Life: In the process of film development, American movie master David Griffith liberated the film from the slave status of drama with his extraordinary talent, and made it develop into an independent art category on an equal footing with music, art and literature. He not only skillfully used the privilege of film, creatively arranged the photographic composition and montage of the film, but also skillfully used the techniques of wide field of vision, middle shot, close shot, close-up, fade in and out, shake the mirror, cross use and so on, which made the first peak in the history of film that surprised people today. David Griffith (1875 1948) was born in Lagrange, Kentucky, and his father was a doctor. Griffith died when he was ten years old. The burden of family life falls on Griffith's sister, who is a primary school teacher and has a very difficult life. Griffith entered the society very early, and worked as a bookstore clerk, a reporter for Courier, a firefighter, a metallurgical worker, an elevator worker, a picker on a golf course, and an actor in Murphy's Troupe. Judging from this variety of business, Griffith used to do whatever job he met in order to make a living, and he had no freedom of choice at all. However, no matter how hard life was, he never gave up his love for literature. He read the works of Browning, Jack London, Mo Bosang, Tolstoy, Dickens and Whitman, and wrote his own poems, novels and plays. This kind of life made him widely contact with the lower classes and understand the sufferings of the people. This is good for his future film career. 1907 In the summer, Griffith, who was unemployed in new york, finally found a supporting role in Edison Bevograf Film Company, with a weekly salary of only 15 USD. He is not only diligent, but also brilliant, and has written several plays in succession. 1908, the director of Bevograf Company, Mike Kuqiong, retired, and Griffith took over his job and directed his first film, The Adventures of Peach and Plum. The film tells the story of a little girl who was abducted by a gypsy, put into a vat and placed on the platform of a mobile wooden house. When the horse ran with the cabin, the barrel rolled off the platform, down the slope and fell into the river. The fisherman lifted the bucket and the little girl was saved. The story was thrilling and interesting, and it was a great success after the screening. Griffith makes movies based on the works of Mo Bosang, Tolstoy and others he has read, with an average of two movies per week. From 1908 to 19 12, more than 400 films were shot. These films not only inherited the documentary style of Lumiere and others, but also absorbed the factors of Mei's drama films, and even made several epic films under the influence of Italian historical films. He absorbed the scattered creations of various schools and many senior directors, combined with many original things of his own, and gradually formed his own system, showing his own distinctive characteristics. These characteristics are manifested in the content of sympathy for the suffering of the lower classes. For example, edgar allan poe described the tragic story of a lower-class intellectual. Edgar allan poe is a pioneer of western modernist literature. Born in Boston to homeless parents, he was an orphan since he was a child. The American Civil War ended in failure in the South. Edgar allan poe's works are always immersed in the declining mood of the south, and he is keen to show scenes of decadence and death. Griffith is also a southerner in the United States, and his childhood life is similar to that of Allen and Poe. Maybe that's why he put the poet on the screen. The film describes the poet taking care of his dying wife in a room full of terrible shadows. When he opened the window, a crow suddenly flew in and stopped at the bust of pallas by the door. Poets live in poverty and make a living by selling literature. He wrote a poem "The Crow" and sold it in a hurry to help his wife. When he came back with ten yuan for selling manuscripts, he found his wife dead. Griffith used symbolism to concentrate on Poe's life predicament, convey a bleak atmosphere and show deep sympathy for poor intellectuals. These characteristics are characterized by originality in skill. He used flashback for the first time in The Adventures of Peach and Plum. He successfully took a close-up shot. In "Golden Dream" adapted from Jack London's "No Soul", he moved the camera closer to the actor and fully absorbed the actor's facial expression. He also has a unique creation in trick photography, so he also obtained this patent in 1922; He used alternate montage in The Long Tail Teleoperator, and used the gradually accelerated montage rhythm to express the tension in the chase lens. In The Creation of Man, he skillfully used the telephoto