French filmmaker Georges Melies (1861-1938) is the subject of today's Google Doodle, the first ever presented as a 360 degree VR animation.
Melies is an entirely fitting subject for this innovative new approach.
An illusionist and stage magician before he turned his hand to cinema in its earliest days in belle epoque Paris, he was an extraordinary visual stylist and technician who is still much admired a century on.
Google Doodles
95 show all Google Doodles
1/95 Georges Melies Google Doodle celebrating Georges Melies Google
2/95 Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss Google Doodle celebrating Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss Google
3/95 Fanny Blankers-Koen Google Doodle celebrating Fanny Blankers-Koen Google
4/95 Omar Sharif Google Doodle celebrating Omar Sharif Google
5/95 Maya Angelou Google Doodle celebrating Maya Angelou Google
6/95 John Harrison Google Doodle celebrating John Harrison Google
7/95 Hannah Glasse Google Doodle celebrating Hannah Glasse Google
8/95 Katsuko Saruhashi Google Doodle celebrating Katsuko Saruhashi Google
9/95 Guillermo Haro Google Doodle celebrating Guillermo Haro Google
10/95 Sir William Henry Perkin Google Doodle celebrating Sir William Henry Perkin Google
11/95 Gabriel Garcia Marquez Google Doodle celebrating Gabriel Garcia Marquez Google
12/95 Holi Google Doodle celebrating Holi Google
13/95 St. David's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google
14/95 Carter G Woodson Google Doodle celebrating Carter G Woodson Google
15/95 Wilder Penfield Google Doodle celebrating Wilder Penfield Google
16/95 Virginia Woolf Google Doodle celebrating Virginia Woolf Google
17/95 Sergei Eisenstein Google Doodle celebrating Sergei Eisenstein Google
18/95 Winter Solstice Google Doodle celebrating Winter Solstice Google
19/95 St Andrew's Day Google Doodle celebrating St Andrew's Day Google
20/95 Gertrude Jekyll Google Doodle celebrating Gertrude Jekyll Google
21/95 Children's Day 2017 Google Doodle celebrating Children's Day 2017 Google
22/95 Cornelia Sorabji Google Doodle celebrating Cornelia Sorabji Google
23/95 Pad Thai Google Doodle celebrating Pad Thai Google
24/95 Jackie Forster Google Doodle celebrating Jackie Forster Google
25/95 Halloween 2017 Google Doodle celebrating Halloween 2017 Google
26/95 Studio for Electronic Music Google Doodle celebrating the Studio for Electronic Music Google
27/95 Selena Quintanilla Google Doodle celebrating Selena Quintanilla Google
28/95 Olaudah Equiano Google Doodle celebrating Olaudah Equiano Google
29/95 Fridtjof Nansen Google Doodle celebrating Fridtjof Nansen Google
30/95 Amalia Hernandez Google Doodle celebrating Amalia Hernandez Google
31/95 Dr Samuel Johnson Google Doodle celebrating Dr Samuel Johnson Google
32/95 Sir John Cornforth Google Doodle celebrating Sir John Cornforth Google
33/95 British Sign Language Google Doodle celebrating British Sign Language Google
34/95 Eduard Khil Google Doodle celebrating Eduard Khil Google
35/95 James Wong Howe Google Doodle celebrating James Wong Howe Google
36/95 Eiko Ishioka Google Doodle celebrating Eiko Ishioka Google
37/95 Eva Ekeblad Google Doodle celebrating Eva Ekeblad Google
38/95 Fourth of July Google Doodle celebrating Fourth of July Google
39/95 Wimbledon Championship Google Doodle celebrating Wimbledon Google
40/95 Victor Hugo Google Doodle celebrating Victor Hugo Google
41/95 Google Doodle celebrating Oskar Fischinger Google Doodle celebrating Oskar Fischinger Google
42/95 UK General Election 2017 Google celebrates the UK General Election Google
43/95 Zaha Hadid Google celebrates the acclaimed architect for becoming the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize on this day in 2004 Google
44/95 Richard Oakes Google Doodle celebrating Richard Oakes' 75 birthday Google
45/95 Google Doodle celebrating the Antikythera Mechanism Google Doodle celebrating the Antikythera Mechanism Google
46/95 Ferdinand Monoyer The famous French ophthalmologist, who invented the eye test, would have celebrated his 181st birthday today Google
47/95 Google Doodle celebrating Giro d'Italia's 100th Anniversary Google Doodle celebrating Giro d'Italia's 100th Anniversary Google
48/95 Google Doodle celebrating Nasa's Cassini probe Google Doodle celebrating Nasa's Cassini probe Google
49/95 Google Doodle celebrating Fazlur Rahman Khan Google Doodle celebrating Fazlur Rahman Khan Google
50/95 Google Doodle celebrating Sergei Diaghilev Google Doodle celebrating Sergei Diaghilev Google
