The "First" Feature Film

The "First" Feature Films

Chronological for its type

First

We'll define this as 60 minutes or longer, though some use 40 minutes or 1600m of film (58:29)

Feature Film

The "First" Debate Again

The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight

Documentaries were first

• Like short films, documentaries predated narrative features.

• The first feature-length documentary is The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight.

• It was about a 90 minute film showing that boxing match.

Open Ended

Why do you think audiences were drawn to non-fiction films? Why were directors?

The Story of the Kelly Gang

The First Feature-Length Narrative Film

• The Story of the Kelly Gang is the first narrative film over an hour long.

• It is from Australian director Charles Tait and released in 1906.

• It told the story of an infamous group of criminals in Australia, setting the British police forces as the villains.

Open Ended

Obviously, that techno music is not original to a 1906 film. What impact does music have on the meaning of a film?

Les Miserables (1909)

The Lost First Feature

• Les Miserables from director J. Stuart Blackton is the first feature-length narrative film released in America.

• We no longer have a complete copy of it or even readily available footage.

• It was released as a serial over 3 months in 1909.

L'Inferno (1911)

The "First" Feature Released as a Feature

• L'Inferno is a 1911 Italian adaptation of Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy from directors Francesco Bertolini, Adolfo Padovan, and Guiseppe De Liguoro.

• Actually presented as one long film with intermission rather than serialized into separate events.

Open Ended

When you dig deeper into film history, you discover that most early narrative films were fantasy, horror, or science fiction stories. Why do you think audiences and directors alike were interested in these more unrealistic tales onscreen?

The Birth of a Nation

The "first" modern film

• D.W. Griffith's created modern film techniques like the close-up and interstitial editing with The Birth of a Nation.

• We can acknowledge its significance to the history of film while also recognizing the harm it did to actual communities with blatantly racist subject matter.

There's so much more...

You've been working on the film history videos to continue the story from here.

We're going to use your videos to teach the class the rest of film history to the present.

I'm excited for everyone to share their research and knowledge in the project.