Cinematography

CINEMATOGRAPHY
The process of producing the illusion of a moving picture. Cinematography includes two phases: the taking of the picture with a camera and the showing of the picture with a projector. The camera captures the action by taking a series of still pictures at regular intervals; the projector flashes these pictures on a screen at the same frequency, thus producing an image on the screenthat appears to move. This illusion is possible only because of the persistence of vision of the human eye. The still pictures appear on the screen many times a second, and although the screen is dark equally as long as it is lighted by the projected image, they do not seem to be a series of pictures but appear to the viewer to be one continuous picture.

HISTORY
The first attempt atcinematography can be traced back to the world's first motion picture film, Roundhay Garden Scene. It was a sequence directed by Louis Le Prince, French inventor and showman, on October 14, 1888 in the garden at Oakwood Grange in Roundhay, Leeds, West Yorkshire, This groundbreaking event happened seven years before the Lumière Brothers' Sortie de l'usine Lumière à Lyon made the first paid exhibition onDecember 28, 1895 at Le Grand Café, in Paris, France. This date is known as the birth of cinema since it was the first time the cycle of production-distribution-exhibition happened. The European city soon became the motion picture capital of the world.
Cinematography is an art form unique to motion pictures. Although the exposing of images on light-sensitive elements dates back to the early 19thcentury (Canadian Geographic), motion pictures demanded a new form of photography and new aesthetic techniques.
In the infancy of motion pictures, the cinematographer was usually also the director and the person physically handling the camera. As the art form and technology evolved, a separation between director and camera operator emerged. With the advent of artificial lighting and faster (morelight sensitive) film stocks, in addition to technological advancements in optics and various techniques such as color film and widescreen, the technical aspects of cinematography necessitated a specialist in that area.
Cinematography was key during the silent movie era - no sound apart from background music, no dialogue - the films depended on lighting, acting and set.
In 1919, in Hollywood, thenew motion picture capital of the world, one of the first (and still existing) trade societies was formed: the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), which stood to recognize the cinematographer's contribution to the art and science of motion picture making. Similar trade associations have been established in other countries, too.

The ASC defines cinematography as
A creative andinterpretive process that culminates in the authorship of an original work of art rather than the simple recording of a physical event. Cinematography is not a subcategory of photography. Rather, photography is but one craft that the cinematographer uses in addition to other physical, organizational, managerial, interpretive and image-manipulating techniques to effect one coherent process.

THE FIRSTMOVIES:

The arrival of a train station

Sprinkler watering fun.

THE PRESENT OF CINEMATOGRAPHY
Digital cinematography:
Refers to the use of digital technology to distribute and project motion pictures. A movie can be distributed via hard drives, optical disks (such as DVDs) or satellite and projected using a digital projector instead of a conventional film projector. Digital cinemais distinct from high-definition television and, in particular, is not dependent on using television or HDTV standards, aspect ratios, or frame rates. Digital projectors capable of 2K resolution began deploying in 2005, and since 2006, the pace has accelerated (2K refers to images with 2,048 pixels of horizontal resolution).
Recent developments
In February 2005, Arts Alliance Media was...