David Griffith's acting experience

In addition, Griffith also made a meaningful exploration on the possibility of lighting. As early as 198, in the film The Drunkard's Reform, Griffith boldly used fire as a light source. In the film Pippa Passes in 199, Griffith simulated the change of sunlight in a day. In 1916, Griffith said that looking back on his days in Biograph, he liked the film very much. Although Griffith rarely used this kind of lighting in the future, it was obviously borrowed by other filmmakers. For example, Alan Wyckoff, a photographer of Cecil De Mille, called this kind of lighting "Rembrandt-style lighting" and used it extensively in De Mille's films, such as The Cheat in 1915.

Griffith and Bitzer have made many other contributions. For example, fade in and out, circle in and out, "iris shot". Bitzer is very proud of the circled technique, because by circling the center of the picture to focus on a small focus area to guide the picture switching, there is neither too abrupt jump nor booing the impatient audience. Because Griffith's films have used a lot of shots in the middle or even closer, he is keenly aware that the change of shots makes the film performance different from the stage performance, and the appearance of close-ups makes it unnecessary for actors to make exaggerated movements, so as to get the performance closest to real life. Griffith's concept of film performance has brought together a group of young actors. Except Mary Pickford and Lionel Barrymore, many other actors, such as Mae Marsh, Dorothy Gish, lillian gish, Blanche Sweet and other later stars, have no performance experience before. To a certain extent, Griffith is the first director in film history who knows how to direct actors' performances. Compared with other film companies, he doesn't skimp on time for rehearsals. The success of his films allows him to pay four times the salary of others to keep actors. These people also left with Griffith when Griffith left Biograph later.

In addition to actors, a large number of effective forces in the film industry have finally entered the film circle from Griffith's team. For example, Mark Sennett was in charge of comedy shooting at Biograph, which laid the foundation for his later creation of Keystone. Other directors who graduated from Griffith Film School in different periods include eric feng Strouhen, the famous image of Hun in Griffith films, Sidney Franklin, Raoul Walsh, who plays Wilkes in The Birth of a Country), Allan Dwan (who designed the famous push-and-pull lens for the Babylonian section in Let's Disagree) and Tod Browning. Joseph Henabery (playing Lincoln in The Birth of a Country), Donald Crisp, Paul Powell, etc. This angered Griffith, so in October 1913, Griffith left Biograph and joined Reliance-Majestic as a independent filmmakers/director with an annual salary of $5,2. Aitken, the head of Relian-Majestic, promised that in addition to regular works, Griffith could shoot two independent productions of his own a year. Since then, Biograph Company has gone from bad to worse, declared bankruptcy in 1915, and completed its historical mission.

Because Biograph never promotes its actors and directors, all films have no other information except their names, so although everyone knows that Biograph's films are good, few people know about Griffith. So after Griffith left Biograph, he published an advertisement in Dramatic Mirror Weekly in New York, listing 15 films he directed and publicly announcing that he was the producer who made Biograph a success. In his advertisement, he listed innovations in film art: close-up and close-up pictures, panoramic views, Dickensian parallel editing, suspense keeping, circling and natural performances. Although it is hard to say that these techniques were initiated by Griffith, it is undeniable that these film languages have been used quite systematically in Griffith's hands, laying the basic grammar of classic film narration. His films have been widely praised in the film industry and become the object of universal imitation and learning, which has far-reaching influence, which makes Griffith worthy of his position as the father of movies. The Birth of a Country

The Birth of a Country and Opposing Differences with the Party are two insurmountable peaks in the early American films, which are far superior to other films in the same period in all aspects. They indicate that Griffith has reached the peak of his personal career, and also show the best techniques of film technology, and strive for the position of film as an art, and categorically point out that film is one of the most powerful social forces in American society.

The birth of these two films is by no means accidental. They are the result of five years' intensive work by directors. As early as the period of Biograph, Griffith was brewing these two works. After leaving Biograph, Griffith made four films for the new company, none of which was his favorite. Subsequently, Griffith got the right to shoot "Kinmen" (later "The Birth of a Country") and found that this was exactly the story he had been pursuing. Griffith began to shoot this film on a large scale. He was not only in charge of the creation, but also contracted all the chores.

Griffith didn't use a "movie script" or a pre-written shot script when working on the biggest project in the history of this film. He pieced together, refined and planned the materials in his mind. In the specific shooting, his intuitive ability and improvisation played a key role.

in February, 1915, this blockbuster was completed. The film cost 5, yuan, and there were 12 copies, making it the first real feature film in American film history. Prior to this, although the Italian feature films The Last Days of Pompeii and Cabiria became popular all over the world, the American film industry was still optimistic about short films. Griffith is undoubtedly influenced by these epic feature films, such as the epic themes of The Birth of a Country and Let the Party Oppose Differences, and the scheduling of big scenes. "The Birth of a Country" is the first film in the United States with a ticket price as high as $2, and the box office rate is extremely high. On March 3rd, 1915, it was shown in the first round of the Liberty Theatre in new york, with 62 consecutive performances. Since then, Melodrama and epic blockbusters have become the most profitable film types in Hollywood commercial system.

