Description
Book SynopsisUnique and essential reading from a lifetime innovator in the field of cinema technology, this engaging and well-illustrated book will appeal to anyone interested in the history and science of cinema, from movie buffs to academics and members of the motion picture industry.
Trade Review“The book features a beautiful iconographic apparatus that, together with its author’s wide-ranging knowledge of technology and material- oriented approach to the evolution of the medium, make it particularly well suited as a companion to more traditional cinema histories for teachers of film courses and scholars of film technology in general.” (Sabrina Negri, Technology and Culture, Vol. 63 (4), October, 2022)
“If you’re studying computer science with a view to working in animation or movie production, you absolutely should read it. And if you’re not, you will find that the pictures and descriptions of the devices that led to what we see in our cinemas today are absolutely fascinating.” (G. K. Jenkins, Computing Reviews, July 4, 2022)
“His point of view is both authoritative and fascinating … . Lenny Lipton's The Cinema in Flux is richly illustrated, and also contains a bibliography, a list of patents, and an index. It is a most pleasurable read, as the author moves joyfully, eruditely, and eloquently between eras, personalities, and systems. An instant classic, no less.” (Laurent Mannoni, Journal of Film Preservation, Issue 105, November, 2021)
Table of ContentsIntroduction
The Cinema of Real Motion
1. Huygens and the Magic Lantern
2. The Magic Lanternists
3. Lantern Light and Glass
Apparent Motion: Discovered and Applied
4. Plateau Invents the Phenakistoscope
5. A Persistent Myth
6. The Zoëtrope and the Praxinoscope
7. Daguerre’s Photography
8. Fox Talbot’s Photography
9. Protocinematography
10. Muybridge and Anschütz
11. Chronophotography: Janssen, Marey, Demenÿ
The 35mm Medium
12. Edison, Dickson, and the Kineto Project
13. The Kinetograph
14. The Kinetoscope: Projection’s Inspiration
15. Lambda, Mutoscope, and Bitzer
16. Jenkins and Armat: American Projection
17. The Lumières and the Europeans
18. Edison and the Trust
19. Porter the Filmmaker
20. Porter and the Simplex
21. Camera Design before WWII
22. Camera Design after WWII
23. Ciné Lenses: Part I
24. Ciné Lenses: Part II
Sound
25. Silent Sound
26. Synchronizing the Phonograph
26. Electronics for Talking Shadows
27. The Origins of Sound-on-Film
28. One Man Bands: Lauste and Tykociner
30. Tri-Ergon
31. De Forest and Case
32. Phonofilm
33. William Fox Hears the Future
34. Vitaphone
35. Movietone
36. RCA vs. ERPI
37. William Fox vs. the Industry
38. Optical Sound Evolution
39. Multichannel, Magnetic, and Digital Sound
Color
40. Applied Color
41. Color Elucidated
42. Color Photography before the Movies
43. Urban and the Origins of Kinemacolor
44. The Rise and Fall of Kinemacolor
45. Additive Color after Kinemacolor
46. Subtractive Technologies
47. Kelly’s Color Microcosm
48. TruColor and Cinecolor
49. Two-Color Technicolor
50. Three-Color Technicolor
51. Agfa and Ansco Color
52. Eastman Color
Small Formats
53. Early Small Formats
54. 16mm
55. Kodachrome
56. Double 8mm and Super 8
The Big Wide Screen
57. The Shape of Screens to Come
58. Grandeur et al
59. Expanded Screen: The Interregnum Ends
60. This is Cinerama
61. Cinerama after Waller
62. CinemaScope
63. ‘Scope Variations
64. Wide Screen and VistaVision
65. Todd-AO
66. 65/70mm
67. IMAX and PLF Exhibition
The Stereoscopic Cinema
68. Early 3-D
69. Polarization Image Selection
70. 3-D in the Last Half of the 20th Century
Television
71. Vision at a Distance
72. Jenkins and Baird
73. Farnsworth
74. Zworykin
75. Broadcasting Begins
76. Color Wars: CBS vs. RCA
77. High Definition Television
78. Film to Video and the VTR
Electronic Cinema
79. Electronic Cinematography and CGI
80. The Origins of Digital Technology
81. Post-production and Industry Accommodation
82. A Brief History of Electronic Projection
83. Digital Projection and 3-D Converge
