The history of film is the historical development of the medium known variously as cinema, motion pictures, film, or the movies.
The history of film spans over a hundred years, from the latter part of the 19th century to the present day. Motion pictures developed gradually from a carnival novelty to one of the most important tools ofcommunication and entertainment, and mass media in the 20th century and into the 21st century.Motion picture films have had a substantial impact on the arts, technology, and politics.
The standard length of a film remained one reel, or about ten to fifteen minutes, through the first decade of the century, partly based on producers' assumptions about the attention spans of their still largely working class audiences.
One major new development in the early 21st century is the development of systems that make it much easier for regular people to write, shoot, edit and distribute their own movies without the large apparatus of the film industry.
