In early years, the word sheet was sometimes used instead of screen.Īnimated GIF of Prof. Archaic terms include 'animated pictures' and 'animated photography'.Ĭommon terms for the field in general include the big screen, the silver screen, the movies, and cinema the last of these is commonly used, as an overarching term, in scholarly texts and critical essays. The most common term in the United States is movie, while in Europe film is preferred. Many other terms exist for an individual motion-picture, including picture, picture show, moving picture, photoplay, and flick. The name 'film' originally referred to the thin layer of photochemical emulsion on the celluloid strip that used to be the actual medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. An analogous optical soundtrack (a graphic recording of the spoken words, music and other sounds) runs along a portion of the film exclusively reserved for it, and was not projected.Ĭontemporary films are usually fully digital through the entire process of production, distribution, and exhibition. The apparent motion on the screen is the result of the fact that the visual sense cannot discern the individual images at high speeds, so the impressions of the images blend with the dark intervals and are thus linked together to produce the illusion of one moving image. A rotating shutter causes stroboscopic intervals of darkness, but the viewer does not notice the interruptions due to flicker fusion. The images are transmitted through a movie projector at the same rate as they were recorded, with a Geneva drive ensuring that each frame remains still during its short projection time. The moving images of a film are created by photographing actual scenes with a motion-picture camera, by photographing drawings or miniature models using traditional animation techniques, by means of CGI and computer animation, or by a combination of some or all of these techniques, and other visual effects.īefore the introduction of digital production, series of still images were recorded on a strip of chemically sensitized celluloid ( photographic film stock), usually at the rate of 24 frames per second. 3.7 1950s: growing influence of television.

Film semi