Georges Méliès

Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès was born on 8 December 1861 in France. He began as a magician and toymaker before turning to film, where he realized the camera could create illusions no stage could match. He built a new language for fantasy and science fiction by inventing techniques that became cinema's foundation: substitution splices, multiple exposures, dissolves, time-lapse, hand-painted color. He was among the first to use storyboards. His "trick films" made him a pioneer, with A Trip to the Moon in 1902 and The Impossible Voyage in 1904 standing as his landmark works. He died on 21 January 19…