Besides the actualites of the Lumiere Brothers (introduced in another handout), you should see the short film, A Trip to the Moon, by Georges Melies (1902). It's 13 minutes long.
Melies' film is an example of Formalism. So from the beginning, by lucky chance, the two earliest filmmakers used different styles that would define cinema to the present day.
Realism presents the illusion of "real life" as much as possible. Formalism shows life as strange, artificial, magical, or fantastic.
For this purpose Realism uses the means of cinema as invisibly as possible. So viewers don't notice editing, cinematography, set design, etc.
Formalism uses costumes, lighting, musical underscore, editing, sets, and cinematography to present unrealistic scenes.
But the distinction is not always clear-cut. Some genres tend towards Formalism (the Musical, the Sci-Fi film, or the Horror film), while others tend towards Realism (the Western, the Gangster film, the Biopic [film biography], or the Epic.
Yet the most Formalist films are to some degree "realistic" (we believe in what is happening), while even the most realistic film is formally controlled, or it would not be art.
Nonetheless, it's clear some filmmakers want to present life as realistically as possible, while others wish to present life through colored lenses, whether to arouse horror, wonder, or a sense of beauty.
Attached is a Study Picture of Melies' film.
