The cinematograph of the Lumière's brothers

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The cinematograph of Lumière's brothers was multipurpose. It was a camera, and also a projector.

During a trip in Paris, Antoine Lumière, Louis and Auguste's father discovered, the «kinetoscope» of Thomas Edison ; after that, he asked his sons to invent a rival machine, which could also be a projection in lanse screen. Then it was devised in 1896 in Paris, by Jules Carpentier. It was unfortunately fixed but it had an advantage, it was very light, which allowed to move it really easily!

Lumière's brothers had rapidly a lot of success in Lyon. So they decided to train people to film and to show. After that, they sent them to other countries, all around the world. So, these operators filmed people they met and invited them to come and see themselves in a café during the projection. With that, people bought the cinematograph. Furthermore, the operators brought back some little documentaries from their trips.

To describe a little the machine, its metal body is painted, with on the side two doors with "control glasses", a place for the water tank (to cool down the camera). The base is in wood and the chimney in varnished copper .

Finally, to make this object work,  you had to place the blank film inside, winded it on a number of coils and placed it in front of the lens that received the light. This allowed you to have low-sensitivity photos at a speed of 16 frames per second. A handle was used to manually rotate the film.

Ophélie Morard et Lisa Varin, 1L2. 

 http://fr.wikipedia.org

On this poster, we can see a showing entitled "L'Arroseur arrosé" (The Biter bitten) by the Lumière brothers. The spectators are rich people who have come with their families, as we can see thanks to the presence of the child. People seem cheerful and amused.

"L'Arroseur arrosé" was the first short film by the Lumière brothers to relate a story, which is why it is still famous. The drawer pictured bourgeois people to explain that cinema wasn't reserved to underprivileged people, even if it used to be scorned for a while. The child is here to embody family life. The policeman is present to ensure the security pf the spectators in case of fire.

Léane Grasser and Célia Hocine