Some men are toiling in the furrows of a ploughed field. As they work, another group of men slowly pass by, driving yoked oxen.
To the modern eye it is a snippet, but to the contemporary audience it would have seemed much more. In composition and tone it looks like an illustration from a Bible or children's textbook. It even has the title of such an illustration. To the smart audiences in the cities, it might be a study in composition. To the rural audience seeing it at the fairground, it might be an offer of dignity.
And to the men who made this movie? Well, this was their work and they did it honestly as best they knew how, with their knowledge of composition gained from painting and photography and movement, learnt in the brief years since the invention of motion pictures. Everyone was doing their best, except possibly the oxen.
To the modern eye it is a snippet, but to the contemporary audience it would have seemed much more. In composition and tone it looks like an illustration from a Bible or children's textbook. It even has the title of such an illustration. To the smart audiences in the cities, it might be a study in composition. To the rural audience seeing it at the fairground, it might be an offer of dignity.
And to the men who made this movie? Well, this was their work and they did it honestly as best they knew how, with their knowledge of composition gained from painting and photography and movement, learnt in the brief years since the invention of motion pictures. Everyone was doing their best, except possibly the oxen.