51/95 Google Doodle celebrating St. Patrick's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. Patrick's Day Google
52/95 Google Doodle celebrating Holi Festival Google Doodle celebrating Holi Festival Google
53/95 Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google
54/95 Abdul Sattar Edhi Google Doodle of Abdul Sattar Edhi on February 28 2017 Google
55/95 Seven earth-sized exoplanets discovered Google Doodle celebrates Nasa's discovery of seven earth-sized exoplanets in new solar system Google
56/95 Bessie Coleman Google Doodle honours the first African American woman to get an international pilot licence on her 125th birthday Google
57/95 Caroling Google Doodle celebrates Christmas caroling Google
58/95 Today's Google Doodle features activist Steve Biko Google
59/95 Walter Cronkite Google celebrates Walter Cronkite's 100th birthday
60/95 Ladislao José Biro Google celebrates Ladislao José Biro 117th birthday
61/95 Google Google celebrates its 18th birthday
62/95 The history of tea in Britain Google celebrates the 385th anniversary of tea in the UK
63/95 Autumnal equinox 2016 Google marks the start of fall
64/95 Paralympics 2016 Google marks the start of the Paralympic Games 2016
65/95 Nettie Stevens Google celebrates Nettie Stevens 155th birthday
66/95 Father's Day 2016 Google celebrates Father's Day
67/95 Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Google celebrates Elizabeth Garrett Anderson 180th birthday
68/95 Earth Day 2016 Google celebrates Earth Day
69/95 Ravi Shankar Google marks Pandit Ravi Shankar's 96th birthday
70/95 Olympic Games in 1896 Google are celebrates the 120th anniversary of the modern Olympic Games in 1896
71/95 World Twenty20 final Google celebrates the 2016 World Twenty20 cricket final between the West Indies and England with a doodle Google
72/95 William Morris Google celebrates William Morris' 182 birthday with a doodle showcasing his most famous designs Google
73/95 St Patrick's Day 2016 Googlle celebrates St Patrick's Day on 17 March
74/95 Caroline Herschel Google marks Caroline Herschel's 266th birthday Google
75/95 Clara Rockmore Google celebrates Clara Rockmore's 105th birthday
76/95 International Women's Day 2016 #OneDayIWill video marks International Woman's Day on 8 March
77/95 St David's Day 2016 Google marks St David's Day Google
78/95 Leap Year 2016 Google celebrates Leap Day on 28 February 2 Google
79/95 Lantern Festival 2016 Google celebrates the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations with a doodle of the Lantern Festival Google
80/95 Stethoscope Inventor, René Laennec Google celebrate's René Laennec's 235th birthday
81/95 Valentine's Day 2016 Google celebrates Valentine's Day with a romantic Doodle
82/95 Dmitri Mendeleev Google celebrate Dmitri Mendeleev's 182nd birthday
83/95 "The televisor" demonstartion Google Doodle celebrates 90 years since the first demonstration of television or "the televisor" to the public
84/95 Professor Scoville Google marks Professor Scoville’s 151st birthday
85/95 Sophie Taeuber-Arp Google marks Sophie Taeuber-Arp's 127th birthday
86/95 Charles Perrault Google celebrates author Charles Perrault's 388th birthday
87/95 Mountain of Butterflies discovery Google celebrates the 41st anniversary of the discovery of the Mountain of Butterflies
88/95 Winter Solstice 2015 Google celebrate the Winter Solstice
89/95 St Andrew's Day 2015 Google marks St Andrew's Day with doodle featuring Scotland's flag and Loch Ness monster
90/95 41st anniversary of the discovery of 'Lucy' Google marks the 41st anniversary of the discovery of 'Lucy', the name given to a collection of fossilised bones that once made up the skeleton of a hominid from the Australopithecus afarensis species, who lived in Ethiopia 3.2 million years ago
91/95 George Boole Google marks George Boole's 200th birthday
92/95 Halloween 2015 Google celebrates Halloween using an interactive doodle game "Global Candy Cup"
93/95 Prague Astronomical Clock Google celebrates the 605th anniversary of the Prague Astronomical Clock, one of the oldest functioning timepieces in the world
94/95 Autumnal Equinox 2015 Google marks the autumnal equinox on 23 September
95/95 International Women's Day 2018 Google marks IWD with a doodle featuring a dozen female artists from 12 different countries
Best known for the unforgettable image of a scowling celestial body annoyed that a rocket ship has crashed into its eye in A Trip to the Moon (1902), Melies was most recently seen in Martin Scorsese's film Hugo (2011) where he was played in old age by Sir Ben Kingsley.
