Inauguration de l'exposition universelle

One of the astonishing things about the works of the Lumiere brothers is not simply that they are among the first motion pictures, but that they are well-composed motion pictures.

Consider this picture of people on a moving sidewalk at the World's Fair of 1900 in Paris. Were some contemporary of the Lumieres to attempt this for the first time -- say, Edison's incompetent producer, James White, who did tackle the subject elsewhere -- this would be shot from straight on and on the level or slightly above, or perhaps from behind, so that we could see the backs of these peoples' hats -- a subject which seemed to fascinate Mr. White endlessly. Instead, Louis Lumiere placed his camera so that motion proceeded on the diagonal, from the upper left to the lower right, and slightly below eye level. Behold! Not only do you see the movement in this moving picture, you see the faces of the people in it and its setting in a fairly interesting triangular composition: people, buildings, movement. Even today many film makers seem to lack this elementary understanding of making good films.