The term comes from the Greek kínēma, which means “movement” to which is added gráphein, “to write”: the two terms linked together mean “to write in motion”. The semantic reference areas are: the technique, referring to the whole set of devices necessary to shoot and reproduce a film, both analogical and digital (lenses, motors, media reels or memory cards, audio devices, etc); art, understood as the ability to express a story, a story, an event through images and give one's own, original vision of what one intends to communicate; the place, referring to the specific environment where the film is screened, which seems to be the commonly and predominantly accepted definition; finally the industry, referring to the complex of activities pertaining to the production and distribution of a cinematographic product which, in the modern era, extends its perimeter to television and the Internet. The term can be used with a more general, figurative and metaphorical meaning: when referring to a complex representation of events or situations with dynamic development. It is common to say "the cinema of my life", or "you are making a cinema" or even "don't act like at the cinema".
Treccani uses this definition: "The complex of artistic, technical, industrial activities that contribute to the creation of cinematographic shows (films) and also all of these, as an overall work, as a concrete expression of art in the field of fantasy or information tool, scientific documentation, for educational, informative, recreational purposes".
Cinema was born when, with various shooting and editing tricks, an attempt was made to give movement to static images, usually taken with photographic equipment. The first experiments took place in France at the end of the 800th century, attributed to the Lumiere brothers but, in reality, thanks to Charles-Émile Reynaud, and in the United States, by Thomas Edison. The paternity of the invention is highly controversial as the patent was not registered immediately, allowing the shooting and projection technique to be developed with different tools and techniques. The dynamic sequence of the images still did not correctly convey the idea of a story and a text narrated in the room was added – initially read by a person in charge – and then a backing track, the soundtrack. When this was of particular importance, it even came to have a whole orchestra in the hall (as happened, as a significant example, with the Napoleon by Abel Gance of the 1927).
The first element of cinema consists in shooting a sequence of close-up images of the same subject at a speed perceptible to the human eye similar to the real one (subsequently established as an international standard around the 20s at around 24 frames per second, fps – frames for seconds). Hence the term film camera, i.e. a machine capable of photographing a rapid succession of photographs and engraving them on film (initially celluloid). This term is analogous to camera, where the substantial difference refers precisely to the methods of recording the images (digital support).
The second element refers to projection. Just capturing or recording images is not enough to define the cinematic process. It is necessary that these can be viewed on a suitable support, generally the "big screen" which then, in the television era, becomes the "small screen". Finally, the third building block refers to distribution. The very nature of the story in pictures presupposes that the intention of the author is to allow the widest possible audience to attend the screenings, even if the shots may be amateurish and therefore intended for a very limited audience.
Legendary names in the history of cinema belong to the letter C. Like last time, we mention two, one "worldwide" and one Italian. The first is Charles Spencer “Charlie” Chaplin, the second is Luigi Comencini. In our opinion, the critic of the Corriere della Sera Giovanni Grazzini gave the best definition of Charlot, the name by which he is known throughout the world: "He had in his smile the tears of the world and in the tears of things he made joy shine of life. Touched by the grace of genius was the inverted glove of our civilization, the honey and the slap, the mockery and the sob; he was our rebuke and our hope of being men. … So it was, so it is, so it will always be: the weak vilified, the defeated mocked, the dignity of man trampled on by the oppressor and the arrogant, and candor, innocence misunderstood for naivety, and are instead the strength of the just : here is tragedy tinged with comedy, farce tinged with drama. The long journey of a European pessimist, with gypsy and Jewish blood, full of ancient sorrows, made to convince himself that it is nevertheless worthwhile to believe in man; this is the transit of Chaplin, the meaning of his work as a universal artist”. All this poured into unforgettable films. We mention the best known: Il rascal of 1921, City lights of 1931, Modern times of 1936, The great dictator of 1940 and Limelight of 1952. Enough to retrace not only fundamental pages of the history of cinema but also to review in same person all the infinite variables of human nature that an actor is capable of representing.
The second name we mention is considered one of the protagonists of a genre and a period of Italian cinema of particular relevance: Luigi Comencini. Her notoriety emerges strongly in 1953 with Pane, amore e fantasia with Vittorio de Sica and Gina Lollobrigida. Those were the years of "neorealism" and we owe him that drift "pink" that will make him enter with full merit in the wake of the "Italian comedy" together with Mario Monicelli and Dino Risi from which we still live off the income. Other important works of his: Tutti a casa from 1960, then forcefully tackles the theme of childhood and adolescence with Incompreso from 1966 and with the Adventures of Pinocchio from 1972 (which will also have a television adaptation) and lastly Marcellino pane e 1991 wine.
Last notation with C for Cinecittà. So-called "Hollywood on the Tiber" and iconic place of the Italian big screen for what it has profoundly marked, especially in the years between the Second World War, the entire development of national cinema. Inaugurated in 1937, destroyed by bombing and then rebuilt in 1947, it has seen the best generations of Italian directors at work, Federico Fellini in the lead with la dolce vita of 1960. as well as countless episodes of the “Italian western” saga.