He was born in 1861, the son of luxury shoemakers who - after attending the prestigious Lycee Louis-le-Grand, completing military service and serving an apprenticeship as a clerk in London - shunned the family business to work as a conjurer at the Theatre Robert-Houdin in Paris.
Here, Melies developed a fondness for stagecraft and visual effects, working with mechanical automata, trapdoors and lighting, eventually selling his boot factory shares to his brothers and buying the theatre outright.
After seeing the Lumiere Brothers sensational moving picture camera in action in 1895, Melies rushed out to establish his own studio and began making films that featured clever illusions and tricks created by experimenting with double exposure, cutting and rewinding, building on his theatrical innovations.
Georges Melies ( Kobal /Rex/ Shutterstock )
Using elaborate painted sets akin to those of Paris's music halls, Melies was a true pioneer who played a key role in the evolution of cinematic technique and the medium's storytelling grammar.
He also had an acute sensitivity for the sort of blockbuster spectacle audiences would be attracted to.
Specialising in horror and steam punk science fiction, taking inspiration from the fiction of late Victorian visionaries Jules Verne and HG Wells, his most famous film remains A Trip To The Moon, which starred acrobats and dancers from the Folies Bergere and the Chatelet ballet.
As fantastic as this is, perhaps even more extraordinary is the later Tunnelling The English Channel (1907), in which he effectively predicted the advent of Eurostar and the Channel Tunnel.
Other celebrated works including The Vanishing Lady, The Haunted Castle (both 1896), The Astronomer's Dream (1898), Bluebeard (1901), The Impossible Voyage (1904), The Merry Frolics of Satan (1906) and Baron Munchausen (1911).
The aftermath of a cyclone in a short by Georges Melies (Getty)
Tragically, after more than 500 short films, Melies's career collapsed with the onset of the First World War. He went bankrupt and was forced to sell his back catalogue to Pathe.
An early setback had come when Melies planned to release A Trip To The Moon in America, only to find that Thomas Edison's representative Al Adabie had secretly copied a print of the film after bribing staff at a London cinema and had already released it in the US without permission - an early and particularly devastating case of film piracy.
Later reduced to running a toy stall and selling sweets at Montparnasse train station in Paris (as depicted in Hugo), Melies became so embittered that he dug a hole in his garden, filled it with what remained of his priceless reels and memorabilia and burned it all.
What was lost that dark day is almost too painful to think about.
However, he did live long enough to see his films reassessed and acclaimed and to receive the Legion d'Honneur before finally passing away in 1938.
27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018
27 show all 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018
1/27 Black Panther Released: 12 February Director: Ryan Coogler Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Forest Whitaker, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman
2/27 The Greatest Showman Released: 1 January Director: Michael Gracey Cast: Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya,
3/27 Darkest Hour Released: 12 January Director: Joe Wright Cast: Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Mendelsohn
4/27 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri Released: 12 January Director: Martin McDonagh Cast: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Caleb Landry Jones > Twentieth Century Fox
5/27 Coco Released: 19 January Director: Lee Unkrich ,p> Cast: Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Renée Victor
6/27 Downsizing Released: 19 January Director: Alexander Payne Cast: Matt Damon, Christopher Waltz, Jong Chau, Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis
7/27 Early Man Released: 26 January Director: Nick Park Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams, Timothy Spall
8/27 Fifty Shades Freed Released: 9 February Director: James Foley Cast: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Kim Basinger
9/27 Maze Runner: The Death Cure Released: 9 February Director: Wes Ball Cast: Dylan O'Brien, Thomas Brodie Sangster, Kaya Scodelario, Giancarlo Esposito, Aidan Gillen
10/27 The Shape of Water Released: 16 February Director: Guillermo del Toro Cast: Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Doug Jones
11/27 Annihilation Released: 23 February Director: Alex Garland Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Lee, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Oscar Isaac
12/27 Dark River Released: 23 February Director: Clio Barnard Cast: Ruth Wilson, Mark Stanley, Sean Bean
13/27 Red Sparrow Released: 2 March Director: Francis Lawrence Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Jeremy Irons
14/27 Tomb Raider Released: 16 March Director: Roar Uthaug Cast: Alicia Vikander, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, Dominic West,
