Editing Cinema of the United Kingdom (section)

===Origins and silent films===
The world's first moving picture was shot in [[Leeds]] by [[Louis Le Prince]] in 1888<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/education/local_heroes/biogs/biogleprince.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991128020048/http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/local_heroes/biogs/biogleprince.shtml |archive-date=28 November 1999|publisher=BBC Education|work=Local Heroes|title=Louis Le Prince|date=28 November 1999|access-date=14 August 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Howells|first=Richard|title=Louis Le Prince: the body of evidence|journal=[[Screen (journal)|Screen]]|volume=47|issue=2|pages=179–200|publisher=Oxford Journals|date=Summer 2006|issn=0036-9543|doi=10.1093/screen/hjl015}}</ref> and the first moving pictures developed on [[Nitrate film|celluloid film]] were made in [[Hyde Park, London]] in 1889 by British inventor [[William Friese Greene]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorian-cinema.net/friesegreene|title=Who's Who of Victorian Cinema|website=www.victorian-cinema.net|access-date=2016-09-28|archive-date=5 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151105020847/http://www.victorian-cinema.net/friesegreene|url-status=live}}</ref> who patented the process in 1890.

[[File:Charlie Chaplin with doll.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Charlie Chaplin]], c. 1918]]
The first people to build and run a working [[35mm movie film|35 mm]] [[camera]] in Britain were [[Robert W. Paul]] and [[Birt Acres]]. They made the first British film ''[[Incident at Clovelly Cottage]]'' in February 1895, shortly before falling out over the camera's patent. Soon several British film companies had opened to meet the demand for new films, such as [[Mitchell and Kenyon]] in [[Blackburn]]. [[Auguste and Louis Lumière|The Lumière brothers]] first brought their show to London in 1896. In 1898, American producer [[Charles Urban]] expanded the London-based [[Warwick Trading Company]] to produce British films, mostly documentary and news.

Although the earliest British films were of everyday events, the early 20th century saw the appearance of narrative shorts, mainly comedies and melodramas. The early films were often melodramatic in tone, and there was a distinct preference for story lines already known to the audience, in particular, adaptations of [[Shakespeare]] plays and [[Dickens]] novels.

In 1898, [[Gaumont-British|Gaumont-British Picture Corp.]] was founded as a subsidiary of the French [[Gaumont Film Company]], constructing [[Lime Grove Studios]] in [[West London (sub region)|West London]] in 1915 in the first building built in Britain solely for film production. Also in 1898, [[Hepworth Studios]] was founded in [[Lambeth]], South London by [[Cecil Hepworth]], the [[Bamforths]] began producing films in [[Yorkshire]], and [[William Haggar]] began producing films in [[Wales]].

Directed by [[Walter R. Booth]] in 1901, ''[[Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost]]'' is the earliest film adaptation of Charles Dickens's festive novella ''[[A Christmas Carol]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Blackfriars Bridge|first=Ewan|last=Davidson|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/698299/|work=BFI Screenonline Database|access-date=18 October 2022|archive-date=18 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221018232627/http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/698299/|url-status=live}}</ref> Booth's ''[[The Hand of the Artist]]'' (1906) has been described as the first British animated film.<ref>{{cite web|title=Booth, W.R. (1869-1938)|first=Luke|last=McKernan|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/837323/|work=BFI Screenonlinee|access-date=24 April 2019|archive-date=20 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160520130750/http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/837323/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Walter Robert Booth|first=Denis|last=Gifford|url=http://www.victorian-cinema.net/walterbooth.htm|work=Who's Who of Victorian Cinema|access-date=24 April 2019|archive-date=15 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315153959/http://www.victorian-cinema.net/walterbooth.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1902, [[Ealing Studios]] was founded by [[Will Barker (director)|Will Barker]]. It has become the oldest continuously operating film studio in the world.

In 1902, the earliest colour film in the world was made; capturing everyday events. In 2012, it was found by the [[National Science and Media Museum]] in [[Bradford]] after lying forgotten in an old tin for 110 years. The previous title for earliest colour film, using Urban's inferior [[Kinemacolor]] process, was thought to date from 1909. The re-discovered films were made by pioneer [[Edward Raymond Turner]] from London who patented his process on 22 March 1899.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19423951 "World's first colour moving pictures discovered"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914164531/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19423951 |date=14 September 2017 }}. [[BBC News]], 12 September 2012. Retrieved on 29 July 2013.</ref>