The film reviews the Civil War, which destroyed the South. The Ku Klux Klan eulogized the efforts to restore the honor of the South and punish the blacks, and finally established the legal status of the South, thus giving birth to a new country. Because the film strongly promoted the inferiority of black people, it caused social controversy, and even seven States banned the film from being shown in the state. In 1916, Griffith published a pamphlet entitled "The Rise and Fall of Free Speech in America" at his own expense to defend himself. On the one hand, he pointed out that the root of all electronic censorship lies in the party's fighting against differences, and made propaganda for his next film.

The controversy aroused the awareness of the social function of movies all over the country. But more importantly, people realized the superb artistic attainments and rich imagination of this film. Griffith is considered to have really mastered the tool of film, and he can arrange each shot in obedience, thus producing the strongest effect. Griffith promoted the editing principle founded by Mei Liai and developed by Porter to a new height, and everyone benefited from it later. Cultural circles praised the achievements of the film crazily, and naturally put Griffith on the throne of the first movie master.

After

"Let's Oppose Differences", the novel "Let's Oppose Differences" encountered greater financial difficulties. It is said that it cost 1.9 million US dollars, reaching 13 books. Griffith thinks that "the film is a protest against autocracy and various forms of injustice", and the theme is too huge, which requires precise patience and extraordinary artistic ability. The more important feature of "The Party Opposes Differences" lies in its internal organizational structure. The idea of the film comes from The Mother and the Law, a new drama after the seal of The Birth of a Country. After studying the script, Griffith found that as the next work after The Birth of a Country, the story was too anti-climax, so he chose three stories from different periods of history and merged them into one. Griffith went further than The Birth of a Country this time. He expanded the film into a complex form in which four stories were going on at the same time, and in the narrative process, he cut from one story to another, running side by side. One shot is cut into the next before it is finished; Camera movement and expression are enhanced at the same time; Circle in and out and mask shooting are used to emphasize meaningful details or convincing scenes; Large close-ups and distant prospects in the west can produce tense and magnificent effects. It can be said that every change and every shot is controlled and carefully selected according to its own significance and the needs of the overall situation. Griffith put all his savings into the filming of "Let the Party Oppose Differences". He built a magnificent scenery near Sunset Avenue in Los Angeles. Two ancient chariots pulled by four horses can gallop side by side on the four-story Babylon wall. The palace inside the city wall is 16 meters deep and the minarets around it are as high as 7 meters. The cast assembled by the film is extremely large. Only one Persian army went out to war, and 16, extras were used. In order to ensure the transportation, logistics and dispatching command of this huge team, the staff even set up telephone lines and temporary railways in the studio.

On September 5th, 1916, The Party Against Alienation was released, but its evaluation was not as good as that of the previous film The Birth of a Country. Many people didn't understand the novel editing style and mixed up the story, so they criticized Griffith for being eccentric. Many years later, pudovkin also criticized that "(the film) was too long and boring, which made people tired, thus offsetting most of its outstanding effects." In addition, due to the growing fanatical belligerence in the United States when the film was released (the United States finally declared war on Germany in April of the following year), people felt that the peaceful tendency advocated by "Let's Oppose Differences" was incompatible with the fighting temperament, and the sentiment against the film began to rise, which was later banned in many cities. Therefore, in the end, economically, "Let's Oppose Differences" brought great losses to Griffith. However, this did not affect the significance of "Let's Oppose Differences" to the development of world movies. The famous director orson welles said: "This failure is also the greatest success in the history of movies." In his early film Leaves from Satan's Book》(1921), the Danish director Carl T. Dreyer also told four stories from ancient times to the present, which is obviously based on "Let the Party Oppose Differences". The economic failure of "Clash with Different Groups" marked the beginning of the decline of Griffith's career. Especially after the 192s, new filmmakers took his place.

It is generally believed that there are many reasons for Griffith's decline, including that he has lost interest in movies, his new works are increasingly out of touch with the audience at that time, and his fame and fortune have also damaged his integrity as a film artist. Therefore, there has always been criticism that Griffith's spirit of modesty and daring to explore has been replaced by grandstanding and affectation. Secondly, the ever-changing social morality is also incompatible with Griffith's conservative traditional 19th-century orthodoxy, and his deep-rooted prejudice is exposed in later films, which is ridiculed and criticized.

Tears of Flowers

In p>1919, Griffith and several other famous Hollywood figures, including Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, founded United Artist. Griffith's Broken Tears or the Yellow Man and the Girl (1919) for United States is regarded as his last masterpiece.

Many media praised the artistic achievements of the film. Since then, Griffith has never been so highly praised. In the next few years, his films still cost a lot of money, but they are all formulated with outdated themes, showing the decline of creativity.

President Lincoln

President Abraham Lincoln (193) is Griffith's first audio film and his penultimate work. This film won the praise of some film critics, but the audience reacted indifferently. United States and Griffith terminated the contract, and he produced The Struggle(1931), an independent producer, which was a complete failure. In 1931, Griffith completely withdrew from the film industry.

In his later years, Griffith always struggled with poverty, and he was almost completely forgotten by the film industry, peers and the public. In 1936, Griffith returned to the Oscar ceremony and received a special honor, and presented awards to Bette Davis Bette Davis and Victor McLaglen. Since then, occasionally, filmmakers have suddenly thought of Griffith and asked him for advice, often without results.

Griffith died of cerebral hemorrhage at Temple Hospital in Hollywood on July 24th, 1948.