Film Through The Ages, Tuesday, Period 3

[chosehumanity]

"Morning."

Mitchell clapped his gloved hands once. His appearance before the class was in all aspects a lot healthier-looking than the last time he did this; after a few months, he was feeling better about this entire 'cold turkey' business. He grinned at the class, shifting his stance lightly. "I'm Mitchell. Please don't call me professor, I'm not that old." Liar. "Welcome to Film Through the Ages, where I'll be asking you all to put your Ace Ventura Ray Venturous crap aside to talk about the classics. Some of you might not come from a time where they've got films. I'll be making sure you all manage to keep up, all right?"

He pressed a button on the laptop he had in front of him, displaying some pictures. "This is the start of film," he said, "Or at least in the history as we're looking at it. Eadweard Muybridge, a photographer, made these around 1878. He mostly did them to contribute to the anatomical sciences." He tilted his head at the pictures. "Heh. Anyway, these pictures were done in the shape of something that was already common at the time: lanterns, in use since the seventeenth century, could show pictures. Add a spinning disk, or Zoetrope, and it looks as if the pictures are moving." He pressed a key again, causing the pictures to move. "Neat, yeah?"

He moved on. "He wasn't interested in making films," he continued, "That was left to the people who were inspired by this work, such as Thomas Edison. Although it was really his assistance, Dickson, who did most of the work. Lazy git." He grinned at the screen for a few seconds before he continued. "They practically invented film stock. Took film, in use for cameras, and spliced them together, slapped four holes in them and made it ready to put it through their invention, the Kinetoscope. The first device that could ever show film. They were these boxes," he made a gesture, "You'd have to lean over to take a peek at the film inside. Couldn't last much longer than twenty seconds, but it was huge for the time."

He looked up at the picture on the screen. "What followed were films that might seem simple now, but they were a huge crowd-gatherer back in 1895, when they were first shown." Also the year in which he was born, which meant he was approaching steadier ground. "Just a single shot. It was experimenting on a large scale. The Lumieres got involved - they made loads of these small films. Got their work all over the place by 1897. Things really started to pick up around then - by 1902, you had George Melies and A Trip to the Moon, the first science fiction movie ever made. But we'll get to that next week."

He had maybe gotten carried away just a bit. "I'd like you all to introduce yourselves. That's normal for these classes. Your name, your favorite film if any, and one thing you've encountered in your life that really should be put on film." He pointed at a student at random. "Go ahead."

[[ Wait for the OCD up! ]]

Comments

Sign In

[chosehumanity]

Like you're in stop-motion.

Re: Sign In

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

Eleanor Robinson

Listen to the Lecture

[chosehumanity]

Listen to Mitchell, hang around on the comfy chairs he's got set up, watch his little powerpoint presentation unfold or just talk amongst yourselves. He doesn't much care.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

Eleanor was paying rapt attention. Moving pictures were an exciting thing to her.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[bitten_notshy]

Jack was enjoying the comfy chairs, mostly, and feeling ... oh, about 127, to remember and recognize all of this. (Though in slightly altered form, since the film industry was a bit ahead of itself in his world.) Still, he didn't mind familiar ground.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[icecoldfrost]

Comfy chairs were fantastic, and Emma curled up in one with her cup of coffee clutched tightly in her hands.

So far Mitchell was winning for Best Professor Ever, especially compared to her Monday class, and it seemed like this was going to be both educational and fun. Now if only the rest of her classes could maintain this level of awesome...

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

Robin was fascinated by these early films. How cool it must have been to be on the cutting edge like that.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[ashockingbitch]

Wow, this really took Jenny back. Plus, she approved of the comfy chairs and the attractiveness of the teacher.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[she-sheds.livejournal.com]

The chairs were comfortable. This was probably surprising to nobody except Joolushko. And she did enjoy history, even if it was history of a planet like this one.

Introduce Yourself

[chosehumanity]

Name, favorite film, one thing in your life that should be put on film!

