many innovations in narrative film grammar, developing framing and cutting conventions that would become industry standards. Edwin S. Porter had won acclaim making cameras, film printers, and projectors; however, after his workshop was destroyed by a fire, he accepted a special commission for the Edison Manufacturing Company in 1901. His task to improve Edison's existing projecting equipment was a marked success, and Porter was given a regular job as the cameraman for Edison's New York film studio; at the time being a cameraman meant operating the camera as well as exercising creative control in a way that would later be called film directing.) His early films were sketches and actualities in the simple style used by other Edison employees. However, his job also gave him the chance to view the many foreign films the Edison company were distributing and pirating, and around 1901 or 1902 he discovered the more complex works being made by Méliès and the Brighton School. Porter began attempts to bring Edison films to a similar level of achievement, later recalling, "From laboratory examination of some of the popular films of the French pioneer director, George Méliès—trick films like A Trip to the Moon—I came to the conclusion that a picture telling a story might draw the customers back to the theatres, and set to work in this direction." The Edison studio, facing growing competition from other American companies, welcomed Porter's ambitious plans. His first major attempts at elaborate storytelling films included a 1902 adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk in imitation of Méliès, and a 1903 Life of an American Fireman in the style of a notable Brighton School film, Fire!. His films did well and were influential, bolstered by his status as the leading filmmaker at the most important American studio. In October 1903 Porter joined forces with a new Edison hire, Max Aronson, who was a young stage actor billed as G. M. Anderson. Anderson's initial jobs for the studio were inventing sight gags and playing occasional roles, but he was soon working with Porter on creative collaborations. Porter's next major film was The Great Train Robbery; Porter was in charge of production and photography, while Anderson may have assisted on staging. Inspirations [[File:The great train robbery written by Scott Marble. LCCN2014636174.jpg|thumb|A poster for Scott Marble's 1896 play The Great Train Robbery]] Porter (and possibly Anderson) drew on various sources when planning the scenario