The Movies Begin, Pt.

2
The Rise of Narrative
Georges Mlis, the
"Father of Special
Effects (actually
debatable as he was
preceded by Alice Guy)
Began in theatre
Multiple exposures
discovered by accident
Split screen
First dissolve
Separate scenes edited
together in order
The Movies Begin, Pt. 2
The Man with the India-Rubber Head, 1902
The Voyage to the Moon, 1902
The Movies Begin, Pt. 2
Georges Mlis in his toy store
Went bankrupt and many
films were lost during WW
possibly melted down for
boot heels for soldiers
After bankruptcy, he ran a
toy store in the
Montparnasse train station
"Re-disciovered and given
Legion of Honor
D.W. Griffith on Mlis, "
owe him everything."
Charles Chaplin said Mlis
was "the alchemist of light."

The Movies Begin, Pt. 2

The Rise of Narrative
Alice Guy-Blach,
n 1894, at 21, Alice Guy
became Lon Gaumont's
secretary at Gaumont, a seller of
camera equipment and film
Allowed to "play with the
camera as long as her clerical
duties did not suffer
Both Guy and Mlis saw the
first Lumire Brothers public
screening in 1895
The Movies Begin, Pt. 2
The Rise of Narrative
Made one of the first narrative
films, a Fe aux Choux (The
Cabbage Fairy) in 1896 after
Lumire Brothers' narrative
rroseur rros (1895) and
several months before Georges
Mlis Une Nuit Terrible (1896)
Experimented with early color
tinting and "Chronophone -
sound on a wax cylinder
The Movies Begin, Pt. 2
The Rise of Narrative
After marrying Herbert Blach, a
cameraman for Gaumont, she
moved to the US where they
started Solax in 1910 - the first
production company ever
headed by a woman in Flushing
then Ft. Lee, NJ where she
made one of the first films with
an all African-American cast,
Fool and His Money
The Movies Begin, Pt. 2
The Rise of Narrative
n 1922, the Blachs divorced and
Alice returned to France where she
repeatedly wrote Gaumont to try and
get credit for her work as a pioneer
and director of 700 films
Eventually, the Cinmathque
Franaise honored her as the world's
first female filmmaker
She also received the Legion of
Honor
She moved back to the US to live with
daughter Simone and died in 1968 at
a nursing home in Mahwah, NJ
American Film History
Edwin S. Porter & the
Development of
Narrative, 1903
The Movies Begin, Pt. 2
Edwin S. Porter
nfluenced by Mlis
Began combining
documentary footage with
his own to dramatize and
add tension (ife of an
2erican Fire2an, 1903
Narrative & Editing
More sophisticated
camerawork - not like a
stage play
Color tinting
Directorial skills did not keep
pace but he continued as an
inventor & designer ife of an 2erican Fire2an & The
Great Train Robbery, 1903
The Movies Begin, Pt. 2
David Wark (D.W.) Griffith
Unsuccessful writer and
actor from Kentucky
Worked for Biograph Studio
where he made
approximately films
from 1908-1913
One of the biggest
innovators in narrative film
grammar - he wasn't the
first to invent these
techniques but he somehow
understood what to do with
them
The Movies Begin, Pt. 2
Griffith with his
cameraman, G.W. "Billy
Bitzer, whose technical
proficiency allowed him
extensive creative
freedom
Chaplin called him "the
teacher of us all.
The Movies Begin, Pt. 2
Greatest strength
besides technical and
narrative innovation
was his use of actors
Actors were not
even credited as they
may want to get paid
more
Richard Barthelmess, Lillian and
Dorothy Gish, Mary Pickford and
Henry B. Walthall
irth of a Nation
1912 & 1914
Enrico Guazzoni (Quo
Vadis) & Giovanni
Pastrone (Cabiria)
Competition for one and
two reel motion pictures
(10-20 minutes)
2 hours
Elaborate sets and
props
irth of a Nation
Griffith wanted to make
films more than 1 or 2
reels
Judith of ethulia
(1914) was one of the
first American feature
films
Thought the "feature
