In the beginning: making 'Lumières Minutes'

Making a Lumiere Minute connects you with one of the most fundamental approaches to making cinema: From the shots recorded by the original Lumiere cameramen, through to the minutes recorded today by young people taking their first steps in cinema throughout the world.

In the beginning

Task

Our first task asks us to open our eyes (and ears) with a little Exercise that has been proposed since the creation of CCAJ, which is to let everyone discover how the Lumière operators recorded the world at the beginning of cinema and the 20th century, and then to shoot at least one shot of the world around us now (with smartphone or camera).

Before shooting your Lumière minute, watch attentively this original ‘vue Lumières’ footage.
(NB, these films have no dialogue or sound effects)

Then, film for just 1 minute, without moving the frame (no panning, but the camera can be placed on or in a moving object - car, lift, train…) and sound is recorded directly onto the camera. Choose exactly the right moment to start recording your minute. Then 60 seconds later, stop the shot. No editing, no cheating!

The point of this exercise is not to make ‘funny short films’ like on Youtube, but to try make the world visible, with brand new eyes. Each shot is a result of both choice - and luck.

Give a title to your view (that describes the view, very simply), your name and location. Put it on the Padlet below.

And if you want to discover many Lumière views made in workshops by children and teenagers around the world please see here.

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