'The Great train robbery'
The first short film was created in 1903 called 'life of an American fireman', and it was the first film with a narrative structure, and from that the 'great train robbery' was created inspired by the film.
The great train robbery was a western film created in 1903, and it reflects the time the genre as we associate westerns with older films, and there wasn't many different genres in this time, and the films were quite often westerns. The film is considered by some to be a trailer, but I don't believe it to be a trailer as it doesn't follow conventions of trailers, such as short clips that entice the audience, as this conveys the whole story, and there is no speech, and I don't believe it is a trailer. I believe it to be a short film, and this is because of the length of the film/trailer, as it is 12minutes long which is a very unusual amount of time, even in them days, as trailers are usually just a couple of minutes long so as to convey the story to the audience but not to give it away, whereas this is 12 minutes, which is double the length of the short film 'life of an American fireman' which was 6:04 minutes long, and as it is silent it can not be considered a trailer as trailers often involve some speech, and it does convey the whole story of the film, therefore making it a short film instead of a trailer.

The film was created by Edwin Stanton Porter and he was a director with Thomas Edison's company, and is probably best well known for 'The great train robbery', and his different use of editing and camera movements, and he also created many other films as well as 'life of an American fireman', and he is known for going against the conventions of films, as he created dissolves, which are still used in films and trailers today, and he used these in his films to make it easier for the audience to understand the story. He is still remembered today as being a revolutionary director for films, and he created techniques that are used in modern times and changed the face of films in them days, as when he created dissolves there were used in the films created after 'The great train robbery' was released, and they were all inspired by that film. Porter also created in a film in 1905 called 'The seven ages' and this used camera techniques used today, and he created what we all still use making him a pioneer, and a man who changed films single handed, the film consisted of close-ups, and single shots, which I am using in my trailer, and this is because of him revolutionising them.



The film was revolutionary as not only did it involve new techniques, but it also used many different locations, which was not seen in other films, and with the use of different locations it showed simultaneous action in the different locations and this was not seen before. The scenes in his films were all used to shock people and garner a response, which again is a convention of films and trailers, and the convention most likely came from him who created such responses from the audiences in his scenes. The film consisted of 14 different scenes, and two scenes in particular garnered quite an emotional and peculiar response from the audience. In scene 7 the bandits in the film get on the train with their loot, and the audience were not used to the train being on the screen, and some of the audience actually ran out of the theatre as they believed the train was going to run them over, this may seem unusual to us now but in them days they were not used to that, and as he had just created this the audience didn't know what it was, and what was going to happen, and it scared them as they were not used to seeing this on a screen. Also in scene 14 probably the most famous scene of the entire film a bandit holds up a gun and shoots straight at the audience, again like the train scene this had people running out of the theatre again believing that it was going to get them, and these scenes added to the popularity of the film, as they connected with the audience, and made them react to the film, and this therefore makes them remember the film, and in my trailer I am hoping to create an emotional response from the audience, but I do not want to scare them to much that they run away. Porter also stated that the bandit shooting the gun could go at the beginning or the end, but I believe it is better at the end as it is much more effective, as the audience can understand the story first and then this shocks them and helps them remember the story, whereas if it was at the front the audience in them days would not have paid attention to the story as they would have been shocked and possibly have run out of the theatre after they had seen it.

This is the film 'The great train robbery' but I have not been able to find the full 12 minute video, and this one lasts 10:24 minutes.