lens. As The Soviet World Film Encyclopedia said: "The significance of the progress and innovation of Griffith's artistic activities lies in that he regards the director as the creator of the unified image of his works. In almost every movie, he tries to solve a formal or aesthetic problem. Thus gradually established a complete system. The montage system of movies formed its embryonic form in his artistic career. However, what really established Griffith's lofty position in the world film history was that he filmed The Birth of a Country, which made the party oppose differences and made Griffith's life full of legends. The birth of a country was filmed in 19 15. Griffith's film is based on the novel Golden Gate by Reverend Thomas Dixon, which praised the racist organization Klan. It is based on the American Civil War and revolves around the two families. These two families are family friends, and the children still have love. In the war, they became enemies because of their different political views. They joined the different armies of the North and the South and met each other with swords and guns. With the help of the Ku Klux Klan, the two sides stopped the civil war, and the two families got back together, and everyone was happy. Among the two families, the film takes the experience of the Cameron family as the main line and unfolds three lines: black atrocities led to a fire that destroyed Atlantic City; The Cameron family anxiously watched the civil war outside; "Little Colonel" fought on the battlefield. The interweaving of three lines constitutes the overall structure of the film, and Griffith mobilized a strong lineup, which cost 654.38 million US dollars and took only nine weeks to shoot. The whole film is divided into 12 copies, 1500 shots, which can be shown for 3 hours. It was a blockbuster. The book Competing with the Party consists of four short stories: ancient, modern, modern and contemporary. The Fall of Babylon, an ancient book, describes the extravagant life of Belsa, Prince of Babylon, and the historical events of Ju Lushi, King of Persia, attacking Babylon. It is interspersed with a plot in which a girl falls madly in love with the prince. In modern times, it is the Passion of the Christ, which describes the conflict between Jesus and the hypocritical Pharisees and is crucified because of the betrayal of the Jews. Modern times are the massacre of St. Badrum's church. It tells the story of a woman who went to Paris with her fiance's family during the reign of French King Charles IX (157 1), and her family was killed on the day of the Badrum massacre. There is no law to describe an unjust case in which a striking worker was accused of murder in 19 12. Why make a movie about something with a huge time span? Griffith explained: The four stories are like four rivers. They were originally separated and moved slowly, but later they became more and more turbulent, crossed and merged into a torrent of the same side. What he means is that any ruling class in history has opposed and suppressed the opposing class, that is, the party is opposed to differences. This is the opposition between good and evil, which will never change. Starting from the Babylonian era in history, he pointed out that all kinds of intolerable acts of religion, politics and law would bring disaster to mankind. So, at the end of the film, he arranged for all the victims to stand up and pray for peace. Quite moral, warning people that people should be tolerant and friendly, not killing each other and creating hatred, which shows a moral theme. Contradictions and struggles between the ruling class and the ruled class, as well as within the ruling class, are all reflections of class struggle. Griffith summed them up with "the same political party is fighting against differences", which is obviously inaccurate. However, due to historical limitations, Griffith cannot be deeply blamed. What is worth noting is the artistic skill of the film. Griffith enriched and developed parallel montage in Let's Oppose Differences, skillfully used metaphor, organized events far away from time and space in a film for the first time, completely broke the three laws of drama, and made the film develop into an independent art. These are great creations. So "Claiming Differences with the Same Party" has become a classic in film history. 19 19, he organized the American film company with Chaplin, Van Punk and Foucault. Although he also made excellent films such as "Canhua", his spirit was not as good as before, and his influence gradually declined in the late 1920s. He made his last film at 193 1. In 1935, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded him a special award. He was gradually forgotten. 1948, he died alone in a hotel in Hollywood. A generation of superstars has fallen.
