How the first movie was made

The story of the first movie ever made is not as simple as it seems. Early filmmakers experimented with capturing motion long before cinema became what we know today. From sequences of photographs to short moving clips, these early innovations laid the foundation for the global film industry. Here’s a six-slide breakdown of how the first movie came into existence.

The Beginning of Motion Capture (1878): The earliest example of a “movie” is often credited to Eadweard Muybridge and his work The Horse in Motion. It was created using a series of photographs to show a horse running, proving that all four hooves leave the ground at once.

Not a Film, But a Breakthrough: Originally, The Horse in Motion wasn’t a film in the modern sense, it was a sequence of still images. It only became a motion picture when projected later using a device called the zoopraxiscope. (wikimedia commons)

Extremely Short but Revolutionary: Though only a few seconds long, Roundhay Garden Scene was groundbreaking because it captured continuous motion on film, marking a major step toward modern cinema. (wikimedia commons)

The First True Film Clip (1888): The earliest surviving motion picture is Roundhay Garden Scene, created by Louis Le Prince. It lasted just about two seconds but is widely considered the first real film ever made. (wikimedia commons)

Birth of Public Cinema (1895): The Lumière Brothers revolutionised film by introducing the first public screening. Their short films, like workers leaving a factory, were shown to paying audiences in Paris, marking the birth of cinema as entertainment. (wikimedia commons)

The Legacy of Early Films: These early experiments inspired filmmakers like Thomas Edison and Georges Méliès, leading to storytelling, special effects, and the film industry we know today. (wikimedia commons)