to reduce the noise of the machine.
The brothers kept their new device very secret and was guarded closely, the screenings were private and were strictly invite only. The first screening of the device occurred on the 22nd of March 1985. Unlike Edison the Lumiere brothers were quick to protect their invention and placed a patent on the device. The first public screening was on 28th December at the Gran Cafe on Paris's Boulevard de Capuchines. Below is a video of a film which was played on the Cinematographe.
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