Chronology of works
Directing performance
Biography of abraham lincoln 1930
Biography of Lincoln (Taiwan Province)/Biography of Lincoln (Hongkong)
2 Sally in sawdust abandoned Sally (provisional translation) 1925 3
Usa USA 1924
USA (Taiwan Province)/USA (Hongkong)
4 storm orphans 192 1
Tianqiao Storm (Other)
Dream Street, No.5 192 1
Dream Street (Taiwan Province)/Dream Street (Hongkong)
Divorce on East 6th Road 1920
Divorce (Taiwan Province)/Past events (Hongkong)/The Road to New England (Other)
Seven withered flowers 19 19
Withered flowers (others)
8 world heart cores 19 18
The Core of the World (Taiwan Province)/Iron-blooded Mandarin Duck (Hongkong)
9 intolerant, same party, 19 16
Political parties are intolerant (Taiwan Province)/intolerable (Hongkong)
Birth of a Nation
The Birth of a Country (Middle)/The Birth of a Country (Taiwan Province)/The Birth of a Country (Hongkong)
1 1 home, sweet home, sweet home 19 14
Falling Flowers, Sweet Home (Taiwan Province)
12 Dolly Li Tao's Adventure
Adventures of Taoli (Taiwan Province)
film-making
Biography of abraham lincoln 1930
Biography of Lincoln (Taiwan Province)/Biography of Lincoln (Hongkong)
2 Sally in sawdust abandoned Sally (provisional translation) 1925
3 USA USA 1924
USA (Taiwan Province)/USA (Hongkong)
4 storm orphans 192 1
Tianqiao Storm (Other)
Dream Street, No.5 192 1
Dream Street (Taiwan Province)/Dream Street (Hongkong)
Divorce on East 6th Road 1920
Divorce (Taiwan Province)/Past events (Hongkong)/The Road to New England (Other)
Seven withered flowers 19 19
Withered flowers (others)
8 world heart cores 19 18
The Core of the World (Taiwan Province)/Iron-blooded Mandarin Duck (Hongkong)
9 intolerant, same party, 19 16
Political parties are intolerant (Taiwan Province)/intolerable (Hongkong)
Birth of a Nation
The Birth of a Country (Middle)/The Birth of a Country (Taiwan Province)/The Birth of a Country (Hongkong)
stage a play
1 orphan of the storm 192 1
Tianqiao Storm (Other)
Dream Street, No.2 192 1
Dream Street (Taiwan Province)/Dream Street (Hongkong)
Dongsan Road Divorce 1920
Divorce (Taiwan Province)/Past events (Hongkong)/The Road to New England (Other)
Four withered flowers 19 19
Withered flowers (others)
5 world heart cores 19 18
The Core of the World (Taiwan Province)/Iron-blooded Mandarin Duck (Hongkong)
6 intolerant, same party, 19 16
Political parties are intolerant (Taiwan Province)/intolerable (Hongkong)
The birth of a country
The Birth of a Country (Middle)/The Birth of a Country (Taiwan Province)/The Birth of a Country (Hongkong)
8 homes, warm homes, warm homes 19 14
Falling Flowers, Sweet Home (Taiwan Province)
end
1 World Heart Core 19 18
The Core of the World (Taiwan Province)/Iron-blooded Mandarin Duck (Hongkong)
The birth of a country
The Birth of a Country (Middle)/The Birth of a Country (Taiwan Province)/The Birth of a Country (Hongkong)
The rest of my life saved from Ying Chao is 1908.
The rest of my life (Taiwan Province)/the rest of my life (Hongkong)
music
1 withered flowers 19 19
Withered flowers (others)
2 intolerance, same party, 19 16
Political parties are intolerant (Taiwan Province)/intolerable (Hongkong)
The birth of a country
The Birth of a Country (Middle)/The Birth of a Country (Taiwan Province)/The Birth of a Country (Hongkong)
edit
1 intolerance, same party and different party, 19 16
Political parties are intolerant (Taiwan Province)/intolerable (Hongkong)
The birth of a country
The Birth of a Country (Middle)/The Birth of a Country (Taiwan Province)/The Birth of a Country (Hongkong)