Comparison: "Arrival of a Train" and "Damsel in Distress"

The most obvious difference between these short films is the camera work. The Arrival of a Train is a single sequence with no cutting, narrative, or any real meaning. The Damsel in Distress on the other hand has a plot, suspense, characters, and a full story arc.
In the Arrival of a train the camera does not move at all, and shows everything that happens in that particular frame. It is one long sequence with no point, or characters to give value to the train or its passengers.
With Damsel in Distress, conflicts and characters are shown with cuts. The way the women is tied up is shown, followed by the hiding place of the villain. All this has to be clear because of the lack of sound in films of this time period. The cuts are fast paced for the duration of the film especially when showing parallel action. For example, the train is approaching while the dog and man come to the woman's rescue.
Although the key point of both these films is a training arriving at a certain location, the way that event is portrayed is very different. One is simply an every day event while the other is a life death situation.

Again the difference in these films is between the use or lack of film making techniques. There is no editing in the Arrival of  a Train, which does match the event. The Damsel in Distress has many quick cuts in order to keep the audience involved while telling a dramatic story without getting boring.

The Arrival of a Train is a realistic film, the audience is free to look at what they find interesting and interpret the events. The film is also very short because of the lack of a narrative. The Damsel in Distress is more formal, closeups are used to show what is important. The woman blowing the whistle gives the dog a motive to arrive, the close up on the chains show the woman's problem. When the mans bike is broken it is showing the problem that he has to face, not being able to get to the woman that quickly. Finally the resolution is shown with the train breaking the chains holding down the woman. There isn't much to interpret, the film shows the audience everything that is important.