Early film-makers delighted in capturing cities on screen. Their work takes us on a tram ride back in time, says Patrick Keiller . Until the mid-1900s, most films were one to three minutes long, and consisted of one or very few unedited takes. The Lumière company's films, for example, are typically 48 to 52ft long and last about a minute. They were made by exposing a complete roll of film, usually without stopping. Most were actualities, not fiction. Cinematographers would sometimes pause if there was a lull in the action, or if the view was blocked, but other kinds of editing were unusual. The reconstruction of time by joining individual shots together was an aspect of film-making that began to dominate only after about 1907.