Edwin Stanton Porter (April 21, 1870 - April 30, 1941) was an influential early film pioneer. Porter was born in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. April 21 is the 111th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (112th in leap years). ... 1870 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... April 30 is the 120th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (121st in leap years), with 245 days remaining, as the last day in April. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1941 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

In the late 1890s Porter worked as both a projectionist and mechanic, eventually becoming director and cameraman for Thomas Edison and the Edison Manufacturing Company. Influenced by both the "Brighton School" and the story films of Georges Méliès, Porter went on to make important shorts such as Life of an American Fireman (1903) and The Great Train Robbery (1903). The latter was perhaps the cinema’s first Western. It was also groundbreaking for its use of "cross-cutting" in editing to show simultaneous action in different places. 1890 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search Thomas Alva Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an inventor and businessman who developed many important devices. ... Georges Méliès (December 8, 1861 – January 21, 1938), full name Maries-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a French filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest cinema. ... This page meets Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1903 has the latest occurring solstices and equinoxes for 400 years, because the Gregorian calendar hasnt had a leap year for seven years or a century leap year since 1600. ... The Great Train Robbery may refer to: a real event: The Great Train Robbery took place near Linslade in the United Kingdom in 1963 a film: The Great Train Robbery as directed by Edwin S. Porter in 1903. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1903 has the latest occurring solstices and equinoxes for 400 years, because the Gregorian calendar hasnt had a leap year for seven years or a century leap year since 1600. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Western is an American genre in literature and film. ... Jump to: navigation, search Film editing is the connecting of one or more shots together in a sequence. ...

In these films and others, Porter helped to develop the modern concept of continuity editing. He is often credited with discovering that the basic unit of structure in film was the shot rather than the scene (the basic unit on the stage), paving the way for D.W. Griffith's advances in editing and screen storytelling. Jump to: navigation, search Continuity editing is the predominant style of film editing practiced by most Hollywood editors. ... In film, a shot is a continuous strip of motion picture film, created of a series of frames, that runs for an uninterrupted period of time. ... David Lewelyn Wark Griffith (January 22, 1875 - July 23, 1948) was an American film director (commonly known as D. W. Griffith) probably best known for his film The Birth of a Nation. ...

Porter, in an attempt to resist the new industrial system born out of the popularity of nickleodeons, left Edison in 1909 to form his own production company which he eventually sold in 1912. Nickelodeon is an early 20th century form of small, neighborhood movie theaters in which admission was obtained for a nickel. ...

He died on April 30, 1941 in New York City. April 30 is the 120th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (121st in leap years), with 245 days remaining, as the last day in April. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1941 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... New York City, officially named the City of New York, is the most populous city in the United States, the most densely populated major city in North America, and is at the center of international finance, politics, entertainment, and culture. ...