Edwin S. Porter

About

Edwin Stanton Porter was an American film pioneer, most famous as a producer, director, studio manager and cinematographer with the Edison Manufacturing Company and the Famous Players Film Company. Influenced by both the "Brighton school" and the story films of Georges Méliès, Porter went on to make important shorts such as Life of an American Fireman (1903) and The Great Train Robbery (1903). In them, he helped to develop the modern concept of continuity editing, paving the way for D.W. Griffith who would expand on Porter's discovery that the unit of film structure was the shot rather than the scene. Porter, in an attempt to resist the new industrial system born out of the popularity of nickelodeons, left Edison in 1909 to form his own production company which he eventually sold in 1912. Porter remains an enigmatic figure in motion picture history. Though his significance as director...

Known for

The Great Train RobberyMovie • 1903Jack and the BeanstalkMovie • 1902The Night Before ChristmasMovie • 1905Life of an American FiremanMovie • 1903Dream of a Rarebit FiendMovie • 1906Electrocuting an ElephantMovie • 1903Pan-American Exposition by NightMovie • 1901Rescued from an Eagle's NestMovie • 1908Uncle Tom's CabinMovie • 1903Terrible Teddy, the Grizzly KingMovie • 1901President McKinley Taking the OathMovie • 1901The Gay Shoe ClerkMovie • 1903A Romance of the RailMovie • 1903Execution of Czolgosz with Panorama of Auburn PrisonMovie • 1901Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture ShowMovie • 1902Circular Panorama of Electric TowerMovie • 1901President McKinley and Escort Going to the CapitolMovie • 1901Coney Island at NightMovie • 1905What Happened on Twenty-Third Street, New York CityMovie • 1901The 'Teddy' BearsMovie • 1907