Movies & TV Facts for Kids
Behind-the-scenes facts from film and TV
The first Indian feature film, Raja Harishchandra, was released in 1913 and directed by Dadasaheb Phalke. It is considered the founding work of Indian cinema.
A film's props department creates or sources every object that appears on screen. The Harry Potter films required over 210,000 individual props, including thousands of handwritten pages of books for Dumbledore's office.
Popcorn became the snack of choice in cinemas during the Great Depression of the 1930s because it was cheap. Cinema owners initially banned food, but eventually embraced popcorn when they saw how much money it made.
The aspect ratio of a film describes its width relative to its height. Standard television used a 4:3 ratio, while most modern films use a wider ratio such as 2.39:1 — this is why letterbox black bars appear on screen.
The oldest surviving film footage is Roundhay Garden Scene, filmed in Leeds in 1888 by inventor Louis Le Prince. It lasts just 2.11 seconds and shows people walking in a garden.
New Zealand was chosen as the filming location for The Lord of the Rings because its varied landscape — mountains, plains, forests, and coastline — closely matched J.R.R. Tolkien's descriptions of Middle-earth.
Marvel films are famous for including post-credits scenes that hint at future films, a tradition started by Iron Man (2008). Audiences have learnt to stay until the very end of every Marvel film.
The voice of Chewbacca the Wookiee in Star Wars was created by sound designer Ben Burtt from a mixture of recordings of bears, walruses, lions, badgers, and other animals.
Disney animators developed twelve principles of animation in the 1930s, including squash and stretch, anticipation, and follow-through. These principles are still taught to animators today.
During Hollywood's 'Golden Age' (1930s–1950s), major studios like MGM and Warner Bros. owned their own theatres and employed actors under exclusive long-term contracts. This 'studio system' controlled nearly every aspect of filmmaking.