"Arival of a Train" and "Damsel in Distress" (this stuff is old school...)

"Arrival of a Train" was a film made in 1895 by the Lumiere brothers, so evidently at this point the idea of film was very new. It is composed of one stationary shot (did you really expect them to be able to move that big camera?) of a train arriving with passengers and passengers awaiting the train so they can depart. Just because it is one stationary shot does not mean it isn't a good one. This single shot expresses so much by showing two points of view, those who wait and what they are waiting for, that ultimately blend to form a pleasant chaos that portrays everyday life of boarding and leaving a train. Even the shot composition in this single shot is outstanding because of the strong use of graphic vectors: the train creates a line moving from background to midground to foreground (based on where it arrives from) to represent the great journeys each of the people we see is taking. It turns these simple figures into meaningful characters even without the use of closeups. Overall, this film would definitely be considered realism because it is a continuous recording of time, the shot lasts as long as the event (the "arrival of a train") and there is a very basic story being told. The simplicity of the film (due to its label as "early cinema"), however, does not allow it to be identified as an example of classicism or formalism.

The other film I looked at, D.W. Griffith's "Damsel in Distress," although still early on the film spectrum, was much more advanced in terms of shot composition, editing, and narrative. It includes a villain, a damsel in distress, two heroes, and a seemingly inevitable obstacle. This villain ties the damsel to the train tracks when a train is speedily on its way. The damsel is stuck there, so why doens't she be resourceful? She takes out a whistle and calls for her dog. Help is on the way! Or, is it? The dog gets there alright, but the lack of opposable thumbs and other necessary tools keeps him from freeing the damsel, so he runs and gets the help from another man (a "Good Samaritan", says the person on youtube who posted the film), who comes and tries to get the girl out of the way while the dog makes the conductor stop the train. The damsel is saved, the villain is caught, and the man-hero and damsel make out as the train moves along on its journey. While I would not consider this film formalist (there is no manipulation of time or space, only a hightened sense of it through cross-cutting), it is definitely realist for its common use of long shots (often with the accompaniment of a black, circular matte to highlight what is important) and classicist for its dramatic tendencies (such as character development and how it works into the plot).

Let's compare: this story of heroic triumph versus the arrival of a train. The train is important to the narritive structure of both, no doubt, but one is from a more neutral standpoint and the other is from a standpoint of frantic anxiety. Additionally, the shot variety of "Damsel in Distress" allows for the development of the narritive to create characters with unique personalities, rather than a uniform personality within potential train passengers. The differences in the edit are that for the latter film there actually is an edit. It required all of that tedious trimming that the first film did not. This definitely allowed for characterization, as well as concepts like parallel cutting that are still used today. While the damsel is being tied to the tracks, it cuts to the train speeding along toward her, thus identifying a pressing conflict during the first five seconds. As the story develops, it even cuts quickly between the train, the damsel, and the man on the bike, thus allowing for an intensity that the first film does not have. This parallel cutting is a key feature that can be found in films that use time as an important factor (from "Damsel in Distress" to "Run Lola Run"), even though it may not be for the entire film. These can make up the rising action, especially in short films, such as "Lovesick" (the one with the guy chasing after the girl he doesn't even know yet). There is the use of a black, circular matte that highlights the charactersn because this film lack the use of close ups, or at least close ups as we know them. Some of the most memorable shots include one of the shots of the train that has a strong graphic vector that makes shows how the train is moving forward towards its goal, no matter what (or who, in this case) is in its way. The same goes for the first film, only there is nothing in its way to establish a narrative quite as complex as the latter film. This highlights an important use of angles that makes the film much more compelling. However, in the latter film there is movement, such as tracking shots of the train, the dog, and the man on the bike. These show the different journeys of important aspects of the film that are all destined to approach the central figure, the damsel. In other words, they come from points A, B, and C, but they all move toward point D.