The
History of Home Movies
The
Evolution of User-Generated Content from the
1890s - 2007
In the
100+ years or so that home movies have been
around, we have seen them evolve from use by
only the extremely wealthy to anyone with a
digital camera or mobile device. If we look
at the major milestones in film and video
development over the years, it’s easy to see
how we got to where we are today. The next
100 years should be equally fascinating!
contributed by iMemories
Overview
Since the first introduction of
moving images in the late 19th
century, we have been fascinated with its
powerful entertainment and storytelling
capabilities. Capturing the essence of
people moving around, talking, and gesturing
is the highest power of documentation. It
surpasses the letters, diaries and still
photography that previously had been the
primary method of recording and
communicating.
In a sense, the
consumer-accessible film that became
available in the early 1900s represents the
20th century version of what we
now call
user-generated content. From the moment
that manufacturers like
Eastman Kodak Company provided consumers
the ability to take home movies on their
own, the industry began a wonderful and
complex evolution that has brought us to the
YouTube video generation of today.
Now, anyone can be his or her own historian
and upload moving images to the World Wide
Web. But how did we get here?
Evolution from 16mm Film to Digital Video
The introduction of motion picture
cameras and projectors in the 1880s created
enthusiastic audiences for this new medium,
and prompted wealthy individuals with the
financial resources to go out and purchase a
home movie camera of their own.
Early efforts at producing cameras and
projectors for consumers were quite
expensive, however, and to make matters more
challenging, the early film was manufactured
out of a nitrate, a highly flammable and
dangerous material. Many of the early
silent films have been lost due to their
nitrate composition.
One of the more successful formats to
subsequently emerge in the 1920s was 16mm
film by Eastman Kodak. (The mm increment
refers to the actual width of the film
strip). Recognizing its significance,
several manufacturers started producing
cameras based on this format. Unlike the
nitrate film of earlier years, the newer
film was manufactured on a celluloid base,
for greater safety. The cost for a typical
family, however, was still somewhat
prohibitive. Only the rich and privileged
had the means to buy the equipment
necessary. This fact galvanized the market
into experimenting with less costly film
formats for mass manufacturing.
This led to the introduction of 8mm film in
the early 1930s. At half the width of
16mm, 8mm film was less expensive and easier
to use. The 1930s saw other key
developments as well, including the ability
of sound and new color film for consumer
use, including the famous Kodachrome film.
For the next few decades, both 8mm and 16mm
film formats were used to make home movies,
with average consumers preferring the
smaller gauge of the 8mm film, and more
professional videographers opting for 16mm.
Home movie making continued its gradual
increase in popularity until 1965, when a
new format called Super 8 was launched.
Unlike the previous formats, which required
manual loading, it was housed in a cartridge
system. Super 8 film was easier to use and
less expensive, and helped expand home movie
technology to the many individuals and
families who could not afford the 8mm and
16mm formats. As a result, more and more
people started to take home movies to record
their family milestones.
One of the elements that facilitated the
next major evolution in home movies was
television. In the 1970s and 1980s, TV
stations switched from film to videotape,
which was easier to work with, more
affordable, and could be viewed immediately
– no more hassles of shipping off the film
to a lab for processing. This made the
evening news more “real time” than ever
before.
While film was still the best media format
for color and vibrancy, the ease of use and
affordability of videotape could not be
denied. VHS (Vertical Helican Scan) and
Betamax had emerged in the 1970s as two
competing formats, with VHS format
eventually winning out. Consumer-grade
videotape was available as VHS, VHSc (a
compact version), and 8mm tape. The
advantage of VHS-C and 8mm tape was that
they enabled an even smaller videocamera to
be used, instead of the bulky systems that
were so heavy and cumbersome. Further
refinements in technology also allowed for
longer and longer recording times on the
tapes, increasing from 30 minutes to several
hours.
