Significance of films 

George Albert Smith was one of the most influential filmmakers of his generation and was one of the first to explore fictional and fantastical themes. Smith's experience of using bi-unial and tri-unial magic lanterns (lanterns with two and three lenses) informed his filmmaking and helped him develop new cutting techniques. Smith was an inspired innovator and revelled in the freedom that the new medium afforded him. Indeed, Smith pioneered processes such as superimposition, double-exposure, reversing, close-up shots and dream sequences. 
 

Special Effects

George Albert Smith developed a variety of manipulative techniques to achieve special effects, many of which are still used in modern filmmaking. Smith used superimposition to create the illusion of ghostly figures and the use of cutting and interspersing film made it appear as though figures materialised out of nowhere. A good example of this is Smith's 1898 film Santa Claus. The effect of superimposition was achieved through the double-exposure of film and, in 1897, Smith patented a double-exposure system.

Smith employed the use of reversing film to make seemingly impossible feats possible. For instance, in The House That Jack Built, a young boy destroys a toy house that his sister has built before seeing the house mysteriously rebuild itself. This effect is achieved by reversing the section of film that shows the house falling down. 

Editing Techniques

George Albert Smith is widely regarded as the inventor of film editing. Films such as Grandma's Reading Glass, The House That Jack Built and Let Me Dream Again demonstrate a vast array of editing techniques including the close-up shot, subjective and objective point-of-view shots and reversing. For example, Smith used a studio shot from Kiss in the Tunnel in Cecil Hepworth's View From an Engine Front - Train Leaving Tunnel to create a three shot sequence. In As Seen Through the Telescope, Smith smoothly cuts from long shots to close-up shots. These techniques created a new sense of continuity and simultaneity that revolutionised narrative thought.

As the film academic Frank Gray notes, Smith rejected the traditional theatrical perspective (a fixed view from the stalls) which had been the model for film production until 1900. For instance, in Grandma's Reading Glass, we enter the grandson's mind and see close-up shots of objects through the reading glass. Smith thus pioneered multi-angle and multi-perspective cinematography. Furthermore, Smith originated a number of transitional processes that aided continuity editing. These included wipes, dissolves, pulls and cuts.

Postcard reminiscent of Smith's film 'Kiss in Tunnel', MF000197

 

 

Back to top