Defining Moments of Cinema Pre 1930s

The Lumière Brothers, Louis and Auguste Lumière, were the first people to present screenings of a projected motion picture in the world's first movie theatre to a paying public. This was done so after they had created the Cinématographe in 1895 - a camera combined with a printer and projector - which had a film speed of 16 frames per second. The screenings involved ten short films, the first of which to be shown was La Sortie des Ouiviers de L'Usine Lumière à Lyon  (1895) (Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory). The film was a 46 second long clip of female workers coming out of a factory, taken from a single fixed position, which fascinated audiences.

http://www.earlycinema.com/pioneers/lumiere_bio.html

http://blog.cinemaautopsy.com/tag/workers-leaving-the-lumiere-factory/

http://www.filmsite.org/pre20sintro2.html

Monkeyshines No.1 was the first experimental Kinetoscope trial film created by Thomas Edison's assistants, William Kennedy Laurie Dickson and William Heise, on an earlier version of a film projector called a Kinetoscope. The Kinetoscope was devised one year after Dickson created the Kinetograph - a motor-powered camera which could photograph motion pictures and create rapid intermittent, or stop-and-go, film movement. The film involves the movement of a laboratory assistant at Edison's lab and there is debate between scholars regarding whether it was shot in June 1889, starring John Ott, or in November 1890, starring G.Sacco Albanese. 

Monkeyshines No.1 is claimed to be the first production of photographic film from the US, although Monkeyshines No.1, 2 and 3 were not created for commercial use.

http://www.filmsite.org/pre20sintro.html

http://www.rowthree.com/2010/11/15/133-years-of-film-18891990-monkey-shines-no-1/
http://mubi.com/films/monkeyshines-no-1

Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip to the Moon) (1902) was the first ever science-fiction film. Directed by George Melies, who also starred in the film, he had previously developed the art of special effects and included innovative editing techniques such as animation, actors performing with themselves over split screens and trick photography with superimposed images into the production of the film. The 14-minute production contained 30 separate scenes  involving extremely creative set, costume and editing resulting in the masterpiece becoming a huge success, it also included all the elements which later on distinguish the sci-fi genre. 

http://www.filmsite.org/voya.html

http://www.filmsite.org/visualeffects2.html

The Great Train Robbery (1903) paved the way for not only modern-day Westerns but also all scripted films, as this was the first film to have a narrative (about the dramatic robbery of a train by four bandits, who are eventually shot dead). In the ten-minute long film Porter managed to develop a number of modern editing techniques such as location shooting, minor camera movement and multiple camera positions. The film was extremely influential due to its many 'firsts', exciting new use of a storyline and not to mention the image of the fireman being thrown off the moving train, which was a first in screen history. 

http://www.filmsite.org/grea.html

http://www.filmsite.org/visualeffects2.html

The Jazz Singer (1927) is often mistaken as the first sound film or 'talkie', it was, in fact, neither, although it was the first feature-length Hollywood 'talkie' film. Director Alan Crosland used the Vitaphone sound system to create synchronised dialogue after Warner Brothers had invested $500,000 in it, with the first use of the sound system in the 1926 film Don Juan. The investment proved a great success and not only significantly boosted Warner's reputation but also led to a new era in cinema with the introduction of sound in the movies. Even though the film was only 25% talkie it managed to play a big part in the downfall of the silent-film era. 

http://history1900s.about.com/od/1920s/a/jazzsinger.htm
http://www.filmsite.org/jazz.html