Other reviewers have covered the issues of the story and methods used for this short film by Williamson. What they fail to notice -- or at least note -- is that the editing is not primitive. It is highly advanced editing techniques from Magic Lantern Shows -- the technological show medium preceding the movies. The scenes and people that the match seller imagines as she lights her dwindling supply of matches are shown inset behind her. How was this achieved? It might be projected, it might be a mask or it might be by removing a scrim.
The method of achieving this is not important: the inset image to show a character's thoughts was a standard of magic lanterns, largely supplanted by a wipe and either a change of color or focus in films. The technique is not extinct; it is still used occasionally, most recently to my knowledge in Jeunet's UN LONG DIMANCHE DE FIANCAILLES.
The method of achieving this is not important: the inset image to show a character's thoughts was a standard of magic lanterns, largely supplanted by a wipe and either a change of color or focus in films. The technique is not extinct; it is still used occasionally, most recently to my knowledge in Jeunet's UN LONG DIMANCHE DE FIANCAILLES.