From trains leaving the station to maidens tied to trainsor, changes in the use of narrative in early America cinema essays

From trains leaving the station to maidens tied to trainsor, changes in the use of narrative in early America cinema essays Although it may be difficult to conceive of in our modern era, as film has taken its place alongside the long-accepted artistic mediums of painting and sculpture as an art form,' during the early era of silent film this was far from the case. At the beginning of the 20th century, film had the status more of a modern technological curiosity or freak show' rather than the status of art. The earliest works of film of the very end of the 19th century encouraged the viewer to simply marvel at the moving picture' before his or her eyes, almost regardless of its content. Quite often these early clips of film had no narrative to speak of. The purpose of such shorts was to simply show the nature (and the limits) of the medium and to capture, however imperfectly, dancers, actors, and other noteworthy individuals of the day in motion, much like a moving newspaper. This changed with the Lumiere Brother's early efforts at cinema. The brothers showed such novelties as a train that caused audiences to scream in 1895. By simply moving the camera, film became more than a simple catalogue of moving life. The images of the film, because of the placement of the camera used by the brothers, were designed to elicit surprise and horror. However, the film's sensational reaction did little to elicit a widespread public belief in the artistic possibilities of the new medium. One of the Lumiere brothers explicitly said that the medium had no future, viewing it as mere trickery holding the possibilities for commercial use. (Lumiere Brothers Films History, 2004) However, gradually film began to take on a narrative, and by extension, a more artistic component similar to plays and novels. As early as 1903, the film "Life of an American Fireman" combined stock footage of actual fires, firemen and fire engines with dramatized scenes that the director Edwin Porter shot in a staged fashion ...