Georges Méliès

One of the earliest professional filmmakers, Georges Méliès created fantastical visions of other worlds and exotic lands; inventing  narrative techniques and visual effects that would become the foundation of the cinematic arts.

Early in his career, Méliès applied his talents as a theatrical magician and illusionist to early filmmaking technology, creating short films that treated audiences to visions of the impossible. He soon began crafting more complex narratives, and unlike his contemporaries, he very early saw film’s potential to show fantastical worlds in a way no other medium could. His 1896 film The Haunted Castle uses various editing and practical effects to create the illusion of transformations, teleportation, and more. Using double exposure techniques, Méliès conjured ghosts and multiplied actors on the screen.

1902’s A Trip to the Moon is arguably Méliès most famous work. This 14-minute film (his longest) combined elements of Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon and H. G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon. It features a spaceship, depictions of the lunar environment, and aliens. The image of the Man in the Moon being struck in the eye by the artillery shell-like spaceship has become an icon of science fiction cinema.

In his career Méliès created over 500 films in all genres but is best remembered for his elaborate and theatrical fantasies, some of the earliest depictions of other worlds on film.