This documentary of the Westinghouse plant circa 1904 is divided into three parts. The second shows the almost exclusively female workers winding armatures for the electrical turbines, the third segment shows a "quittin' time" shot of the factory gate with the workers hurrying home. One significant thing that stands out is how formally factory workers dressed one hundred years ago.
The first segment is amazing for the innovative camera movement, a tracking shot has been arranged, apparently by using a factory overhead crane that runs the length of the floor, and the camera tracks literally through the process of the manufacture of the electrical turbines. A lot has been said about the shot that opens Welles's "A Touch of Evil", including elaborate homages to it in films like "The Player", so I was unprepared for this expertly photographed tracking shot in what is supposedly a run-of -the-mill promotional documentary of the early silent era. It is truly an astounding innovation for this period.
The first segment is amazing for the innovative camera movement, a tracking shot has been arranged, apparently by using a factory overhead crane that runs the length of the floor, and the camera tracks literally through the process of the manufacture of the electrical turbines. A lot has been said about the shot that opens Welles's "A Touch of Evil", including elaborate homages to it in films like "The Player", so I was unprepared for this expertly photographed tracking shot in what is supposedly a run-of -the-mill promotional documentary of the early silent era. It is truly an astounding innovation for this period.