Lumiere's Arrival of the Train: Cinema's Founding Myth

         Train Pulling into a Station (L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat) is an 1895 French short black-and-white silent documentary film directed and produced by Auguste and Louis Lumière. Contrary to myth, it was not shown at the Lumières' first public film screening on 28 December 1895 in Paris, France: the programme of ten films shown that day makes no mention of it. Its first public showing took place in January 1896.

      This 50-second silent film shows the entry of a train pulled by a steam locomotive into a train station in the French coastal town of La Ciotat. Like most of the early Lumière films, L'arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat consists of a single, unedited view illustrating an aspect of everyday life. There is no apparent intentional camera movement, and the film consists of one continuous real-time shot.

 

      The film is associated with an urban legend well known in the world of cinema. The story goes that when the film was first shown, the audience was so overwhelmed by the moving image of a life-sized train coming directly at them that people screamed and ran to the back of the room. Hellmuth Karasek in the German magazine Der Spiegel wrote that the film "had a particularly lasting impact; yes, it caused fear, terror, even panic. However, some have doubted the veracity of this incident such as film scholar and historian Martin Loiperdinger (de) in his essay, "Lumiere's Arrival of the Train: Cinema's Founding Myth". Whether or not it actually happened, the film undoubtedly astonished people in the audience who were unaccustomed to the amazingly realistic illusions created by moving pictures. 

       The Lumière brothers clearly knew that the effect would be dramatic if they placed the camera on the platform very close to the arriving train. Another significant aspect of the film is that it illustrates the use of the long shot to establish the setting of the film, followed by a medium shot, and close-up. (As the camera is static for the entire film, the effect of these various "shots" is affected by the movement of the subject alone.) The train arrives from a distant point and bears down on the viewer, finally crossing the lower edge of the screen.

        If you want to gain new skills and express their creativity in a fun and friendly environment by using high quality equipment and resources come to our workshops which are made possible due to the support of Essex County Council funding.        You can book online through our website (www.signals.org.uk booking fee applies) or you can save the booking fee and call Signals direct on 01206 560255. 

Amazing Stop Motion Animations

Have you wondered what stop motion animation means? It is an animation technique to make an object seem to move on its own by moving the object in small increments between individually photographed frames. When put together as a sequence the frames create the illusion of movement. It is basically the modern version of drawing on the corner of your notebook sheets and then playing with it. 

Well, as a digital media organisation, we focus on technology, not on notebooks. :) 

Therefore two of our children workshops are based on stop motion. We have 'Claymation' for the younger, 7+ aged, kids, and 'Stop Motion Animation' for young people 12+ years old.

One of the most famous film directors has started developing his talent at the same age as our talented young filmmakers. Tim Burton was only 13 years old when he created the stop motion animation 'The Island of Doctor Agor' in his backyard on Evergreen Street. The significant animation Corpse Bride (2005) is his first full-length stop motion animation. 

Today we are going to show you three unique stop motion animations that have revolutionised the world of digital media. 

In 2010, a film about the adventures of a 9mm girl called Dot, living in a microscopic world, became the world's smallest animation at that time. New technology combined with a lot of creativity and imagination produced this amazing film.

The teeny-tiny movie is created by Sumo Science at Aardman and shot with a CellScope, invented by Professor Fletcher. For the purpose of the animation, 50 different versions of the main character were created with a 3D printer. 

If you are amazed by this animation, wait to see the next one. 

The researchers of IBM had entertained themselves at work by creating a movie made with atoms. Yes, you read it right! 'A Boy And His Atom' really is made by moving atoms and therefore it is now The World's Smallest Stop Motion Animation. It is so small that it can be seen only when it is magnified 100 million times. 

An animation called 'Entropy' made for IdN magazine by Physalia is created by shooting 2,000 photographs of different water drops and combining them in a video. 

You can learn more about the process of making it and see the video here. 

The team was inspired by Markus Reugels' stunning photographs of the Earth in water drops. 

We, Signals Media Arts Centre, also have quite a few animations to show off with. The children attending our workshop has amazed us with their creativity and talent. We are very proud of them! 

You can watch the animations made during our latest Stop Motion Animation workshop here and tell us what you think! : )  

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