Cinema, film, or motion pictures started over a hundred years ago, and has come a very long way from the silent short clips of the yore, to the multimillion dollar HD blockbusters seen today. Film as a medium is too dynamic and rich not to have influenced culture, art and even politics in the last century.
Before film, there were many narrative art forms such as plays, dances and other forms of art. These had a direct influence on the subject matter of early cinema. Many films would deal with mythological stories, and in any case present the scene in a theatrical manner. Film language as a separate concept developed slowly as the medium started gaining popularity.
Silent films reigned supreme for thirty years. Even though these films may seem funny and incongruous with our world today, these were the precursors to the films that we see today, and will hold an important place in the history of entertainment for longer than most ! (more...)
