ABSTRACT
Film dates from 1895. When the first motion pictures were created, editing did not exist. The novelty of seeing a moving image was such that not even a screen story was necessary.
The earliest films were less than a minute in length. They could be as simple as La Sortie
de l’Usine Lumie`re (Workers Leaving the Lumie`re Factory) (1895) or Arrive´e d’un Train en Gare (Arrival of a Train at the Station) (1895). One of the more popular films in New York
was The Kiss (1896). Its success encouraged more films in a similar vein: A Boxing Bout
(1896) and Skirt Dance (1896). Although George Me´lie`s began producing more exotic “created” stories in France, such as Cinderella (1899) and A Trip to the Moon (1902), all of the
early films shared certain characteristics.