[[File:Alice in Wonderland (1903 film).jpg|thumb|Screenshot from the first film version of ''[[Alice in Wonderland (1903 film)|Alice in Wonderland]]'' (1903)]]
In 1909, Urban formed the [[Natural Color Kinematograph Company]], which produced early colour films using his patented Kinemacolor process. This was later challenged in court by Greene, causing the company to go out of business in 1914.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=McKernan |first=Luke |title=Charles Urban: Pioneering the Non-Fiction Film in Britain and America, 1897–1925 |publisher=University of Exeter Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-0859892964}}</ref>

In 1903, [[Cecil Hepworth]] and [[Percy Stow]] directed [[Alice in Wonderland (1903 film)|''Alice in Wonderland'']], the first film adaptation of [[Lewis Carroll]]'s children's book ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=The First Film Adaptation of Alice in Wonderland (1903)|url=http://www.openculture.com/2016/03/the-earliest-film-adaptation-of-alice-in-wonderland-from-1903.html|website=Open Culture|last=Mills|first=Ted|date=31 March 2016|access-date=19 May 2017|archive-date=17 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517062332/http://www.openculture.com/2016/03/the-earliest-film-adaptation-of-alice-in-wonderland-from-1903.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Also in 1903, [[Frank Mottershaw]] of [[Sheffield]] produced the film ''[[A Daring Daylight Robbery]]'', which launched the chase genre.

In 1911, the [[Ideal Film Company]] was founded in [[Soho, London]], distributing almost 400 films by 1934, and producing 80.

In 1913, stage director [[Maurice Elvey]] began directing British films, becoming Britain's most prolific film director, with almost 200 by 1957.

In 1914, [[Elstree Studios]] was founded, and acquired in 1928 by German-born [[Ludwig Blattner]], who invented a magnetic steel tape recording system that was adopted by the [[BBC]] in 1930.

In 1915, the Kinematograph Renters’ Society of Great Britain and Ireland was formed to represent the [[film distribution]] companies. It is the oldest film trade body in the world. It was known as the Society of Film Distributors until it changed its name again to the Film Distributors’ Association (FDA).<ref>{{cite web|website=Film Distributors’ Association|url=https://filmdistributorsassociation.com/about-us/what-we-do/|title=FDA - What We Do|access-date=18 April 2022|archive-date=27 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220327183226/https://filmdistributorsassociation.com/about-us/what-we-do/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1920, Gaumont opened [[Islington Studios]], where [[Alfred Hitchcock]] got his start, selling out to [[Gainsborough Pictures]] in 1927. Also in 1920 [[Cricklewood Studios]] was founded by Sir [[Oswald Stoll]], becoming Britain's largest film studio, known for [[Fu Manchu]] and [[Sherlock Holmes]] film series.

[[File:Leslie Howard GWTW.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Leslie Howard]]

In 1920, the short-lived company [[Minerva Films]] was founded in London by the actor [[Leslie Howard (actor)|Leslie Howard]] (also producer and director) and his friend and story editor [[Adrian Brunel]]. Some of their early films include four written by [[A. A. Milne]] including ''[[The Bump (film)|The Bump]]'', starring [[C. Aubrey Smith]]; ''[[Twice Two]]''; ''[[Five Pound Reward]]''; and ''[[Bookworms]]''.<ref>{{cite book| author = Estel Eforgan| title = Leslie Howard: The Lost Actor| date = 30 June 2010| publisher = [[Vallentine Mitchell]]| isbn = 978-0-85303-971-6 }}</ref>

By the mid-1920s the British film industry was losing out to heavy competition from the United States, which was helped by its much larger home market – in 1914 25% of films shown in the UK were British, but by 1926 this had fallen to 5%.<ref name=Times48/> A slump in 1924 caused many British film studios to close,{{citation needed|date=September 2024}} resulting in the passage of the [[Cinematograph Films Act 1927]] to boost local production, requiring that cinemas show a certain percentage of British films. The act was technically a success, with audiences for British films becoming larger than the quota required, but it had the effect of creating a market for poor quality, low cost films, made to satisfy the quota. The "quota quickies", as they became known, are often blamed by historians for holding back the development of the industry. However, some British film makers, such as [[Michael Powell]], learnt their craft making such films. The act was modified with the Cinematograph Films Act 1938 assisted the British film industry by specifying only films made by and shot in Great Britain would be included in the quota, an act that severely reduced Canadian and Australian film production.

The biggest star of the silent era, English comedian [[Charlie Chaplin]], was [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]]-based.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/462570/index.html|title=Chaplin, Charles (1889–1977)|access-date=11 December 2010|publisher=British Film Institute|archive-date=8 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120808161146/http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/462570/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Hitchcock, Alfred 02.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Alfred Hitchcock]] established himself as a name director with his first thriller, ''[[The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog]]'' (1927)]]