Consumers had quickly caught on to the
advantages that the TV stations were already
enjoying, and during the 1970s to early
1990s video camcorders and their
accompanying VCR (video cassette recorder)
systems exploded exponentially in
popularity. An entire generation of young
families was able to capture their children
on video for the first time, using
affordable camcorders and cassettes that
were much easier to switch out than their
predecessors.
This proliferation and increase in
familiarity with home movie making paved the
way for the digital revolution. Now that a
majority of individuals had used camcorders,
or at least viewed home movies made by other
amateur videographers, the transition to
digital was fairly intuitive. The first
mini digital video cassettes in the 1990s
prompted the manufacture of even smaller
camcorders, providing the ultimate in
lightness and portability. These MiniDV
cassettes also offered extended longevity
and many other advantages including digital
image clarity and lower cost.
In the last few years, the most significant
milestone has been the development of
videocameras that record right to a DVD disk
or to the camera’s built-in hard drive, thus
eliminating yet another step in the process
of transferring the footage directly to
digital formats.
The power of digital video and the
increasing sophistication of the Internet
fortuitously converged in the early 21st
century to create the phenomenon known as
social media. Once video is in digital
form, anyone can upload the content to the
World Wide Web and make it accessible to
hundreds of thousands of viewers.
Consequently, user-generated content in the
home movie world has moved from one-to-a few
to one-to-many to one-to-millions. No
more clunky projectors, clumsy camcorder
hookups with a myriad of cables linking to
TVs, or dealing with fragile physical media
such as videotape.
The
Future of Home Movies
Today, hundreds of moments
are captured daily on digital video – there
probably has never before been a generation
that has been so completely documented in
its every activity and movement.
Yet, boxes and boxes of unconverted old home
movie film reels and videotapes remain
trapped in families’ basements and closets
everywhere. These formats, ranging from
8mm to VHS tape, pre-date the digital
revolution.
Fortunately, there are new organizations and
services that have formed with the goal of
preserving these old formats and publicizing
the urgent need to get these physical media
into the longevity of the digital world as
soon as possible. Organizations such as
Home Movie Day (
www.homemovieday.com ) hold worldwide
celebrations to commemorate amateur
filmmaking, and provide a venue where
families can screen their old home movies to
catch a glimpse of their heritage.
In the last 100+ years, moving images have
become increasingly more affordable,
convenient, and accessible through a variety
of devices, whether it’s television,
computers, cellphones, or other mobile
devices. More than ever, we have the
ability to record and view personal slices
of life to add to the professional footage
captured as part of broadcast news segments,
documentaries, and Hollywood films. It
will be interesting to see what the future
brings as video user-generated content
matures. If history is any example, the
trend toward lighter, faster, easier, less
expensive and more widely shared home movies
will continue.
About
iMemories
iMemories is a leader in the dynamic Web
2.0-generation of Internet services. The
company transforms old-media memories into
crystal-clear digital files that consumers
can enjoy and share—whenever and wherever
they like.
In
iMemories’ 8,500-square foot fiber-optic
studio, production professionals use
state-of-the-art technology and techniques
to convert old home-movie films, videotapes,
photographs and slides into organized
archives and full-length digital
productions. Memories that were
deteriorating in the dark are preserved
forever on optical disc—and easy to edit,
organize, store and share worldwide through
iMemories’ private, secure online user
experience.
In a
market crowded with audiovisual houses and
small firms offering basic video-transfer
services, iMemories’ technology and
expertise enable it to deliver a premium
product efficiently and affordably. Founded
and led by new-media entrepreneur Mark
Rukavina, iMemories is privately held and
based in Scottsdale, Ariz. To learn more,
visit
www.imemories.com or call 480-767-2510.
©1998-2007
iMemories. iMemories name and iMemories mark
are trademarks of iMemories, LLC. All other
trademarks are the property of their
respective owners.
Sources:
Background
information for this article was obtained
from the following sources:
www.ce.org
www.homemovieday.com
www.kodak.com
www.wikipedia.org
