Valerie Gaumont Popular Books

Valerie Gaumont Biography & Facts

Alice Ida Antoinette Guy-Blaché (née Guy; French pronunciation: [alis gi blɑʃe] ; 1 July 1873 – 24 March 1968) was a French pioneer film director. She was one of the first filmmakers to make a narrative fiction film, as well as the first woman to direct a film. From 1896 to 1906, she was probably the only female filmmaker in the world. She experimented with Gaumont's Chronophone sync-sound system, and with color-tinting, interracial casting, and special effects.She was artistic director and a co-founder of Solax Studios in Flushing, New York. In 1912, Solax invested $100,000 for a new studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey, the center of American filmmaking prior to the establishment of Hollywood. That year, she made the film A Fool and His Money, probably the first to have an all-African-American cast. The film is now preserved at the National Center for Film and Video Preservation at the American Film Institute for its historical and aesthetic significance. Early life and education In 1865, Guy's father, Émile Guy, an owner of a bookstore and publishing company in Santiago, Chile and Valparaíso, Chile, married Marie Clotilde Franceline Aubert. The couple returned to Santiago after the wedding in Paris. In early 1873, Marie and Émile lived in Santiago, with Alice's four siblings.There was a devastating smallpox epidemic in Chile in 1872 and 1873. Émile and Marie Guy brought all four of their children to Paris, where Alice was born. In her autobiography, Alice refers to this as her mother's attempt to make sure "her fifth child should be truly French". Her father returned to Chile soon after her birth, and her mother followed a few months later. Alice was left in the care of her grandmother in Carouge, Switzerland. At the age of three or four, Alice's mother returned from Chile and took Alice back to South America.At the age of six, Guy was taken back to France by her father to attend the Faithful Companions of Jesus school in Veyrier-sous-Salève. Guy and her sister Louise were moved to a convent in Ferney a few years later and then brought back to Paris.Guy's father died on 5 January 1891 of unknown causes. Following his death, Guy's mother got a job with Mutualité maternelle which was founded on 20 May 1891. She mother was unable to keep that job and thereafter Guy trained as a typist and stenographer, a new field at the time, to support herself and her mother. She landed her first stenography-typist job at a varnish factory. In March 1894, she began working at the 'Comptoir général de la photographie' owned by Félix-Max Richard. Léon Gaumont later took over and headed the company. Career Secretary to Léon Gaumont In 1894, Alice Guy was hired by Félix-Max Richard to work as a secretary for a camera manufacturing and photography supply company. The company changed hands in 1895 due to a court decision against Félix-Max Richard, who sold the company to four men: Gustave Eiffel, Joseph Vallot, Alfred Besnier, and Léon Gaumont. Gustave Eiffel was president of the company, and Léon Gaumont, thirty years Eiffel's junior, was the manager. The company was named after Gaumont because Eiffel was the subject of a national scandal regarding the Panama Canal. L. Gaumont et Cie became a major force in the fledgling motion-picture industry in France. Alice continued to work at Gaumont et Cie, a decision that led to a pioneering career in filmmaking that spanned more than 25 years and involved her directing, producing, writing and/or overseeing more than 700 films.Although she initially began working for Léon Gaumont as his secretary, Guy became familiar with his clients, relevant marketing strategies, and the company's stock of cameras. She also met a handful of pioneering film engineers such as Georges Demenÿ and Auguste and Louis Lumière.Alice Guy and Gaumont attended the "surprise" Lumière event on March 22, 1895. It was the first demonstration of film projection, an obstacle that Gaumont, the Lumières, and Edison were all racing to solve. They screened one of their early films Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory, which consisted of a simple scene of workmen leaving the Lumière plant in Lyon. Bored with the idea of captured film only being used for the scientific and/or promotional purpose of selling cameras in the form of "demonstration films," Guy was confident that she could incorporate fictional story-telling elements into film. She asked Gaumont for permission to make her own film, and he granted it. Early filmmaking at Gaumont Film Company Alice Guy made her first film in 1896. Its original title may have been La Fée aux Choux (The Fairy of the Cabbages) or The Birth of Children, or it may have had no title at first. The scene Alice described as her debut effort does not match either the 1900 version of La Fée aux choux or the 1902 version, retitled Sage-femme de première classe which has been found in film archives. By comparing Alice's descriptions of her debut effort with the two films that are available for us to view, we discover differences that indicate there was a third film that came first. The 1896 film seems to be lost. However, multiple points of confirmation indicate that there were three different La Fée aux choux. A 30 July 1896 newspaper describes a "chaste fiction of children born under the cabbages in a wonderfully framed chromo landscape," and provides other details that confirm Alice Guy's description of her first film. "Before very long," Alice Guy reported in 1912, "every moving picture house in the country was turning out stories instead of spectacles and plots instead of panoramas."From 1896 to 1906, Alice Guy was Gaumont's head of production and is generally considered the first filmmaker to systematically develop narrative filmmaking. She was probably the only female director from 1896 to 1906. Her earlier films share many characteristics and themes with her contemporary competitors, such as the Lumières and Méliès. She explored dance and travel films, often combining the two, such as Le Boléro performed by Saharet (1905) and Tango (1905). Many of Guy's early dance films were popular in music-hall attractions such as the serpentine dance films – also a staple of the Lumières and Thomas Edison film catalogs.In 1906, Guy made The Life of Christ, a big-budget production for the time, which included 300 extras. She used the illustrated James Tissot New Testament as reference material for the film, which featured 25 episodes and was her largest production at Gaumont to date. In addition to this, she was one of the pioneers in the use of audio recordings in conjunction with the images on screen in Gaumont's "Chronophone" system, which used a vertical-cut disc synchronized to the film. She employed some of the first special effects, including using double exposure, masking techniques, and running a film backward. During her tenure at Gaumont, Guy hired and trained Louis Feuillade and Étienne Arnaud as writers and directors and hired set designer Henri Méne.... Discover the Valerie Gaumont popular books. 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  • Morning Ritual synopsis, comments

