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Clip description
The Spirit of Progress train is filmed from different angles as it passes the camera, followed by a tracking shot of the train tracks taken from on board the train. The next section is a dramatised sequence which shows a man with his car stalled across a railway crossing, cross-cut with footage of the train approaching – just in time the car starts and moves off the tracks. The clip ends with a shot of the car driving alongside the train followed by a tracking shot of the train as it speeds towards the station.
Curator’s notes
The dramatised sequence in this clip is an example of parallel montage – where two shots showing simultaneous events in different places are cross-cut with each other to create tension or suspense. This technique was pioneered by American filmmaker DW Griffith in films like The Birth of a Nation (1915). The Owen Brothers would almost certainly have been familiar with Griffith’s work; Will was a projectionist at a local cinema in Belgrave which screened local and Hollywood films – a perfect place to learn the elements of film language.
