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Within this film you see a group of scientists have decided to make a rocket to the moon.

There is a
Montague of them making the actually producing the rocket ship. Theres a large launch party,
before the rocket is sent to the moon. The moon, as the rocket travels, gets bigger and bigger
demonstrating the speed in which the rocket is travelling. Once arriving they get stranded, after a
while they are confronted by Aliens a large amount of the scientist where killed by them, there was
one scientist fighting them off. They then travel back to earth, and are greeted with an amazing
celebratory party, and the scientist who went up to the moon where issued a statue.
The camera constantly remains at a stand-still mid shot. This allows the audience to always see
whats going on in the shot and get the full picture; it just overall gives the audience a clear view.
With the actors, they move around the camera, this I feel it gives an idea and people being rushed.
But on the other hand because the camera technology wasnt so advanced and they couldnt move
the camera round because of the weight that the equipment would have been , it didnt create as
much tension as possible by using for instance dramatic angles: close ups , it didnt make the
audience feel part of the whole production. What did create the tension was the use of music
throughout the whole production; it mirrored the actions of those in it and added depth; by the way
that actually the music speed up during the fight scenes between the scientist and the aliens.
The purpose of this film was to both entertain and educate. During this time astrology was being
looked at and being tested, from a scientists view. So to include those who arent necessarily
educated in that field to understand and experience what they havent learnt by their research. It
entertained in the fact that it was the fast production that actually was structured with a narrative,
so it was playing in the. It was also there to show/ demonstrate the work they have made in special
effects, the fact that actually they had advanced so much to create that.
There were many points which demonstrated the special effects within this film; the main points
were when the rocket hit the moon, you can see the facial expression change on the moon as well as
liquid falling down the face, when the aliens were killed there would be a puff of smoke Melies
would cut the shot taking the actor out then starting again creating the affect of them disappearing.
Another was when the scientist landed they took a nap after their long trip, during their sleep in the
night sky there were stars placed in the sky that had faces on them- in comparison to modern special
effects this is very basic and possibly boring to an audience, for the time it was amazing and it still
maintains that perspective because of the time period in which was created and that actually it was
the3 first advance toward the special effects we have now. Our special effects are extremely
detailed for instance x- men you have explosions and many other aspects, it shows that actually
from that point on weve grown our knowledge to allows us to create synarious and events that you
generally wouldnt see in a day to day bases this allows more escapism and more enjoyment within
the film industry for the audiences.
I feel this film played a very big key part in history as it set the pathway for more modern films and
special effects overall. In was the first film in history to use music to create tension, it used slow
paces music in times such as first arriving back on earth as well as when they were sleeping after
their long trip to the moon, this gave the impression of certain feelings and emotions within the
piece, such as a calm or peaceful surroundings. It was the first ever film to used cgi, this is where
they created images, such as the moon, on a computer so its not actually photographed it made for
the effect. And, apart from the film the life of an American Fireman this film used cuts between
each scene which allowed the images to be scene quickly and creates a more continuous effect to
the work; especially now as you see in the film that actually they created a fade in and out between
scenes which overall creates a smother and nicer transition.

Its telling a story as it gives the audience a perfect view, but at the same time cant really create
much tension because of the equipment used to capture this was rather heavy and extremely hard
to move. But music makes up where the camera fails, the music follows the actors and there
predicaments within the production mirroring the emotions and feelings that should be felt by both
the characters and audience in each scene so for example when the lay down to sleep the music is
rather calm but when fighting the aliens the music gets louder and speeds up which makes tensions
heighten. This production tells a story, it uses a narrative structure to display a story to an audience
that entertains grasping them with a group of scientists getting attacked by aliens but at the same
time grasps the audiences attention in educational way as it shows the knowledge that they have
gained about space and the moon.
The length is key as it is longer than any other type of film that was produced around that time
period. The film being longer, allows more time to grasp an audience, it shows the movement in
which cinematography from the Lumiere brothers, as their video was originally 50 seconds.
Melies in so many ways has improved greatly in comparison of the works of the Lumiere brothers
and Muybridge. Both Muybridge and Lumiere brother carved the way in cinematography, and in my
opinion made it possible for Melies master piece in the way of editing. Muybridge made the precise
shot, that when played in order would give the view or continuous motion, it began the whole
process to the point we are at now. The Lumiere brothers made the first continuous video which
made it possible for this video to even be created, but the Lumieres footage was a very basic and
just watching people exit a factory, in comparison, this video shows narrative, music, and editing.
Even though the quality of the video hasnt improved from that of the Lumieres or Muybridge, you
have a longer video that truly entertains and educates the audience, but uses a wide range of special
effects as well as enlarging the time of the video.

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