15/27 A Wrinkle in Time Released: 23 March Director: Ava DuVernay Cast: Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Zach Galifianakis
16/27 Pacific Rim: Uprising Released: 23 March Director: Steven S. DeKnight Cast: John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman
17/27 Roman J Israel, Esq Released: 23 March Director: Dan Gilroy Cast: Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo Columbia Pictures
18/27 Isle of Dogs Released: 30 March Director: Wes Anderson Cast: Bill Murray, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Scarlett Johansson
19/27 Ready Player One Released: 30 March Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance, Simon Pegg
20/27 Avengers: Infinity War Released: 27 April Director: The Russo Brothers Cast: Robert Downey, Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Josh Brolin
21/27 Untitled Han Solo Film Released: 25 May Director: Ron Howard Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Donald Glover
22/27 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Released: 8 June Director: J.A. Bayona Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pine, B.D. Wong, Toby Jones
23/27 Deadpool 2 Released: 1 June Director: David Leitch Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Zazie Beetz, Josh Brolin
24/27 Ocean's 8 Released: 22 June Director: Gary Ross Cast: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Anne Hathaway, Olivia Munn, Helena Bonham Carter, Rihanna, Matt Damon
25/27 Ant-Man and the Wasp Released: 29 June Director: Peyton Reed Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer
26/27 Soldado Released: 29 June Director: Stefano Sollima Cast: Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Jeffrey Donovan, Catherine Keener, Matthew Modine
27/27 The Incredibles 2 Released: 13 July Director: Brad Bird Cast: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Samuel L. Jackson
Amazingly, a colour print of A Trip To The Moon was unearthed in a French barn in 2002 in which each frame had been meticulously hand-painted by a large female work force a century earlier.
The world greeted its restoration and re-release with the same excitement and anticipation of its premiere at a Paris fairground and the film continues to inspire affectionate parodies and homages in everything from the Smashing Pumpkins' video for "Tonight, Tonight" (1996) to Futurama (1999-2013) and The Mighty Boosh (2004-13).
If you’ve ever watched a science fiction movie, or one that uses special effects, then you owe a debt of gratitude to Georges Méliès, the subject of today’s Google Doodle and one of the few people who truly deserve to be called a “visionary.”
One of cinema’s most important pioneers, Méliès worked in an age when the medium was changing rapidly and when the whole world was obsessed with scientific discovery, explorations, and expeditions to the furthest reaches of the planet. So it’s fitting that a Doodle created in another age of fast-paced cinematic change — our current time — honors him by using some fancy technology of its own.
Méliès, born in 1861, was an innovator par excellence, experimenting with effects in his films that blew people’s minds in an era when film itself was still startling to many people. Employing things like time-lapse photography, multiple exposures, dissolves, pyrotechnics, theatrical machinery, and more, he dazzled his audiences. It looked like magic. (You can see some of these effects on the Doodle’s background page.)
Méliès was working around the turn of the 20th century, a time of burgeoning scientific exploration and big dreams about the future of mankind. The filmmaker tapped into those through his experimentation with effects, and through stories he told tales of discovery.
Méliès’s most famous film is probably Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon), from 1902. It’s a work of science fiction, inspired partly by stories by people like Jules Verne. In the almost 13-minute film, a group of space explorers travel to the moon, encounter a tribe of strange beings, capture one, and return to Earth. Méliès himself played the crew’s leader, Professor Barbenfouillis.
Méliès returned to that idea of being an explorer again and again in his movies, including 1904’s The Impossible Voyage, in which a group of explorers undertake an epic voyage to the center of the sun. And on May 3, 1912, Méliès released À la conquête du pôle (which translates to The Conquest of the Pole). The full film is 44 minutes long, and it pokes sly fun at the then-recent South Pole explorations of Roald Amundsen, with effects that give the whole story a magical feel.
Inspired by Méliès’s yearning for discovery and fascination with exciting new technologies, Nexus Studios, the creators of the Doodle, decided to try their hand at one of today’s most interesting burgeoning cinematic technologies: virtual reality and immersive 360-degree video. Bringing those two effects together, they incorporated some of the filmmaker’s favorite trick photography moves — multiple exposures and disappearing subjects among them — to make a short film called Back to the Moon, in homage to Méliès’s 1902 movie.
