The earliest film travelogues were often panoramas - single panning or tracking shots over a city scene or landscape. This short film illustrates the development of the form, editing a series of such shots together to create a more developed continuity with intertitles. Great care is taken to create movement in each scene, either by the camera or by its subject - note the repeated shots of running water. The travelogue grew out of static lantern slide lectures, and here the novelty value of moving pictures is still evident.

The rather awkward posed scenes in traditional costume are also typical of the travelogue, which often indulged heavily in stereotypes to give a picture postcard view of its subject.

Jez Stewart

Click titles to see or read more