    Morning Ritual

    Valerie Gaumont

    This is a short story of one man's morning ritual.

  • Wildwood synopsis, comments

    Wildwood

    Valerie Gaumont

    After several mysterious deaths, what remained of the Chambers family was divided, each sent to a different city. After seventeen years of living on her own, Ivy Chambers is summon...

  • Free Fall synopsis, comments

    Free Fall

    Valerie Gaumont

    Ivy and her family begin their lives at Wildwood, working on finishing construction and creating what they and their clans need. But as work begins, the Shadow Council, the ruling ...

  • Quickening synopsis, comments

    Quickening

    Valerie Gaumont

    As long as she could remember, Cassie saw things others couldn’t; people with scales and tusks, others who looked normal, but when she touched them, sent her sight elsewhere. Warne...

  • Haven synopsis, comments

    Haven

    Valerie Gaumont

    This is Book Four in the Channel Riders Series. Elena Calabrese has managed to open an earthbased store with very few people realizing that her wares come from several different ga...

  • The Ravenwood Arms synopsis, comments

    The Ravenwood Arms

    Valerie Gaumont

    It was an accident.Alice Appleton had one skill in the magical community, creating shields. Her shields keep the shadow creatures, monsters with a taste for magic infused blood, aw...

  • Rabbit synopsis, comments

    Rabbit

    Valerie Gaumont

    While watching her two younger cousins in the countryside, Norah is captured by a raiding party and sold as property to Lord Tessian. Knowing that her talent mark means she has spe...

  • The Line Between synopsis, comments

    The Line Between

    Valerie Gaumont

    After the dawn ritual on her eighteenth birthday, Cassie is welcomed by those of Abraham's pantheon. While she knows she isn't a Walker no one is quite willing to tell her exactly ...

  • Blues Bar Valentine synopsis, comments

    Blues Bar Valentine

    Valerie Gaumont

    This is a short story of a woman who can not be with the one she loves.

  • Brownie Oxford and the Idlewild Incident synopsis, comments

    Brownie Oxford and the Idlewild Incident

    Valerie Gaumont

    Brownie Oxford is on the run. After the death of both Matheson and Dave in the Mayenfield Cemetery, she takes Matheson's rental car and sneaks out of town, eluding those watching h...

