THE CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF FILM
Let’s Review
Who created the kinetoscope? Who used his name to add credibility to his
vitascope? Why was the vitascope a big deal? Which American tycoon bet on the ponies? £$ Who helped him win? And how? What is “persistence of vision”? And who created it? Who is the “father of special effects”? What film did Milies create? What is one contemporary connection to Milies’
film?
Who created it?• Edwin Porter, former
Edison cameraman
Why is it important?
• The first narrative film• Established that film
could be a commercially viable medium
The Great Train Robbery
Where we left off . . .
Film has come a long way from making bets about a horse (1876) to The Great Train Robbery (1903)
What are some aspects of TGTR that were new or innovative (How does it compare to ATTTM?)
At this point film still has quite a ways to go: What are some missing aspects?
Ways to improve film
Need technology in which actors speak (Won’t happen for a long time)
Need technology that enables color (Won’t happen for an even longer time)
A need arises for l o n g e r films Another need arises for better films (What
literary elements are missing?) Finally, the films themselves need work
(DO MORE THINGS WITH THE CAMERA): What can be added?
Ways to Improve Film
Sound
Point One: Make Films Longer As movie going became more of a shared
experience (thanks to the VITASCOPE), the industry grew more and more popular
“Nickelodeons” began to spring up Movie halls in which
patrons paid a nickel for about an hours worth of short films
Generally located in large working or middle class populations
Successful because overhead low; turnout high
The Emergence of Griffith
David Wark Griffith comes on the scene around 1907, originally as an actor
Background: Born 1875 in KY (Son of a former
Confederate soldier) Sixth grade education A failure of a writer and stage actor; 1907
turns to film Not a great actor; by 1908 writes/directs his
first short film, The Adventures of Dolly
Griffith’s revolution . . .
Between 1908-1914, Griffith directs almost 500 short films, revolutionizing film with the following techniques: Scene changes: By 1912, using on average 68
scene changes (How many in TGTR?) Others had 4-15 scenes
Use of different Shots to create tension: cutting back and forth between characters, a.k.a. cross cutting
Excessive use of close ups: Both of people and of objects, used to further illustrate points
Character development
1915
Birth of a Nation
Birth of a Nation (1915)
First full length movie (Three Hours) History of the Civil War and its aftermath
from the point of view of two families One Northern Family One Southern Family
Controversial Blackface Recruiting tool The eldest son of the Southern family goes on to
found the Ku Klux Klan and help “Restore” the South
Success of Birth of a Nation
Ten to Fourteen Million dollars initially made A film this long had never been seen before Audiences flocked to see such a tale
Characters fully developed America’s Civil War had only ended 50 years
prior Griffith was essentially able to produce an
epic story, something that had not been done in American film up to that point
Conclusions
American Film continued to develop throughout the 1900’s
Griffith and his contemporaries revolutionized how a film was made and also began to feature a lot of the same actors (Face recognition amongst the crowd)
Birth of a Nation, though controversial, was hailed as a breakthrough movie that paved the way for other full length films