Panorama of Esplanade by Night

Panorama of Esplanade by Night (1901)

The Pan-American Exposition was filmed for hundreds of different movies from the various movie studios out there. This one here offered a look at the exposition at night, which might sound simple today but if you go through these early movies you'll come to realize that very few were actually filmed at night. The effect obviously works here because you've got these amazing looking lights that the camera could easily pick up. I can only imagine that these night films made a lot more money than the regular ones because people in 1901 just weren't used to seeing stuff at night. The cinematography was extremely good for the period and there's no question that the film perfectly captures the lights and images.