Philippine cinema movies

The role of foreign business in the introduction of Philippine cinema movies highlights the dependency that was to limit the growth of the film industry in terms of technological competence and Filipino artistic quality. It was a time of rapid growth in the technology of movie-making. Enormous capital was needed so the film industry could keep up with Hollywood in the employment of latest equipment. Investors with the required capital were hard to come by. Consequently, maintain technical polish in local films was an ideal all but impossible to attain. Closely, generous investment was needed to make good pictures, and in the absence of infinite capital, movie-makers had to be content with what was deemed passable. These troubles in expensive technology and inadequate capital - haunted the early producers and proceed to haunt present-day movie-makers.

One of the first Filipinos to make films was a photographer who sold his photo studio so this Filipino could go into filmmaking. He is historians of the Filipino movie industry were to tag as "Father of Philippine Films." His first film was based on a highly acclaimed musical play of the day. Since sound had not yet been incorporated into motion pictures in late 1919 even in the US, this Filipino photographer had to resort to what must have been quite a novelty at the time. During screenings of the movies from the Philippines, the singer-actress stood behind the screen to sing the theme song to the Philippine cinema movies accompaniment of a three man band consisting of a violinist, a trumpet player and a pianist.

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