Early Silent Films

1. The main reason actors and actresses were not instant movie stars in early films is because of the studios that produced all of the early silent films. Actors were not credited for their work so it was very difficult to know the name of actors and who they were outside of their films. Studios believed that if the actors were credited they would demand more money. Another problem was that acting in movies was seen as lesser than acting in theatre at the time. Also, films back then rarely had close ups of actors and if they did the same person was not featured multiple times so very few actors had instant recognition like they do now.
2. The Great Train Robbery was a breakthrough film because it was the first narrative film and it introduced many techniques for the very first time. These techniques include minor camera movement, shooting at a location instead of a studio, and editing the film after shooting.
3.  The Edison Trust, also known as the Motion Picture Patents Company, was founded in 1908 and dissolved after ten years and was made up of all the major American film companies. The independent film makers absolutely won the fight. The MPPC relied too heavily on their patents which eventually led to their fall. By the time the big name companies released their first feature films hundreds of feature films had been released by independent film makers.
4. While Edison, Melies and the Lumiere brothers operated in the same time they were immensely different in the films that they produced. Edison used the sun for lighting but was still shot within a studio. They generally only lasted for 30-45 seconds from a single long shot which meant no editing. The camera also never moved in Edison's films, it was a single set with no movement of location. Edison's films also never contained any true plot or material value. They seem to be meant purely for visual entertainment with no message.
The Lumiere brothers were quite different from Edison but still shared some similarities. They too used the sun for lighting and shot from a single long shot angle. They also never edited their films. The Lumiere brothers' films were slightly longer at 60-75 seconds and contained scenes of everyday life. However the people featured in their films were average people, not actors like Edison and Melies used in their films. The Lumiere brothers shot out of studio at locations unlike Edison which was very different for the time. They also dabbled in small movements of the camera in some of their films but like Edison their films had no real plot.
Melies was by far the most different of the these three film makers but still had a few expected similarities. In his films there was no editing within the scenes, they were shot from a single long shot angle and contained no camera movement. Yet unlike Edison and the Lumiere brothers, Melies films were many minutes long. This meant multiple strips of film had to be edited and cut so they could be made into one film. His films also had a real story to tell to the audience, it was not meant for purely visual pleasure. It was meant to make the audience actually pay attention to a film for an extended period of time. Melies films used fabricated sets, so the set was made specifically for that scene in the film. These sets did not just include actors, his films had actors, acrobats, and magicians. A few of Melies films contain camera tricks, like the stop trick, which is pausing the film and adding or removing an object then the film was started again, making appear as if it had just magically appeared there. Lastly, some of Melies films had colored scenes which was very time consuming as each frame had to be painted by hand one by one. However the image it created was much more appealing to audiences.