d. w. griffith early career edison studios – porter – bitzer biograph studios
DESCRIPTION
Contributions Complex storytelling Film could make people think and feel Established the shot as the unit of film, not the scene Film becomes what the director wants the audience to see First “Auteur” filmmaker (wrote, directed, edited, scored)TRANSCRIPT
D. W. Griffith
• Early Career
• Edison Studios– Porter– Bitzer
• Biograph Studios
1908-1913
• Directed approximately 450 short films for Biograph
• 1913 Mutual and takes Billy Bitzer with him
Contributions
• Complex storytelling• Film could make people think and feel• Established the shot as the unit of film, not
the scene• Film becomes what the director wants the
audience to see • First “Auteur” filmmaker (wrote, directed,
edited, scored)
Content of Early Films
• Heavy moral messages (Victorian influence)• Definitive good and evil• Heavy handed subtitles • Allegorical names (Dear One, Brute Force)
Editing
• Developed sophisticated editing techniques– All future filmmakers credit Griffith with creating
film art• Eisenstein and Kuleshov• Welles• John Ford
Lighting
• Created to enhance the shot or scene– Natural (window or outdoors)– Night/Day– Lamp or fireplace– Mood– Highlight an object or person– Rembrandt (women look angelic)– Colorized film to create mood/effect
Company of Players
• Type casting• Rehearsals• More subtle• Created stars– Mary Pickford– Lillian and Dorothy Gish– Henry B. Walthall, Donald Crisp– Mae Marsh, Blanche Sweet
The Birth of a Nation
• Adapted from Thomas Dixon’s novel The Clansman
• Two families during the Civil War and Reconstruction
• 6 weeks to rehearse• 9 weeks to shoot
The Birth of a Nation
• Cost: $125,000• Grossed: $40 million ($2 million to Griffith• $2 instead of a nickel to see it• Nearly 3 hours in length (13 reels)• First film screened at the White House• Pres. Wilson calls it “History written in
lightning. ”
Criticism
• Racist Themes• Glorified the KKK• Touched off riots throughout the country• Banned in some areas of the South• NAACP condemns it• Griffith answers his critics with Intolerance, his
cinematic defense
Intolerance• $450,000 to make• 4 confusing storylines in different time periods inter-
cut• Reviewers called it “Intolerable” 16 reels long • Flop, puts Griffith in financial jeopardy and
dependent on other producers
Modest Success
• Broken Blossoms (1919)• Way Down East (1920)• Orphans of the Storm (1921)
Decline
• No new innovative ideas• His moral dramas no longer appealed to
audiences. • Society moving into “Roaring 20’s”• Far less creative control• Stopped writing his own screenplays
1875-1948