France 100 Francs Silver Coin 1995 The Lumière Brothers, Pioneers of Cinema
Commemorative issue: 100th Anniversary of Cinema.
Obverse: The Lumière Brothers, Pioneers of Cinema
Lettering: CENTENAIRE DU CINÉMA FRÈRES LUMIÈRE
Engraver: Atelier de Paris.
Reverse: Lumière Cinématographe Camera (Cinématographe Lumière at the Institut Lumière, France)
Lettering: LIBERTÉ ÉGALITÉ FRATERNITÉ RF 100 FRANCS 1995
Edge: Smooth.
Value: 100 Francs.
Metal: Silver (.900).
Weight: 22.2 g.
Diameter: 37 mm.
Thickness: 2.2 mm.
Shape: Round.
Commemorative coins of France
100th Anniversary of Cinema
Lumière Brothers Federico Fellini Alfred Hitchcock
Brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière
The Lumière (brothers, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas (19 October 1862, Besançon, France – 10 April 1954, Lyon) and Louis Jean (5 October 1864, Besançon, France – 6 June 1948, Bandol), were the first filmmakers in history. They patented the cinematograph, which in contrast to Edison's "peepshow" kinetoscope allowed simultaneous viewing by multiple parties.
Their first film Workers Leaving The Lumière Factory in Lyon (French: La Sortie de l'Usine Lumière à Lyon, 1895) is considered the "first true motion picture."
The Lumière brothers were born in Besançon, France to Charles-Antoine Lumière (1840-1911) and Jeanne Joséphine Costille Lumière, who were married in 1861 and moved to Besancon, setting up a small photographic portrait studio where Auguste and Louise were born. They moved to Lyon in 1870, where son Edouard and three daughters were born. Auguste and Louis both attended La Martiniere, the largest technical school in Lyon. Their father Charles-Antoine set up a small factory producing photographic plates, but even with Louis and a young sister working from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. it teetered on the verge of bankruptcy, and by 1882 it looked as if they would fail, but when Auguste returned from military service the boys designed the machines necessary to automate their father's plate production and devised a very successful new photo plate, 'etiquettes bleue', and by 1884 the factory employed a dozen workers.
It was not until their father retired in 1892 that the brothers began to create moving pictures. They patented a number of significant processes leading up to their film camera, most notably film perforations (originally implemented by Emile Reynaud) as a means of advancing the film through the camera and projector. The original cinématographe had been patented by Léon Guillaume Bouly on 12 February 1892. The brothers patented their own version on 13 February 1895. The first footage ever to be recorded using it was recorded on March 19, 1895. This first film shows workers leaving the Lumière factory.
The Lumières brothers saw film as a novelty and had withdrawn from the film business in 1905. They went on to develop the first practical photographic color process, the Lumière Autochrome.
First film screenings
The Lumières held their first private screening of projected motion pictures in 1895. The American Woodville Latham had screened works of film seven months earlier, but the first public screening of films at which admission was charged was held on December 28, 1895, at Salon Indien du Grand Café in Paris. This history-making presentation featured ten short films, including their first film, Sortie des Usines Lumière à Lyon (Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory). Each film is 17 meters long, which, when hand cranked through a projector, runs approximately 50 seconds.
It is believed their first film was actually recorded that same year (1895) with Léon Bouly's cinématographe device, which was patented the previous year. The cinématographe — a three-in-one device that could record, develop, and project motion pictures — was further developed by the Lumières.
The public debut at the Grand Café came a few months later and consisted of the following ten short films (in order of presentation):
1. La Sortie de l'Usine Lumière à Lyon (literally, "the exit from the Lumière factory in Lyon", or, under its more common English title, Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory), 46 seconds
2. Le Jardinier (l'Arroseur Arrosé) ("The Gardener", or "The Sprinkler Sprinkled"), 49 seconds
3. Le Débarquement du Congrès de Photographie à Lyon ("the disembarkment of the Congress of Photographers in Lyon"), 48 seconds
4. La Voltige ("Horse Trick Riders"), 46 seconds
5. La Pêche aux poissons rouges ("fishing for goldfish"), 42 seconds
6. Les Forgerons ("Blacksmiths"), 49 seconds
7. Repas de bébé ("Baby's Breakfast" (lit. "baby's meal")), 41 seconds
8. Le Saut à la couverture ("Jumping Onto the Blanket"), 41 seconds
9. La Places des Cordeliers à Lyon ("Cordeliers Square in Lyon"—a street scene), 44 seconds
10. La Mer (Baignade en mer) ("the sea [bathing in the sea]"), 38 seconds
The Lumières went on tour with the cinématographe in 1896, visiting Brussels (the first place a movie was played outside Paris on the Galleries Saint-Hubert on March 1. 1896), Bombay, London, Montreal, New York and Buenos Aires.
The moving images had an immediate and significant influence on popular culture with L'Arrivée d'un Train en Gare de la Ciotat (literally, "the arrival of a train at La Ciotat", but more commonly known as Arrival of a Train at a Station) and Carmaux, défournage du coke (Drawing out the coke). Their actuality films, or actualités, are often cited as the first, primitive documentaries. They also made the first steps towards comedy film with the slapstick of L'Arroseur Arrosé.
Early color photography
The brothers stated that "the cinema is an invention without any future" and declined to sell their camera to other filmmakers such as Georges Méliès. This made many film makers upset. Consequently, their role in the history of film was exceedingly brief. In parallel with their cinema work they experimented with colour photography. They worked on a number of colour photographic processes in the 1890s including the Lippmann process (interference heliochromy) and their own 'bichromated glue' process, a subtractive colour process, examples of which were exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900. This last process was commercialised by the Lumieres but commercial success had to wait for their next colour process. In 1903 they patented a colour photographic process, the "Autochrome Lumière", which was launched on the market in 1907. Throughout much of the 20th century, the Lumière company was a major producer of photographic products in Europe, but the brand name, Lumière, disappeared from the marketplace following merger with Ilford. They also invented the color plate which really got photography on the road.