Earlycinema.com aims to provide an introduction to the first decade of motion pictures and the developments which helped shape cinema as we know it today. The site is by no means a complete account of the development of cinema, and concentrates on the major events in cinema's history encouraging further reading and research.

A timeline picks out key events in the development of this exciting medium from the optical toys of the early 1800s through to experiments in motion capture and the work of Thomas Edison and the Lumière brothers.

Meet some of the pioneers of this new medium and discover the effect their contributions had on moving pictures. Earlycinema.com has profiles of such leading figures as Thomas Edison, William Dickson, Georges Méliès, Birt Acres and the Lumière Brothers.

The technology of motion pictures is explored with a look at some of the major inventions in early cinema including the Zoetrope, Kinetoscope and Cinématographe.

For quick reference, an A to Z gives brief information on a wide range of early cinema topics from Biograph to the Latham Loop.