Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Cine Tectonica |
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Subtitle of host publication | Film on the Faultline |
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Editors | Alan Wright |
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Place of Publication | Bristol and Chicago |
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Publisher | Intellect |
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ISBN (Electronic) | 9781783204359, 9781783204342 |
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ISBN (Print) | 9781783204335 |
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Published | 29 Jun 2015 |
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In
1910,
with
the
horrific
scenes
of
San
Francisco's
destruction by the 1906 earthquake and fire still fresh
in
the
public
memory,
Harry Krischock,
a
newspaper photographer
and
actuality
cameraman
from
Adelaide,
South
Australia made
a
film
that
capitalised
on
Western
society's
raw paranoia
about
the
possibility
of
a monumental
earthquake
in
their
own
backyard.
Challenging
notions
of
truth
and
fiction, 'Earthquake
in
Adelaide'
(c.1911)
was
a
bold
cinematic
experiment
which
utilized
camera
effects and
trick
photography
to
simulate
a
seismic
event
striking
an
Australian
capital
city.
This
chapter
places
Krischock's
film
in
the
context
of
early
media
representations
of earthquakes
,
particularly
the
widely‐circulated
still
and
moving
image records
of
the
aftermath
of
the
Great
San
Francisco
Earthquake
of
1906.
Examining
Krischock's blurring
of
truth
and
fiction,
especially
given
his
local standing as a respected photographer and actuality cameraman, this chapter considers the film in the context of a nascent trend of fiction films exploiting current events and the heightened cinematic spectacle of large-scale disaster.