TMA 273 Reaction Paper- "The Lumiere Brothers"

So I go to the library alot.  And when I say alot, I mean ALOT.  I am not talking about the BYU library, though it is dear to my heart, but I am talking about the Orem Public Library.  I discovered this library when I was in high school and it has always been a special place for me.  A while ago they started checking out movies, and I started taking advantage of that.  Now their collection is large and I have over 1300 items checked out in my library career.  I have a habit of going there and checking out a few DVDs every week with a few CDs (unfortunately school has my reading taken care of, but I still love you books!).  I browse through the aisles looking for things to spark my interest.  I have been interested in art lately so I check there frequently and I found, by the photography section, a DVD with some of the Lumiere brother's first films.  I had seen quite a few due to the fact that film is what I study, but never more than around ten.  I checked it out because of curiosity and my constant desire to get back to the root of things.  

Before I go on, I must elaborate on the historical importance of the Lumiere brothers.  They, among others, were the first ones to really start film as we know it.  They made a camera called the 'cinematograph' that was the first real film camera that was portable.  It shot short film (less than a minute) on celluloid.  It acted as the camera, the developer, and the projector which is really amazing.  Anyways, the Lumieres developed this camera and sent people all over the world and locally to film normal events.  They were literally the first documentarians.  They had amazing skill to shoot such things and after they would shoot they would advertise and get people to come later that day or whenever and watch the film they made.  They could do it all and thanks to them, we have film as we know it now.  To me, they are the grandfathers of film. 

So I watched the DVD and was astounded at the simplicity and beauty of the films that they made.  They were completely delightful.  There was a French narrator who is the director of the Lumiere institute in Lyon, where the brothers were from, who gave further historical insight into what the films meant.  I was touched and moved and proud to be part of such a great movement.  One of my favorites that I saw is the snowball fight and it is appropriate for this time of year.  You can see the pure joy of setting up the camera and having something simple go on in front of it.  This film is one that I want to watch over and over and keep for further reference.  It was freeing and reminded me of something else that I am going to write about tonight.  I feel that film is getting in touch with it's roots and that there is alot going on that is simple and reminicent of the Lumieres.