To watch the film in its full virtual reality splendor, you’ll need a mobile device (or one of Google’s virtual reality devices) and the Google Spotlight Stories app, available on Google Play or in the App Store.
Or you can watch it as a simple video below. If you click on the film as it plays, you can drag it around for the full 360-degree experience.
Google is unveiling its first VR and 360-degree interactive Doodle to commemorate French illusionist and film director Georges Méliès on the anniversary of his celebrated silent film À la conquête du pôle (The Conquest of the Pole), which was released on this day in 1912. The Doodle, called “Back to the Moon,” is a collaboration between Google Spotlight Stories (the company’s VR storytelling arm), Google Arts & Culture, and Cinémathèque Française.
Méliès was known for pioneering special effects and narrative film techniques during the early days of cinema, most famously with 1902’s A Trip to the Moon. Google’s “Back to the Moon” Doodle runs for two minutes and follows an illusionist as he chases the queen of hearts on an adventure that spans the stars and oceans. The video celebrates magic and cinema and explores Méliès’ work in illusions like duplication tricks and double exposures, a replacement trick, and a cache illusion where elements look like they’re disappearing. In a tribute to Méliès’ sometimes diabolical worlds filled with skeletons and ghosts, the Doodle also features an evil green man who attempts to kidnap our hero’s beloved queen.
There’s a lot going on in the 360-degree video, and while there’s one main focal point to watch, there are also extra animations around the sides. (You’ll need a few playthroughs to catch everything.) One particularly dainty moment happens when the illusionist finds a pearl and blows into it, turning it into a balloon of the sun that floats to the top of the video. The video really makes use of the 360-degree space, so you have to swivel the video (or your head if you’re using a headset) to follow the action.
“In addition to being a magician, Méliès was an expert storyteller, so it was important for the Doodle to have a clear story. We approached it as if it were a ballet or play you watch at the theatre, where you get to choose where to look. In these situations, the spectator becomes the camera, editing their own film,” said Hélène Leroux, project art lead of the Doodle.
The VR Doodle experience is available on mobile or through Google Cardboard and Daydream via the Google Spotlight Stories app. If you don’t have a headset, the interactive Doodle is also available as a 360-degree video on YouTube.
Described as "the father of special effects" and hailed for his pioneering visual techniques, Georges Melies, the French illusionist and film director, released on this day more than a hundred years ago what is considered his greatest masterpiece: The Conquest of the Pole.
In its honour, Google changed its logo to its first VR and 360-degree interactive Doodle to commemorate the anniversary of his silent film which was released on May 3, 1912.
This is his story:
Passion for sketching
Melies was born at 29 Boulevard Saint-Martin, Paris on December 8, 1861. He was the youngest of three children.
He was the son of Jean-Louis-Stanislas Melies and his Dutch wife, Johannah-Catherine Melies, who were owners of three shoemaking factories in the city.
Melies attended the Lycee Imperial at Vanves near Paris, but his education was interrupted when his school was bombed during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. He continued at the Lycee Louis-le-Grand.
He was described as an average pupil, who was passionate about sketching. His teachers found his exercise books with portraits and caricatures of his teachers and classmates.
By the time he was 10 years old, Melies was busily constructing cardboard sets for his marionette shows that he would enthusiastically perform before an audience.
He was 11 when his passion for the stage was fuelled by his first visit to the theatre; it was the first time he saw the famous magician Robert-Houdin perform.
Proud to announce our latest production, the first VR/360 #GoogleDoodle! Celebrating pioneering filmmaker #GeorgesMéliès, ‘Back to the Moon’ was directed by @fxgoby and Doodle’s Hélène Leroux https://t.co/MEd7cKfw3r pic.twitter.com/83QWtT1rPk — Nexus Studios (@nexusstories) May 3, 2018
London
Melies was enrolled into military service, and upon leaving the army in 1884, he was sent to London to learn English.
Initially, he worked at a shoe shop after making use of his father's connections, and later at a Regents Street clothing outfitters.
During the evenings, he would visit the many theatrical venues in London, particularly the visual-fantasy productions that included Maskelyne and Cooke, billed as "Royal Illusionists" at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly.
Despite wishes to pursue his dreams on his return to France, Melies was forced to join his family's shoe business. Melies continued his pursuits by attending lessons given by Emile Voisin, who owned a magician's shop in the Rue Vielle-du-Temple.
