What is cinema?

What is cinema?

Cinema is an art that exposes a film to the public: a work composed of moving images accompanied by a soundtrack. It is the rapid succession of these images which, by illusion, provides an animated image to the viewer. Retinal persistence, phi effect, and projection techniques allow humans to see this series of discrete images in a visual continuum.

The term "cinema" is the apocope of "cinematography" (from the Greek κίνημα / kínēma, "movement" and γράφειν / gráphein, "to write"), the name given by Léon Bouly in 1892 to the projection apparatus of which he deposited the patent. This polysemic word can, therefore, designate art, its technique or, by metonymy, the room in which it is projected.

It is especially in this last meaning that the term is itself often abbreviated in the familiar language in "cinema" or "cinoche". In addition, cinema has become a popular art, entertainment, industry and media.

If films are cultural objects resulting from a specific culture they reflect, their diffusion is potentially universal thanks to the development of technologies that have enabled a global reach of films, by subtitling or dubbing dialogues, as well as only by making them available in domestic formats (cassettes, DVDs, Internet, etc.). They are also likely to become pure commercial products.