Scientific-cinema

Presentation

1978-05-10T08:56:00.024+02:00

This site presents a CD-rom, "Incunables du cinéma scientifique" which shows us the beginnings of scientific cinema. It is a production of CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) made in 1984.
"Incunables du cinéma scientifique" is an editing of the first representative scientific films, created between 1872 and 1911, even before Louis Lumière. Pictures are the results of the first cinema inventions and techniques. The cinema is also using like observations tools.

The different showed authors are :

Eadweard Muybridge : an English photographer
Etienne Jules Marey: a French physiologist
Louis Lumière : a French engineer
Clément Maurice : a French Filmmaker
Lucien Bull : Marey's assistant
Roberto Omegna : an Italian filmaker

Except some titles, there are no explanations because there is no speech in early cinema.
There are only pictures to help us understand. They intrigue us. We can answer these questions : what is the context in those days, what are the intentions of the authors and what are their contributions to cinema and science.

To have exactly references and to command this CD-Rom, let's go to the CNRS web site

Eadweard Muybridge

1977-05-10T09:18:00.016+02:00

Eadweard Muybridge is an English photographer (1830-1904). He emigrated in United states when he was 22 years.

Extracts descriptions :

We can see many different animals and peoples in various movements :

a wooman who is walking : this effect is esthetic with a naked bust.
a movement of a hand drowing a circle. It shows us the decomposition of hand movement.
a somersault which seems so easy !
a naked child who is climing on a chair with only three photographies.
Rute : bucking and kicking
Denver : a rafractory mule. It's an animation with much humour !
Hornet : jumping over three horses. In this extract we see a spectacular jump, which we see in slow motion.

Sciences and cinema interests :

He is the inventor of zoopraxiscope, the ancestor of cinema. This is a machin that can recomposed mouvements by photograhies successions.

In those days there was a polemic about horse gallop. A French physiologist Etienne Jules Marey affirmed that a galopping horse take off ground but he was contestated. Somebody who resolved this problem will get a price !
Eadweard Muybridge used photography with 24 cameras to show this theorie : a galopping horse take off ground.

It was by this way he was interested by movements and it was his obsession to photograph every movement. He used photography like a reliable and objective way.

Title: "Annie G." Galloping
Plate 626 of "Complete Human and Animal Locomotion"
by Edward Muybridge, 1887.

Results in animation

Webography :

Muybridge in Wikipedia
Muybridge chronology : This website presents a chronology which covers the life and work of Eadweard Muybridge

Etienne Jules Marey

1976-05-12T09:14:00.009+02:00

Etienne Jules Marey is a french physiologist (1830-1904).

Extracts descriptions :

Animals and people movements in this CD-Rom are like for Eadweard Muybridge very various. All is pretext to experimention !

a hen moving
a dog running
a cat falling. It's an experimentation. Somebody pushes a cat to show that a cat is falling on his legs !
a nacked man moving.
hight jump. In this extract we see a man who is jumping hight with technics in those days. We are not yet Fosbury technical !
a clown jumping
a trick-riding
hands shackings a cermeony in a good mood !

Sciences and cinema interests :

Etienne Jules Marey was one touch in quite brilliant. He influenced the medicine, the photography, opened the way to the cinema, worked on the fluids and even contributed to the aeronautics.
He invented chronophotographic gun, a light and transportable camera which can photograph a being in motion with 12 negatives.

chronophotographic gun

Webography :

Etienne Jules Marey in Wikipedia
File about Marey in BIUM

Louis lumière

1974-05-13T07:24:00.009+01:00

Louis Lumière ( 1862-1954) is a French engineer who contributed with his brother in cinema industrial developpement.

Extracts description :

A wall destruction. Louis Lumière is filming an everyday moment where people are working.
Photographic society conventioneer coming in 1885. Lumière is filming here the crowed. The people coming is well organized. People are going in the left or in the right. We can see elegance people : men with a hat and their hat woomen with a sunshabe. They seems well-off. The first man who comes is Pierre Janssen a french astronomer. He invented a photographic pistol who inspirated Etienne Jules Marey taked for his photographic gun.

