C. Francis Jenkins, Pioneer of Film and Television

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald G. Godfrey
Keyword(s):  
Motion Picture ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Motion Pictures ◽  
Early Death ◽  
The West ◽  
Television Station ◽  
Broadcast Television ◽  
Large Screen ◽  
Film And Television ◽  
American Television

This is the first biography of the important but long-forgotten American inventor Charles Francis Jenkins (1867–1934). The book documents the life of Jenkins from his childhood in Indiana and early life in the West to his work as a prolific inventor whose productivity was cut short by an early death. Jenkins was an inventor who made a difference. As one of America's greatest independent inventors, Jenkins' passion was to meet the needs of his day and the future. In 1895 he produced the first film projector able to show a motion picture on a large screen, coincidentally igniting the first film boycott among his Quaker viewers when the film he screened showed a woman's ankle. Jenkins produced the first American television pictures in 1923, and developed the only fully operating broadcast television station in Washington, D.C. transmitting to ham operators from coast to coast as well as programming for his local audience. This biography raises the profile of C. Francis Jenkins from his former place in the footnotes to his rightful position as a true pioneer of today's film and television. Along the way, it provides a window into the earliest days of both motion pictures and television as well as the now-vanished world of the independent inventor.

American Visionary

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald G. Godfrey
Keyword(s):  
Motion Picture ◽  
Work Ethic ◽  
Motion Pictures ◽  
Modern Technology ◽  
Optical Receivers ◽  
Electronic Technology ◽  
Large Screen ◽  
Film And Television ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter discusses C. Francis Jenkins' life and work, calling him a visionary for his breakthrough inventions in film and television. In a world of dramatic change in motion pictures and television, Jenkins was a pioneer. In film, he sold his controversial Phantoscope projector patent, which led to large-screen movie projection. In television, he bridged mechanical with electronic technology, later experiments related to fiberoptics, and electro-optical receivers. He was the only inventor who participated in the birth of both motion-picture photography and television. Over the period of 1894 through 1933, Jenkins filed nearly 300 patents, several granted after his death. This chapter provides an overview of Jenkins' youth, focusing on how his agrarian upbringing created within him an independent will, an untiring work ethic, and strong character. It then describes Jenkins' traits as a man, his legacy as an inventor, his career as entrepreneur and businessperson, and his works as an author. It also reflects on the relationship between Jenkins' approach of the late 1920s and modern technology.

Founding the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald G. Godfrey
Keyword(s):  
Motion Picture ◽  
International Association ◽  
Motion Pictures ◽  
Sole Purpose ◽  
Film And Television ◽  
The World

This chapter focuses on the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), an organization founded by C. Francis Jenkins in 1916. The formation of the SMPTE (formerly Society of Motion Picture Engineers, SMPE) was one of Jenkins' most significant and lasting contributions in the film and television industries. In less than four decades, the SMPTE has evolved into an international association with industry, technological, and creative influence around the world. This chapter provides an overview of the atmosphere that led Jenkins to establish the SMPTE, whose sole purpose would be a discussion of technology and its standards. It also considers the first SMPE meeting and how its influence grew since then, along with its final meeting under Jenkins as president, held in Cleveland in November 1918. Finally, it cites the accolades and foundations established for the SMPE and their impact on the industries of motion pictures and later television engineering.

Effects of Light on Schooling and Feeding of Jack Mackerel, Trachurus symmetricus

1968 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 393-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Hunter
Keyword(s):  
Motion Picture ◽  
Nearest Neighbor ◽  
Motion Pictures ◽  
Separation Distance ◽  
The Other ◽  
Angular Deviation ◽  
Jack Mackerel ◽  
A Value

Schools of six jack mackerel each were photographed with infrared film at eight levels of luminance and also in darkness. Three indices were used to measure the behavior of the school from motion pictures. Two of the indices, mean distance to nearest neighbor and mean separation distance, were measures of the distances between individuals in a school; the other, mean angular deviation, was a measure of differences in orientation between individuals. A value for each index was calculated for each motion picture frame.From 12.1 to 6 × 10−6 ft-L no differences existed in the angular deviation of the school or in the distances between fish. At 6 × 10−7 ft-L the intervals between fish were much larger than at higher levels of brightness and groups showed little uniformity in their orientation. Below 6 × 10−7 ft-L (darkness) schools were dispersed and the distributions of values of angular deviation were random.The ability of jack mackerel to feed on live adult Artemia was also tested at eight levels of luminance and in darkness. The number of Artemia eaten at 6 × 10−5 ft-L was about half of that eaten at the normal daytime level of 12.1 ft-L. Few Artemia were eaten at 6 × 10−7 ft-L and none in darkness.Comparison of these data with measurements of light in the sea indicated that jack mackerel probably would be able to maintain schools near the surface on a moonless starlit night and that they probably could feed effectively near the surface on a full moonlight night.

Buying into Brand Borat: Kazakhstan's Cautious Embrace of Its Unwanted “Son”

Slavic Review ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Saunders
Keyword(s):  
Motion Picture ◽  
Analytical Tool ◽  
Nation Branding ◽  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
National Brand ◽  
The West ◽  
National Image ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Global Profile ◽  
The Government

Since 1991, the Eurasian republic of Kazakhstan has endeavored to build a recognizable and credible national brand as a resource-rich, multicultural, and stable outpost in an otherwise troubled region of the globe. It is therefore not surprising that Sacha Baron Cohen, the creator of die fictitious Kazakhstani reporter “Borat Sagdiyev,” touched a raw nerve with his parody of the country and its people as bigoted and backward. While the Borat satire is both grotesque and spurious, the success of the motion picture Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan has provided Kazakhstan with a precipitous increase in its global profile. Using the analytical tool of “nation branding,“ Robert A. Saunders discusses the challenges and opportunities the Borat film presented to the government of Kazakhstan. After some false starts, Kazakhstan has entered into a querulous but symbiotic relationship with Borat's creator to promote its own efforts to build a brand state and hone its national image in the west.

scholarly journals Beyond Hollywood

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 69-75
Author(s):  
Scott Simmon
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Motion Picture ◽  
Lake Tahoe ◽  
The West ◽  
Tourist Destination ◽  
Film Preservation ◽  
San Fernando ◽  
San Fernando Valley ◽  
Narrative Film

California’s forgotten movie heritage is on view in the National Film Preservation Foundation’s Treasures 5: The West, 1898-1938 DVD set. Included among the 40 films are such fictional ones as The Sergeant (1910, the first surviving narrative film shot in Yosemite), Salomy Jane (1914, from the San Francisco-based California Motion Picture Corp.) and Over Silent Paths (1910, shot in the San Fernando Valley when it was still a desert). Even more revealing are the nonfiction types, including Romance of Water (1931, from the L.A. Department of Water and Power), Sunshine Gatherers (1921, from Del Monte), and two 1916 travelogues that document the beginning of auto tourism: Seeing Yosemite with David A. Curry and Lake Tahoe, Land of the Sky. These once-forgotten films stand as testimony to the complexity of the West—as a concept, a landscape, a borderland, a tourist destination, a burgeoning economy, and an arena for clashing cultures.

New Large-Screen and Multi-Image Motion-Picture System

1970 ◽  
Vol 79 (9) ◽  
pp. 782-787 ◽  
Author(s):  
William C. Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Motion Picture ◽  
Image Motion ◽  
Large Screen
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