D. W. Griffith Early Career Edison Studios – Porter – Bitzer Biograph Studios.
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Transcript of D. W. Griffith Early Career Edison Studios – Porter – Bitzer Biograph Studios.
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D. W. Griffith
• Early Career
• Edison Studios– Porter– Bitzer
• Biograph Studios
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1908-1913
• Directed approximately 450 short films for Biograph
• 1913 Mutual and takes Billy Bitzer with him
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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)
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Content of Early Films
• Heavy moral messages (Victorian influence)• Definitive good and evil• Heavy handed subtitles • Allegorical names (Dear One, Brute Force)
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Editing
• Developed sophisticated editing techniques– All future filmmakers credit Griffith with creating
film art• Eisenstein and Kuleshov• Welles• John Ford
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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
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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
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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
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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. ”
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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
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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
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Modest Success
• Broken Blossoms (1919)• Way Down East (1920)• Orphans of the Storm (1921)
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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
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1875-1948