Louis Le Prince filmed Roundhay Garden Scene at Oakwood Grange in Roundhay, Leeds, England. Lasting only a few seconds, it is generally regarded as the oldest surviving motion picture. Its figures walking in a garden demonstrated that successive photographic images could preserve movement.

Cinema created a new narrative art that soon borrowed plots, imagery and techniques from poetry, drama and fiction. Film also changed poetic perception, encouraging montage, rapid shifts of viewpoint and experiments with visual rhythm.