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.

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