Scientific cinema interests :

We can see in the pioneer cinema that people are so different : photographers (Muybridge) , scientifics like physiologist (Marey) astronomer (Janssen), engineers (Lumière). They are eclectique. They belong to elit and they meet between congressistes.
It needs time to work on new technics, join with passionate people and have a genious mind.

One of the first Lumière's poster

Webography

Lumière Brother in Wikipedia
Lumière museum

Clément Maurice

1973-05-13T13:08:00.009+01:00

Clément Maurice is a french photographer (1853-1933 ). He worked for Lumière brothers.

Extract description :

Clément Maurice filmed a medical operation by Doctor Doyen : separation of simase sisters, Rodiko and Dodiko made in 1898. It's frightening because of medical conditions in those days and Doctors are wearing apron like a butcher : not glove, not mask also little hygiene. We have no explications to know how it's happened.

Scientific and cinema interests :

This extract is one of the first documentary scientific film. We can compare medical conditions nowdays and in those days.

Netherless Docteur Doyen has broughted a lot of technics innovations in surgery. At first his films are made for a warned public : his colleagues and medical students.

He annoys, people are jealous. His films are viewed without his knowledge in fairs.

Webographie :

Clément Maurice in Wikipédia

Lucien Bull

1972-05-13T15:52:00.005+01:00

Lucien Bull is a Irish cinema pioneer (1876-1972). He was Marey's assistant.

Extracts decriptions :

different insects flights study (1904-1911). We can compare different insects flappings.

Insect flight

projectile impacts study : slow motions show different projectile impacts. Cinema was be used to improve armament technics.

Cinema and scientific contributions :

Lucien Bull's aim was to slow down time, he invented from 1902, automatism shooting. He invented ultraspeed cinema with automatism shooting : 4 pictures/seconde in 1904, 50 000 pictures/seconde in 1928, and even one million pictures/seconde in 1951.

Lucien Bull with Marey-wheel camera

Webography

Lucien Bull at Who's who of Victorian Cinema
Lucien Bull, a famous Irish inventor

Roberto Omegna

1970-05-13T17:35:00.010+01:00

Roberto Omegna is an Italian filmmaker (1876-1948).

Extracts descriptions :

Presentation of a neuropathy, a psychologic disease (1908). We see a woman who is Camillo Negro's patient. She's got a mask to remain anonymous. She explains her symptoms when she has a fit.
Flowers growing : we can observe for the first time the flowers growing with a speeding up. Imagine the surprise of the public when he discovered these pictures.
A rose opening out with poetic pictures !
"Le balle di Sapone" . This film is between the science and the circus, because we can observe physic properties of soap bubbles, with spectacular and beautifull pictures (bubbles reflections)

Flowers growing

Sciences and cinema interests :

In 20 years, he settled in Rome and created a scientific cinematography laboratory for LUCE, a national institute . He made over 150 films. Other researchers have used the cinema for their scientific researches like Roberto Omegna.

Webography :

Neuropathy in Roberto Omegna's film.

Conclusion

1970-01-25T15:27:00.007+01:00

The pioneers of scientific cinema are people so different : photographers (Muybridge) , scientifics like physiologist (Marey), engineers (Lumière bothers) or filmakers (Maurice, Bull, Omegna). They are so eclectique that they do complety different and various things.
With full of genius, they are inventors of new techniques. With slow or speed motions, they can do observations of experimentations. In this case, they are rigorous, obejectives like scientifics.
Sometimes we see that pictures can be funny, spectacular, poetic or dramatic. In this case, it seems like art cinema.

Later we have in France directors Jean-Yves Cousteau, an oceanograph or Haroun Tazieff, a vulcanologist who have largely contributed to the popularization of science.
The scientific cinema has risen from analysis of movement unlike recreate the movement from fixed images with new technologies like generated images.