However, the film successfully collected many popular themes and prevalent techniques of the time into a single accessible narrative. Porter cut his shots together to suggest action happening simultaneously in different locations, as he had done in "Life of an American Fireman", but more efficiently than in that film. The use of real outdoor locations and violent action helped keep the film dynamic, as did technical strategies such as a matte combining a studio scene with outdoor footage, and three shots in which the camera moves. These three shots add an edge of realism and immediacy, with the frame following the action if recording real life in a documentary style; one of these shots, showing the robbers making off with their loot, even requires the mounted camera to attempt a tricky diagonal pan, creating a jagged effect.