The Great Train Robbery

The Great Train Robbery (1903) was Edwin S. Porter's debut narrative film, which he also directed and shot. It was a primitive one-reeler action picture, about 10 minutes long with 14 scenes, filmed in the western expanse of Wyoming but on the East Coast in several locations in New Jersey.

The film included a variety of novel methods, many of which were utilized for the first time, such as parallel editing, modest camera movement, location filming, and less stage-bound camera placement. Each scene's action is told in a single shot. Almost every shot is static and protracted, limiting the action to the camera's eye-level perspective. The film is cut back and forth between the bandits beating up the telegraph operator (scene one), the operator's daughter discovering her father (scene ten), the operator's recruitment of a dance hall posse (scene eleven), the bandits being pursued (scene twelve), and splitting up the booty and having a final shoot-out (scene thirteen). The film also used the first pan shots (in scenes 8 and 9) and an ellipsis (in scene 11).