Disclaimer: The video below does not reflect my personal appreciation of the history of film and cinema. Also, I would like to thank the copyright owners of all the assets included in this montage, and invite them to consider the non-profit educational biographical nature of the work, the limited amount of the copyrighted works used in relation to the respective wholes and the lack of impact on the potential market as evidence of “fair use”.

It had been an obsession for years, and still is. Animated maps, graphs, time-lapses and montages aimed at condensing time and showcasing the evolution or progression of political borders, cities and other natural or man-made creations have always fascinated me. When watching older films, it is striking to realise how much has changed. But, also how much is, in some ways, still the same.

There is a method behind the madness of selecting 221 films to showcase the evolution of cinema. Even though, I would refrain from labelling it as ‘scientific’:

The backbone was formed using an analysis by the ARG! TEAM blog of the most influential films according to Wikipedia.

Then, the missing titles from Total Film’s 67 Most Influential Films Ever Made were added.

Once noticing too many classics were missing, the addition of the top 25 rated films from AFI, BFI, IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritics, Sight & Sound (Director’s), and Empire magazine completed the list. (note: animated movies have not been included in this edit. )

I was tempted to call this The History of Film according to the (English speaking) Internet or according to Google. But, here it goes…

The History of Film in 222 Heartbeats

Vimeo

Youtube

(A much longer version of the same list will be uploaded soon. It still needs some finishing, but it provides a much ‘calmer’ and slower overview of the evolution of cinema.) See it here – Film History Surfing.

Update:

If you’d like to test your knowledge and spotting skills try this game at Sporcle

2nd Update:

A lot of comments point to this video only showing the American film history. I did a quick tally of the different countries represented in the edit out of curiosity.

US: 160

France: 16

UK: 11 (counting co-productions)

Italy: 9 (counting co-productions)

Germany: 8

Japan: 4

Hong Kong: 3

NZ: 3 (all co-productions)

Russia: 2

Brazil: 1

Denmark: 1

Romania: 1

Spain: 1

Sweden: 1

US dominance in this edit is undeniable, but the variety is almost surprising when considering the sources.