Re: Introduce Yourself

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

"I'm Eleanor Robinson and I don't really have a favorite film as they have not been wide spread in my time. I can't really think of anything from my life that should be on film." Not anything that she was comfortable with anyway.

Re: Introduce Yourself

[bitten_notshy]

"Jack Priest, I haven't seen a great many films yet but my favorite I've seen is metaMaltese Falcon, and .... something to put on film." He mused for a moment before deciding he could talk about the first thing he thought of. "There was a murder during our voyage here. That case might make for an interesting sort of film."

Re: Introduce Yourself

[icecoldfrost]

"Emma Frost, and really, almost anything with Katharine Hepburn is a personal favorite," she mused. "Although you can't pry me away from the television if meta for Bringing Up Baby or Lion in Winter is on."

Yes, Emma was a sap for snappy patter and screwball comedy. Which she would probably never admit outside of class, but that was just fine.

"And really, there's nothing exciting enough from my life to put on film," she lied demurred sweetly. "Not yet, anyway."

Re: Introduce Yourself

[mauledbyabear.livejournal.com]

"I'm Emmett Cullen and my favorite movie is metaThe Godfather. And I think that my older brother should be put on film because he's insane."

What? Edward alphabetized the cleaning supplies. That was totally screwed up!

Re: Introduce Yourself

[wantstobehuman.livejournal.com]

George waved at the rest of the class, a little more confident today than he usually seemed; the full moon did, after all, have that effect on him.

"My name's George," he said, "George Sands, and I guess I'd say my favorite film is Denizen Blaine (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033467/)." Not that he was playing up to Mitchell's preferred movies or anything. And, hey, he had enjoyed it in its own right. "As for my life... this school would make a good fantasy film."

Re: Introduce Yourself

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

"I'm Robin, my favorite film...well I'd say the Muppet Movie but I'm a little biased so I'll say Black Diamond. And I think Fandom High should be made into a movie."

Re: Introduce Yourself

[ashockingbitch]

"Jenny Sparks, I really like meta for Casablanca," she said, glaring around as if daring anyone to call her a sap, "or else anything with scads of poorly rendered violence to amuse me, and. I have to pick just one thing? Because if I have to pick just one I'll say my wedding, that was pretty epic. Oh, and can I smoke in this class?"

Re: Introduce Yourself

[she-sheds.livejournal.com]

"I'm Joolushko Tunai Fenta Hovalis," Joolushko said. "I've never seen any of your films. And I don't think anything in my life needs to be recorded for the masses." Mostly because she didn't like the masses.

Watch Old Films

[chosehumanity]

Five minutes of old-school Kinetoscope footage, twenty seconds a pop. Watch, talk amongst yourselves, and so on. If you feel like sitting through it, there's even a set-up to watch some early Lumiere films.

Re: Watch Old Films

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

Eleanor watched both. Repeatedly. It was fascinating!

...perhaps she needed to hang out in common rooms more often.

Re: Watch Old Films

[bitten_notshy]

Jack hadn't seen these films precisely, but they were enough like what he had seen that he watched with one eye and some nostalgia, and used the other eye to observe the other students.

Re: Watch Old Films

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

Robin stared raptly. "Woooooow."

Talk to the TA

[chosehumanity]

If George pings in!

Re: Talk to the TA

[wantstobehuman.livejournal.com]

George did, in fact, ping in, and was there to help any students who needed it!

... He knew rather a lot more about recent films, so he might not be much help here. On the other hand, please don't talk to him about Vin Diesel.

Talk to Mitchell

[chosehumanity]

Who's here and considering the class with an expression that might be slightly suspicious if you're looking for it.

Re: Talk to Mitchell

[longislandiceme]

Bobby was not in this class, but Kate was, which is why he was here holding his roommate in his arms (that was still weird every time he thought about it too much).

"Uh, sir? Dude?"

OOC

[chosehumanity]

*flooops* Oh, I am going to dork out *way* too much with this class. Y'all beware.

Re: OOC

[wantstodirect]

Tony's going to be very sorry he missed this class.