The first films simply recorded what happened in front of the camera. Then, filmmakers like Edwin Porter and Georges Méliès thought to mold the reality that the camera saw. Meanwhile, the Lumière brothers were fascinated simply by the power of film to capture reality. From their work grew the tradition of documentary and news film. Méliès envisioned fantasies that never were. From his work grew our current obsession with special effects films. Porter’s approach to the medium was between the two poles represented by his French contemporaries. He wanted to tell stories grounded in the real world. From his work developed the mainstream tradition of fiction film.

• DVD player or VCR
• DVD or VHS copy of a compilation featuring The Great Train Robbery, preferably with a sampling of early comedy and the work of Lumière and Méliès (Landmarks of Early Film, Vol. 1 has all of these; if you are renting films and can’t find a copy of this title, most other surveys of early film will have them)

1 1/2 hours

Watch The Great Train Robbery and other early silent films (Lumière, Méliès, Sennett, etc.) while thinking about the following questions. As you watch, jot down notes (hit the pause button and you won’t miss anything) so you don’t forget any of the important observations that you’d like to share with your classmates.

1. The very earliest films, like those the Lumière brothers produced, merely recorded simple actions going on in front of the camera. But with The Great Train Robbery, we have a more complicated story, composed of several scenes. How many scene units do you count in the film? What is their relationship to the dramatic structure?
2. The earliest comedies were strings of "gags." Analyze the Sennett or Linder film. What is the ratio of gag scenes to non-gag scenes?
3. Edwin Porter was inventing a new art. The technology was just being developed. What do you notice about the cinematography of The Great Train Robbery that Porter might have done differently 30 years later?
4. Similarly, what techniques do you see in the film that strike you as surprisingly modern?