Most of the shots in this film by
Mélies are a series of single shots.
A Trip to the Moon (1902)
Uploaded by openflix on Oct 8, 2010
Contrast this film with the music video by the American grunge band The Smashing Pumpkins, who use the plot of A Trip To The Moon but with faster, slicker edits.
The Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight, Tonight
Edwin S. Porter's The Life Of An American Fireman (1903) built on the work of
Mélies and was one of the first directors to make editing more purposeful. The alteration between the woman's room on fire and the race of the fire brigade to save them gave an added sense of drama, where two separately filmed parts could give a greater meaning and sense of empathy and deeper involvement with the audience.Life of an American Fireman 1903
Porter built on this work with The Great Train Robbery (1903), which despite some of the shots being long, no single-shots happen from beginning to end. In this short film you see the robbery, the get-away, the pursuit and the capture. It is not necessary to see the entire shot to understand what is happening narratively and to give it a sense of continuity.
The Great Train Robbery
D.W. Griffith was seen to be the person to advance film to the next step in terms of film editing. His work was a great influence on Hollywood and Russian revolutionary cinema. His work included a variety of shots for impact, the extreme long shot, the close-up, the cutaway, tracking shots as well as variations in pace.
In the clip below of Enoch Arden, Griffith uses a close up of a wife's face as she waits for her husband to return. This demonstration of long, medium and close up shots meant that the audience could be drawn further in emotionally. The use of close-ups such as this were quickly picked up by other filmmakers.
