Lumiere Brothers

As photography was starting to progress in the middle 1800's, the Lumiere Brothers Auguste and Louis, saw financial opportunity in the photographic process. Louis quickly discovered a process which assisted the development of photography...a 'dry plate' process. Soon, the two brothers and their father Antoine, were recognized as successful businessmen; producing about 15 million plates a year. Because of this, Edison's Peephole Kinetoscope was revealed to Antoine in Paris. He gave it to his sons, telling them how they should work on improving it because the prices at which Edison sold the Kinetoscope were unfair for the quality of the product.

Identifying the two main problems with Edison's invention, its size and how only one person could experience the film at a time, the brothers set to work on making an improved version. Soon after, in 1895, Auguste and Louis had invented the Cimematographe, by combining camera with a printer and projector. It was lightweight, hand-cranked and incorporated the principle of intermittent movement. They began showing the films by having screenings for invited guests only, but soon excitement surrounding this new technology spread and the public became interested. Because of all this excitement and discussion involving the brothers invention, they began to open theaters to show their films to the people. These theaters became known as cinemas. By the first four months of the brothers starting to share their films with the public, theaters had opened up in London, Brussels, Belguim and New York. Their film "La Sortie des ouvriers de l’usine Lumière" is considered to be the first motion picture. Auguste's and Louis last big contribution to the world of film, as if starting the cinematic explosion wasn't enough, was the production of the first practical color photography process...the Autochrome Plate.

Sources:
1) http://earlycinema.com/pioneers/lumiere_bio.html
2) http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1403398/Lumiere-brothers