Movies have been around since Thomas Edison’s invention of the Kinetoscope in 1894. The Kinetoscope, or peep show, was a tall, wooden box that allowed a person to look inside and see moving images. Viewing images was made possible by the film moving past a shutter over a light source. The Kinetoscope, however, had a two major flaws: the images viewed were jerky and didn’t move smoothly, and the viewing time for one show was only twenty seconds. Improvements to the Kinetoscope allowed it to hold more film and present at least a full minute of animation.
Many early films had the theme of popular culture: dancers, performances, or reenactments of historical events. Later innovations between 1894 and 1900 include the projection of film onto a screen or wall, allowing more people to view a film at once. This new medium (called the Vitoscope) diffused quickly across the United States, with screenings being held in Virginia, Georgia in 1895, and in New Orleans the next year. Many of the motion pictures told stories, but the first films shown in Texas documented various events, one being the aftermath of a hurricane in 1900.
The first film company to be established in Texas was the Wheelan-Loper Film Company of Dallas and San Antonio on July 18, 1908. 42 years later, in 1950, the company was declared inactive. With many of the film companies being firmly established in the Hollywood-Los Angeles area in California, and the New York-New Jersey area on the East Coast, Texas could not compete in the film industry. Instead of basing film companies in Texas, East and West Coast based companies would have location shooting in different parts of the state, the trend beginning in 1918; Samuel Goldwyn filmed Heart of the Sunset in San Antonio for a film company in
New York. The Fox Film Company also filmed The Warrens of Virginia in San Antonio. The ingenious use these sites for shootings reduced production costs for studios, encouraging many other film companies to film in this states. Many army bases in San Antonio provided sets for the Rough Riders, West Point of the Air, and Air Cadet. Filming in Texas did not mature as an industry until the 1970s, and only a few scenes were shot in the state, despite the perfect scenery for a Western-themed movie. One such movie, North of 36, was filmed near Houston along with one of its remakes The Texans.
Famous Western movies filmed during this time period include Sundown, and The Big Show. Another popular Texan genres is the battle of the Alamo, with ten movies being filmed in this genre; the first one to be filmed is titled The Immortal Alamo, followed by: The Alamo, Seguin, and Alamo… The Price of Freedom, all of these using the replica in Brackettville. Texas filming reached a turning point when movies filmed during the 1950’s or after (Viva Zapata! (’52), Giant (’56), and Bonnie and Clyde (’67)) attracted attention across the nation.
In 1971, the Texas Film Commission (founded by Governor Preston Smith) was established; after that, over one hundred movies were shot in Texas, and in the 1980s, that number was doubled to about two hundred forty seven. Walter Elias Disney Walter Elias “Walt Disney was born in 1901 in Chicago, IL. Five years later, his family moves to Marceline, MO, where Walter is raised on a farm and gains an interest in drawing. Later his family moves to Kansas City, MO because his father, Elias has to sell their farm. In Kansas City, Walter works for his father’s paper route, and falls in love with vaudeville and movies.
In 1917, the Disney family moves back to Chicago; Walter attends McKinley High School and draws pictures for their newspaper, with hopes of being a newspaper cartoonist. Evenings after school, Walter would attend classes at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. In 1918, Disney joins Red Cross Ambulance Corps, but arrived in Europe just as WW1 was coming to a close. Despite this, his time spent in France inspired him to work for a commercial art studio when he was discharged. When he couldn’t find satisfactory work in the film business, he moved to Hollywood in 1923 with his brother, Roy.
Together, they founded Laugh-O-Gram Films, a company that made animated commercials shown in movie theatres. By 1927, Walter and Roy had formed the Disney Brother’s Cartoon Studio. The next year, they released a Mickey Mouse theme titled “Steamboat Willie”, the first synchronized sound cartoon. This moment marked the beginning of Disney. During Walter’s life, he received over 800 awards, including 39 Oscars and four Emmies. Walter was a man who saw himself as an entertaining individual with a creative vision, and was involved in every aspect of his company’s growth.
He was the kind of entrepreneur to risk his fortune on a project’s success. On December 15, 1966, Walter Elias Disney dies of lung cancer, leaving behind a fabulous legacy. The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company is the world’s second largest media company, with a revenue of over twenty five billion dollars in the year 2000. 46% of their income comes from films, publishing, and merchandise, 23% of their income comes from theme parks and resorts, and the other 31% comes from broadcasting.
The company has many internet, music, recreational, publishing, broadcasting, and (obviously) filming assets, including: • ABC. om • Family. com • Lyric Street Records • Mammoth Records • Walt Disney Records • Walt Disney World • the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim • Hyperion Books • Discover Magazine • SoapNet • A&E • Touchstone Pictures • Miramax Films • and Buena Vista Home Entertainment The company was founded by Disney brothers Walt and Roy. Walt handled the animation, while his older brother handled the financing. The company was born from Walt’s idea of a character named Mortimer Mouse. His wife, however, suggested the name Mickey because Mortimer sounded too formal.
In 1937, Disney released their first full-length animation film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The 1950s was a time Disney experienced much success and growth through television, the first Disney TV show being One Hour in Wonderland. Until 1984, Disney was a family-owned business; towards the end of that year, Disney was taken over by other stockholders, with Michael D. Einser as the CEO of the company. The Disneyland and DisneyWorld theme park turned out to be extremely successful; 47. 5 million people visited the parks in 1996.
On the contrary, Euro Disney, opened in 1992, was not successful, having operating losses for its first three years and losing one million dollars per day at one point, but it is now France’s number one tourist attraction due to changes in 1995. As many people already know, The Disney Company markets merchandise primarily to young children. In 1929, the company got the rights to use Mickey Mouse on school-related objects. Other merchandise includes jewelry, silverware, and toys. The use of Mickey Mouse on merchandise greatly helped with the selling of movies and vice versa.
In 1994, Disney releases another successful film: The Lion King. Disney received profits of about 250 million dollars from world-wide box office, and approximately 400 million dollars from home video sales. Since 1997, Disney has had trouble remaining popular; kids lose interest at a much younger age than in previous years, teenagers and preteens see Disney’s family-centered entertainment as boring. A couple of things Disney has done to stay popular is making itself present on the internet, with Zoog Disney, and producing fast-paced movies, succeeding with the release of Tarzan in 1999.
