''Westinghouse Works, 1904'' is a collection of American short

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

s, each averaging about three minutes in length. The films were taken from April 18, 1904 to May 16, 1904 in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, and document various Westinghouse manufacturing plants. They were made by G. W. "Billy" Bitzer of the

American Mutoscope and Biograph Company The Biograph Company, also known as the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, was a motion picture company founded in 1895 and active until 1916. It was the first company in the United States devoted entirely to film production and exhibition, ...

, were shown at the Westinghouse Auditorium at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, and may have been made for that purpose. At least 29 films were produced and 21 remain in the collection which is now a part of the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...

of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the '' de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

Collection

Production

Westinghouse executives commissioned Biograph to produce these films, intending to exhibit them to their subsidiaries and employees, thus making them some of the earliest existing examples of what are now called industrial films. They cannot be called

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

because they were paid for and made according to guidelines set by the manufacturing company. In addition, they cannot be called

commercials A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

because they do not advertise individual products and were not exhibited widely to elicit sales. The films were the first to use mercury vapor lamps (conveniently made by Westinghouse) to illuminate its shots, and they were also the first to use

crane shot Crane or cranes may refer to: Common meanings * Crane (bird), a large, long-necked bird * Crane (machine), industrial machinery for lifting ** Crane (rail), a crane suited for use on railroads People and fictional characters * Crane (surname), ...

s. Bitzer primarily used stationary cameras and fixed lenses, and he typically shot the films in a single continuous take. Most films did not have title cards, so many of their names were assigned by the Library of Congress.

Release

The finished films were shown to Westinghouse employees in Pittsburgh, narrated by a speaker. They were later exhibited at the

Louisiana Purchase Exposition The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds totaling $15 mi ...

in St. Louis (accompanied by organ music), and were received positively by audiences.

References

External links

Inside an American Factory: Films of the ''Westinghouse Works, 1904''
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{Westinghouse Film series introduced in 1904 1904 films 1904 short films United States National Film Registry films American black-and-white films American short documentary films American silent short films World's fair films Louisiana Purchase Exposition Films set in Pittsburgh 1904 in Pennsylvania 1900s short documentary films Short film series 1900s American films