  • Mirror, Mirror synopsis, comments

    Mirror, Mirror

    Valerie Gaumont

    This is short story about a woman who buys a magic mirror in a junk shop and ends up with more than she bargained for.

  • Nameless synopsis, comments

    Nameless

    Valerie Gaumont

    In Pontuse, the Capitol City of Balosh, noble lords employ assistants to amuse and entertain them as well as to distract others from their shortcomings and intentions. Despite bein...

  • City of Wonder synopsis, comments

    City of Wonder

    Valerie Gaumont

    When his wife died aboard The Defender in the Matrovean attack, all Michael wanted to do was join her in death. He sought oblivion but the Guild needed his skills as a cartographer...

  • Keeper of the Crossroads synopsis, comments

    Keeper of the Crossroads

    Valerie Gaumont

    When Jamie's Great Uncle Albe goes missing, he leaves behind a large estate, a house in the middle of nowhere and a legacy Jamie never suspected. He finds out that the creatures of...

  • Pilot synopsis, comments

    Pilot

    Valerie Gaumont

    All she wanted was a cup of coffee. What she ended up with was getting knocked out and interogated by the military. They knew she owned an imports store. They also knew she was a m...

  • Brownie Oxford and the Seabridge Surprise synopsis, comments

    Brownie Oxford and the Seabridge Surprise

    Valerie Gaumont

    Brownie Oxford, now going by the name Bonnie Brown, is trying her best to avoid notice. She found someone to teach her the skills she needs to control her abilities and people have...

  • Roses for Juliet synopsis, comments

    Roses for Juliet

    Valerie Gaumont

    When life became too painful Steve walked out and became someone new. For years he buried all of the details of his life and spent his time dealing with the unpleasant details of o...

  • Brownie Oxford and the Barren Woods Blunder synopsis, comments

    Brownie Oxford and the Barren Woods Blunder

    Valerie Gaumont

    To maintain her guise as Bonnie Brown, Brownie is forced to leave old habits behind. Avoiding running and more importantly, visiting cemeteries become standard leaving her feeling ...

  • Training The Walker synopsis, comments

    Training The Walker

    Valerie Gaumont

    All her life Cassie has seen strange things. First it was the strangers with feathers and beaks, then there were the normal looking folks who, when her skin touched hers, sent her ...

  • Brownie Oxford and the Riverview Revenge synopsis, comments

    Brownie Oxford and the Riverview Revenge

    Valerie Gaumont

    Still reeling from her abduction and escape from the rogue Agent Halloran, Brownie Oxford, still living as Bonnie Brown must resume her disguise and pretend that all is normal whil...

  • Skyside synopsis, comments

    Skyside

    Valerie Gaumont

    After helping a group of families evade capture Elena finds herself stranded skyside during the off season. Despite the presence of Will Thompson, whose ship hitched a ride at the ...

  • Brownie Oxford and the Ashland Affair synopsis, comments

    Brownie Oxford and the Ashland Affair

    Valerie Gaumont

    When Brownie Oxford found herself kidnapped and taken to the Ashland Cemetery instead of going on a date as expected, she wanted to claim it was an unusual event. Sadly after seven...

  • Alliance synopsis, comments

    Alliance

    Valerie Gaumont

    Elena finally has her store open, an earthside business selling repackaged off world goods. The Council, has granted her trading rights on the newly opened planet, RJ457. Things ar...

  • Councilor synopsis, comments

    Councilor

    Valerie Gaumont

    Against all odds Elena has found herself named as a member of the Ruling Council of the Guild of Families and the military has decided to mothball its channel riding program. Just ...

  • Through the St. Claire Gate synopsis, comments

    Through the St. Claire Gate

    Valerie Gaumont

    Thirty years ago, Robert St. Claire established a portal to another planet in a far distant galaxy. His scientific achievement was kept secret by a group called the Conclave who wa...

  • The Caller synopsis, comments

    The Caller

    Valerie Gaumont

    A sedate academic recieves a distraut call in the middle of the night that sends him tubling into the world of clandestine affairs.

  • Storm Chaser synopsis, comments

    Storm Chaser

    Valerie Gaumont

    Continuing where Pilot left off, Storm Chaser introduces a number of colorful new charachters as well as showing more of the world of the Pilots, the Calabrese family and the polit...