Melies showcased his skills in front of family and later in a small theatre that presented puppet shows and comic operas.
Robert-Houdin
At the age of 24, Melies married Eugenie Genin, a young Dutch woman whose father was a rich industrialist and a close friend of his uncle.
In 1888, Louis Melies retired and handed the business down to his sons. Melies sold his share in the company to his brothers.
With the money he received, he bought the Theatre Robert-Houdin at 8 Boulevard des Italiens from Robert-Houdin's widow for 40,000 francs.
widow for 40,000 francs. Melies moved his family, including his daughter who was born in February 1888, to an apartment close to the theatre.
He refurbished the theatre and opened its doors to the public in the autumn of 1888 with a production called La Stroubaika Persane. He was 27 at that time.
In 1896, Melies founded the Star Film Company. Many of his earliest films were copies and remakes of the Lumiere Brothers' films.
Illusion and reality
Melies devoted himself to making films. He directed over 400 films ranging in length from one to 40 minutes.
His first film is a one-minute production titled Une Partie de Cartes showing Melies, his brother Gaston and two friends playing cards in a garden.
Other films included: Cleopatra's Tomb, Christ Walking on Water, The Voyage Across the Impossible and Hamlet.
He discovered camera tricks like stop motion, slow motion, dissolves, fade-outs, superimposition, and double exposure.
"One trick leads to another. In the face of the success of this new style, I set myself to discover new processes, and in succession, I conceived dissolves from scene to scene effected by a special arrangement in the camera; apparitions, disappearances, metamorphoses...," Melies said.
"With all these processes mixed one with another and used with competence, I do not hesitate to say that in cinematography, it is today possible to realise the most impossible and the most improbable things," he added.
During his career, he managed his theatre, produced and directed his films, adapted plays and literature for the screen, and designed sets and costumes.
In 1897, the devil appeared in his films on two occasions; it is believed that Melies was the first to realise the potential of film to shock.
With all these processes ... I do not hesitate to say that in cinematography it is .. possible to realise the most impossible ... things Melies
Trip to the Moon
In May 1902, he produced A Trip to the Moon, and it remains one of his most famous works. It was based on Jules Verne's novel, From the Earth to the Moon.
"The film cost around 10,000 francs, a relatively large sum for the time, due principally to the machinery involved and the costumes of cardboard and cloth used for the Selenites, the inhabitants of the moon," Melies said.
"When I made Le Voyage dans la Lune, there were still no 'stars' among the artists, their names were never known or printed on the posters or announcements," he added.
The film was an enormous success in France and around the world. In 1907, he continued and created three new illusions for the stage and performed them at the Theatre Robert-Houdin.
The next year, Melies made one of his most ambitious films, Humanity Through the Ages.
The film tells the history of humans from Cain and Abel to The Hague Peace Conference of 1907. The film was unsuccessful, but the producer was proud of it throughout his life.
In 1910, Melies temporarily stopped making films, one of his last productions was Cinderella or the Glass Slipper.
In 1912, he produced his most notable film, The Conquest of the Pole, inspired by Robert Peary's expedition to the North Pole.
However, in 1917 his luck changed, and the French army turned the main studio at his Montreuil property into a hospital for wounded soldiers. During the war, the army confiscated over 400 of Star Films' original prints.
"My friends, I address you all tonight as you truly are; wizards, mermaids, travelers, adventurers, magicians... Come and dream with me." - Georges Méliès #GoogleDoodle
A trip to the Moon - 1902 (full movie) ☞ https://t.co/uJRYs9XvB7 pic.twitter.com/RgYSPOk6Ne — Я (@GertieWentworth) May 2, 2018
'I dream your dreams'
In 1923, the Theatre Robert-Houdin was torn down to rebuild Boulevard Haussmann. That same year, Pathe, the world's largest film production company back then, took over Star Films and the Montreuil studio.
In a rage, Melies burned all the negatives of his films that he had stored at the Montreuil studio.
As a result, many of his films do not exist today. Nonetheless, over 200 Melies films have been preserved, and have been available on DVD since December 2011.
Melies disappeared from public life. By late 1937, he had become very ill and was admitted to the Leopold Bellan Hospital in Paris.
His last known words were: "Laugh, my friends. Laugh with me, laugh for me, because I dream your dreams."
He died on January 21, 1938, at the age of 76.
Laugh with me, laugh for me, because I dream your dreams. Melie
