![]() ![]() Seeking greater financial rewards - he never made more than $85 a week at Edison - Porter helped develop the popular Simplex movie projector (1908) and started two independent production companies, Defender Pictures (1909) and Rex Films (1910). Another Porter short, "Rescued from an Eagle's Nest" (1907), marked the film debut (as an actor) of D.W. They include "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1903), one of the earliest fictional two-reelers, the social-justice dramas "The Ex-Convict" (1904) and "The Kleptomaniac" (1905), and the fantasy films "The Dream of a Rarebit Fiend" (1906) and "The Teddy Bears" (1907). Through 1909 Porter produced some 230 short films in all genres for Edison. It was the most famous and financially successful film of the silent era until "The Birth of a Nation" (1915). Calling "The Great Train Robbery" the "first story film" is technically erroneous, but in terms of worldwide impact it may as well have been. Barnes) firing his six-shooter at the audience - was a non-sequitur, added purely for shock value. Ironically, its definitive moment - the close-up of the lead bandit (played by Justus D. Camera movement (panning and traveling), special effects (in-camera mattes, jump cuts), and depth of field staging (the climactic shootout) were all used to tell a story onscreen in ways that were cinematic rather than theatrical. It was an elaborate production for the time - a cast of 40, extensive location shooting, use of a real train - and Porter put everything he knew (and intuited) about movies into it. In this 11-minute western epic (shot in the wilds of New Jersey) Porter demonstrated how editing could establish logical coherence between shots and scenes without descriptive titles, even when the action moved from one setting to another. From there it was a short but momentous step to the basic continuity cutting of "The Great Train Robbery". It is the first known example of intercutting in American films it also featured an early use of a dramatic close-up. In 1903 Porter released "The Life of an American Fireman", which depicted a melodramatic rescue by splicing together staged scenes he had shot with stock documentary footage of firefighters at work. Some of his early efforts show a penchant for trick effects inspired by Georges Melies. Porter's initial job there was building and repairing cameras, but his knowledge of movies (European as well as American) and technical know-how soon won him promotion as the company's chief director, photographer, and editor. Fascinated with the new medium of cinema, he worked as a touring projectionist in the late 1890s and joined Edison's New York film studio in 1899. ![]() He left school at 14 to train as an electrician and served in the US Navy from 1893 to 1896. Edwin Stanton Porter was born in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. ![]() His western "The Great Train Robbery" (1903) is a milestone of movie history, commonly believed to be the first narrative film. Pioneer Motion Picture Director, Editor, Cinematographer, Inventor. ![]()
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