Film is now in its second century. If you know a little about film history, you could even say that film reached its second century as early as the last years of the 1970’s. The origins of filmmaking date back to the late 1870’s as man has attempted to bring motion to pictures (hence the term motion pictures) by showing numerous still images, “frames,” quickly in sequence to achieve movement.

The earliest surviving film is a short called “Roundhay Garden Scene” and was produced in 1888, though earlier images have been put in motion, they have been tragically lost through time. The earliest forms If you think about that, filmmaking has been a tradition of nearly 130 years.

In a world when we are lucky if something avoids being discontinued after a few months, film hasn’t changed too often. In those 130 years, we’ve found many ways to tell a story whether it is with sound or animation or even different directing styles. There yet still one element in filmmaking that has undergone very little change and that is the format-film! “The Filmmaker’s Handbook 2008″ refers to film as the “original high definition.” At this point you may be saying to yourself, “wait, high definition? I’ve heard of that!” Yes, indeed you have- very likely in talking about television. And with video cameras too! What if I told you that with the right equipment, some creativity, and some big collaboration, independent filmmaking could rival the Hollywood Film Industry? It cane be done.

Check back for Part II.