George Melies and his contributions to cinema history
The film industry encompasses technological and commercial organizations of filmmaking. The story of the Kelly Gang was the first feature film to be produced and its production was done in Australia. This film was produced and directed by Charles Tait and Dan Barry in 1906. By 1911, other countries were also beginning to show some interest in feature films. The modern film industry has evolved over the years and it is still evolving. Famous filmmakers such as George Melies made important contributions to the development of early cinema. He is recognized as the pioneer of early cinema, special effects, and the invention of bizarre ideas about the big screen. Jim Glichrist of the …show more content…

His interest grew with age because he was exposed to different stage performances. This further gave him the impetus to want to establish his own film business as well as take part in stage performances.
Melies’ work and talent had great influence on the European and American directors. He was a source of inspiration and someone they could look up for ideas. Edwin porter who was recognized for his film ‘Life as a fireman’ made ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ drawing his ideas from Melies’ version of the film ‘Bluebeard’ Another filmmaker who used Melies’ photography technique was Ferdinand Zecca who borrowed ideas to produce ‘Ali Baba et les 40 Voleurs’ and ‘Aladin’ in 1902. Other people who claimed to owe their success of Melies include Charlie Chaplain and D.W. Griffith. Rene Clairs a French film director also praised Melies work, his tribute to Melies was titled ‘Le silence est d’or’ (silence is golden). These people looked up to Melies because he had proved to be an expert in film work. His films were successful that some people pirated them. His brother Gaston Melies stopped this pirating by registering Melies copies with the Library of Congress (Ezra, 2000).
The work of Melies also included the creation of fantasy narratives. The films did not only focus on everyday life. An example of such a scene is when heads that are detached from the human body are thrown into the air and let to