film was economically
viable and left Biograph
to make irth of a
Nation in 1915
irth of a Nation
irth of a Nation, 1915
Three hours - longest
movie ever made
Not like a stage play as
was the fashion at the
time
Disregarded the rules
More shots
Close ups
Cross cutting
Lighting with "practicals
"Masking
Emotional content
Henry B. Walthall & Lillian Gish
in irth of a Nation
The Movies Begin, Pt. 2
Based on The
Clans2an
$110,000
Made $10-$14 Million
Southern point of view:
Ku Klux Klan members
are the heroes
Sparked many protests
Box office success
Still controversial
The Movies Begin, Pt. 2
Dynamic battle scenes
The Movies Begin, Pt. 2
Pathos
The Movies Begin, Pt. 2
Cross cutting or
parallel editing
The Movies Begin, Pt. 2
The Godfather
Matthew Brady's
Photos of the Civil War
Still from irth of a Nation
The Movies Begin, Pt. 2
The Movies Begin, Pt. 2
Vermeer's Girl with
a Pearl Earring
Scarlett Johansson in Girl
with a Pearl Earring
From irth of a Nation Viewed Today
by Donato Totaro
www.offscreen.com
From a technical and stylistic
standpoint:
Night-time shooting and
featured extensive outdoor
landscape
rising and tinting for dramatic
and thematic effect
Perfection of Griffith's "last-
minute-rescue montage
Established the practice of film
reviewing/criticism
Birth of a Nation: Viewed Today
The Rescue Montage from irth...
From irth of a Nation Viewed Today
by Donato Totaro
www.offscreen.com
From the standpoint of
Exhibition History:
First film to feature an
intermission, with a full
orchestra, advanced ticket
sales, souvenir programs,
costumed usherettes,
modulated lighting, and special
trains that would transport
people from small mid-western,
southern states to cities (soon
theatres sprung up
everywhere)
Demonstrated how controversy
can help box-office
Helped kill nickelodeons and
establish the feature film
From irth of a Nation Viewed Today
by Donato Totaro
www.offscreen.com
From a Social Standpoint:
Demonstrated the power of film as
propaganda
Was responsible for the modern
revival of the KKK in the South
Pushed back race relations a good
decade
Established many if not all of the
African-American stereotypes for
subsequent Hollywood: the mammy,
the black brute, the black buck, the
faithful servant, the empowered black,
etc.
The Movies Begin, Pt. 2
"Miscegenation on screen
was forbidden
Frequent stereotyping not
just for African- Americans
the stingy Jew, the Asian
villain, the dragon lady, the
wise Asian, the Mexican
bandit, etc.
Growth of a parallel industry
of African-American cinema
The Movies Begin, Pt. 2
Oscar Micheaux, first
African-American filmmaker
Answered Griffith's point of
view with ithin our Gates
(1919)
Wrote, produced and
directed forty-four feature-
length films between 1919
and 1948 and wrote seven
novels
Within Our Gates
Intolerance, 1916
roken losso2s, 1919
ay Down East, 1920
Orphans of the Stor2, 1921
The Movies Begin, Pt. 2
f you live in France, for
instance, and you have written
one good book, or painted one
good picture, or directed one
outstanding film, fifty years ago,
and nothing ever since, you are
still recognized as an artist and
honored accordingly. People
take off their hats and call you
maitre. They do not forget. n
Hollywood - in Hollywood you're
as good as your last picture. f
you didn't have one in
production within the last three
months you're forgotten, no
matter what you have achieved
ere this..
part of an eulogy von Stroheim
gave for D.W. Griffith on the
BBC
The Movies Begin, Pt. 2
The House with Closed
Shutters, 1910
Large block of time for a
short film with battles scenes
& cross-cutting/parallel
editing
The Musketeers of Pig
lley, 1912
First focus pull & Scorsese
noted it's influence on Gangs
of New York