A Trip to the Moon
“A Trip to the Moon” is a 1902 French adventure short film directed by Georges Méliès. It draws inspiration from a wide range of sources. Georges Melies, Jules Verne, Dr. Robert Goddard, and Jacques Offenbach all contributed to the story.
Georges Melies
A Trip to the Moon is one of the earliest sci-fi films. It is loosely based on the writings of Jules Verne and stars Melies in the lead role. Melies was an experienced illusionist who took inspiration from the pioneering work of the Lumiere brothers. The film took three months to shoot and cost 10,000 francs.
Jules Verne
From the Earth to the Moon is a novel written in 1865 by Jules Verne. It is a science fiction novel that tells the story of a post-American Civil War society of weapons enthusiasts. The members of the club aspire to travel to the moon and return safely.
Dr. Robert Goddard
Goddard’s rocket is nine feet long and two and a half feet wide. It has an aluminum outer shell that is highly polished, tapering toward the nose. Its propellant is a new mixture of gases and liquids that took him nine years to develop. Its propelling force is continuous.
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach’s opera, “Trip in the Moon,” premiered on October 26, 1875. The libretto, based on Jules Verne’s novel of the same name, is a fanciful adventure about an expedition to the Moon. The story follows King Vlan, who flies to the Moon in a shell shot out of a cannon. There, he encounters a variety of absurd situations.
Restoration of a trip to the moon
After nearly a century, A Trip to the Moon is back on the big screen. The classic 1902 sci-fi short is now available in new and improved digital restoration. Three companies worked together to restore the film using state-of-the-art technology. A new color score by French group AIR was commissioned to complement the restored film.
Editing of a trip to the moon
The editing of A Trip to the Moon was an experiment in filmmaking that brought a new type of visual language to the genre. Melies, who is also known for writing science fiction, incorporated his own style of storytelling in this sci-fi masterpiece. In the film, Melies only cuts after a scene is complete in order to give the viewer the impression of watching a play in a theater. Before, most short films were simply cut by a single shot, allowing the audience to jump to the next scene. Melies, however, decided to use a new technique called superimposition, which allows him to overlay a new image on top of a previously existing image to create an overall effect that is not immediately visible.
