Write a note about DW Griffith

David Wark Griffith   (born January 22, 1875, in  Floydsfork, Kentucky, U.S.—died July 23, 1948, Hollywood, California), was a  pioneer American motion-picture director. He is sometimes called ‘The man who made Hollywood’. D.W. Griffith was one of cinema's earliest directors and producers, known for his innovations and for directing the 1915 film ‘Birth of a Nation’.

 

He  developed many of the basic techniques of filmmaking, in such films as The Birth of a Nation (1915), Intolerance (1916), Broken Blossoms (1919), Way Down East (1920), Orphans of the Storm (1921), and The Struggle (1931).

 

Films

 

By 1908, Griffith had entered the new world of moviemaking. He did acting work for the New York City film companies Edison and Biograph and went on to become a director of hundreds of shorts for the latter company, working with actors like Lionel Barrymore, Mary Pickford and the Gish sisters. He started to develop two-reel works and eventually made the four-reel film Judith of Bethulia.

 

Griffith appeared as an actor in one film for the Edison Company, Rescued from an Eagle’s Nest, under Porter’s direction, and in several films for the Biograph Company. When an opening for a director developed at Biograph, Griffith was hired. From 1908 to 1913, Griffith made more than 400 films for Biograph, the majority in the one-reel format, lasting approximately 12 minutes.

 

 His first film as director was The Adventures of Dollie (1908), about a baby stolen by and recovered from Gypsies. During the latter part of his employment, he experimented with longer films; his last Biograph film, Judith of Bethulia (1913), a biblical story of Judith and Holofernes, based loosely on a play of the same title by Thomas Bailey Aldrich, comprised four reels.

 

 'Birth of a Nation': First US Blockbuster

 

He independently directed Birth of a Nation, released in 1915 and telling the story of the Civil War and Reconstruction era. Adapted from the book The Clansmen, the work was seen as the first U.S. blockbuster and has been praised for its pioneering storytelling forms, greatly influencing modern moviemaking and shaping ideas around audience cultivation.

 

Racist Themes

 

‘Birth of a Nation’, however, was blatantly racist and distorted history, with its demeaning depictions of African Americans and a storyline that positioned the creation of the Ku Klux Klan as a means of vengeance over a woman's death. The film earned much criticism, and riots broke out during showings. Over the decades, Nation has continued to spur outrage and dialogue.

 

Later Work

 

Griffith's next film, was  ‘Intolerance (1916)’. It was innovative in its narrative structure by juxtaposing four different locales and eras. Then in 1919, Griffith co-founded United Artists with Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Mary Pickford, with the production company serving as a distributor for his films. Griffith continued his output with works like 1919's Broken Blossoms (which was about an inter-ethnic romance), Way Down East (1920), Orphans of the Storm (1921) and America (1924).

 

He made two pictures with sound, Abraham Lincoln (1930) and The Struggle (1931). Yet Griffith's sensibilities were considered out of sync with the evolving tone of film and he was unable to find work, though he did donate prints of his movies to the Museum of Modern Art.

 

He lived in hotels during his later years and died in Hollywood, California, on July 23, 1948.

 

Contribution to Cinema

 

 Griffith was highly innovative with his filmmaking techniques, utilizing cross-cutting, close-ups and fade outs to distinctive effect, cultivating a deeper emotional milieu.

 

Griffith identified that the shot, not the scene was the basic unit of cinema.

 

He developed and used the basic shots: Long shot, close-up, mid shot, as well as the extreme close up and extreme long shot.

 

Griffith discovered that the emotional content of the scene, not the location of the scene, determined the correct placement of his camera and the correct moment to cut from one perspective to another. This is often called the grammar and rhetoric of film.

 

Griffith introduced frequent camera movement (pan and travelling shots), and cross-cutting technique .

 

He experimented with artificial lighting in films and  was the first to use lighting to indicate mood.

 

He was the pioneer director who demanded natural acting from his actors, and  began casting actors to fit their roles according to their physical type. He demanded rehearsals before shooting.

 

He made several types of films, and was an acclaimed director of the silent era. No wonder he was called  ‘The man who made Hollywood’.