Granton Trawler (1934) is an early British documentary that is entirely observational, with no narration and subtle location sound of seagulls and fishermen on a North Sea fishing vessel, the Isabella Greig. John Grierson's cinematography and Edgar Anstey's editing were originally done for a silent film; audio was added later. Well-composed shots of the fishing process, you-are-there ocean swells, and clouds of seagulls establish a mood that seems more like a contemporary documentary than one from the 1930s.
