George Melies

George Melies is a pioneer in the world of Film and editing, he is the man that directed a Trip to the Moon, invented such transitions as the jump cut, Fade in ,Fade out and the overlapping dissolve.

George Melies in 1890-

Melies was originally a magician, he ran the Theater Rober Houdon. He was at a screening of a film created by Lumiere Brothers, Melies was so impressed by the product and the camera he decided to create his won. After creating his own camera by taking apart and tinkering with a anomotgraph, he used his camera to record his productions and within months of his first screening, he was screening in his production in his stage shows.

The Theater Rober Houdon-

In the fall of 1896 Melies was in Paris, filming a scene of a bus however, in the middle of a take his camera jammed. When he reviewed the jammed footage he discovered an amazing discovery. The bus he was filming in the scene transformed into a hearse right there on the screen and right there Melies created what we would refer to as the Jump Cut. 

He used his discovery in many of his productions to create a disappearing and reappearing effect. An example of this would be his movie The Haunted Castle-1896.

Character Disappearing-                                                                          Character Re Appearing-

In this scene in the film the Jump Cut was used to make the character and disappear and re appear.

Using all of the editing techniques and transitions he pioneered, Melies utilised them to create productions with narratives an example of this would be his film a Trip to the Moon-1902.

Close up shot of the Moon in A Trip To The Moon-1901

This scene is the most well known scene from the movie, it is an iconic close up of the moon.

A Trip to the Moon-1901 is one of Melies's most well know productions. It was the worlds first Sci-Fi movie. The production was a 14 minute silent film. It was Melies's version of the Jules Verne classic Earth to the Moon-1865. The film was a light hearted satire critisizing the scientific community at the time. The production was also inspired by HG Wells' First Men in the Moon-1901. The movie was Melies' 400th film. 

Melies took up most of the roles in the production of the film as he wrote the script, acted as the lead role, deigned the sets, directed and produced the film. 

This film was one of Melies' most successful and well known films.

References-

• http://www.filmsite.org/voya.html
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPmKaz3Quzo
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