Georges Méliès

One of the visionary pioneers of early cinema, director and independent producer Georges Méliès used his skills as an illusionist and theater owner to create the techniques of modern narrative filmmaking. Méliès was at the forefront of the motion picture business alongside other pioneers such as Thomas Edison and the Lumiére brothers. But unlike the latter, who favored a more documentary approach to filmmaking, Méliès tapped into his inner showman and created spectacles for the screen, which translated into large audiences and financial success. By accidentally inventing stop-motion photography, he used visual sleight of hand to replace one image with another, wowing audiences with the optical illusion. He used the technique to great effect with "The Vanishing Lady" (1896) and went on to create such memorable silent shorts as "The Astronomer's Dream" (1898), "The Temptation of Saint Anthony" (1898) and "Cleopatra" (1899), the earliest known example of a horror movie. Méliès achieved iconic status with "A Trip to the Moon" (1902), a 14-minute sci-fi adventure that featured the famed shot of a rocket ship landing in the Man on the Moon's eye - one of the most indelible images in cinema history. Though he would go on to make notable films like "The Impossible Voyage" (1904) and "Conquest of the Pole" (1912), Méliès fell on hard times due to war and increased competition, leaving him poverty stricken. He rose to prominence toward the end of his life, however, as his stature as a pioneering filmmaker was returned in full.