Edwin S Porter pushed the boundaries of film editing and was central to developing the new screen language. He created gradual transitions and dissolves between scenes and perfected cross-cutting to show simultaneous action.
In The Great Train Robbery (1903), Porter cross-cut 10 different locations to show multiple, interlinked scenes in an 11-minute spectacle unlike anything seen on-screen before. Featuring villainous bandits, heroic lawmakers and innocent bystanders, the film was action-packed, and Porter’s editing mastery propelled the excitement to the final iconic scene – a bandit firing point-blank at the startled audience. Later, Porter pioneered changing shots in a single scene, and he’s even credited with identifying the ‘shot’ as the basic unit of a film.
Edwin S Porter's groundbreaking The Great Train Robbery from the Library of Congress YouTube channel.
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Collection
In ACMI's collection
On display until
16 February 2031
ACMI: Gallery 1
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
P180322
Curatorial section
The Story of the Moving Image → Moving Pictures → MI-04. Materiality → MI-04-C01
Object Types
2D Object
Exhibition Prop
Photographic print/Pictorial
Materials
graphic