1. What Were Georges Méliès Contributions To The Invention Of Motion Picture?

Marie-Georges-Jean-Méliès or in short as Georges Méliès, was born in December 8^th, 1861 in Paris.  He is the third siblings to Jean-Louis-Stanislas Méliès (father) and Johannah-Catherine Schuering (mother).  His parents owned a shoemaking business and were considered one of the wealthy families in town at the time.  His self-motivation and passion in arts kicked off at early stage.  When he was ten years of age, he was busily constructing cardboard sets for his marionette shows that he would enthusiastically perform before an audience.  In 1871, Méliès theatrical passion was further fuelled by his first visit to the theatre where he saw the famous magician Robert-Houdin perform.  

The Impossible Voyage

In 1884, he went to London to further his studies where he had exposed and developed an interest in stage trick after witnessing the work of John Nevil Maskelyne and George Alfred Cooke (Maskelyne & Cooke), a British stage magician performer who completely transformed the art of conjuring into a dramatic performance of wizardry and an entirely new concept in the performing arts.  George Méliès was a frequent visitor who was vastly influenced and amazed by the work of Maskelyne and Cooke. 

A Trip To The Moon

When Méliès returned to Paris in 1885, his father had refused to support his intention to be an artist and had made him worked at the family shoemaking factory.  After his father passed away in 1888, Méliès sold his shares to his two brothers and with the money he purchased the Théâtre Robert-Houdin.  This has been the starting point where later he discovered many technical and narrative developments that influent today’s film-maker generation and drive the perspective of today’s movie.

Le Manoir Du Diable

George Méliès accidentally discovered the substitution stop trick in 1896, and was one of the first filmmakers to use multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves, and hand-painted color in his work. Because of his ability to seemingly manipulate and transform reality through cinematography, Méliès is sometimes referred to as the first "Cinemagician".  Two of his most well-known films are A Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904).  Both stories involve strange, surreal voyages, somewhat in the style of Jules Verne, and are considered among the most important early science fiction films, though their approach is closer to fantasy.  Méliès was also an early pioneer of horror cinema, which can be traced back to his Le Manoir du diable (1896).