Ship at Sea

About this title

The power of moving photography is exploited in this early film, not to dazzle audiences' eyes but to turn their stomachs. The camera is mounted on the bow of a ship ploughing forward through a squall, and as the boat lurches up and down, the image does too - meaning that the viewer experiences the (unpleasant) sensation of movement too. The canny composition means that the frame contains both the ship and the waves, each moving in different directions.