Download pdf - Film and media studies 2 Mrs. Hill 2015-16 CCA

D.W. Griffith1875-1948

Monday, August 31, 15

D.W. Griffith* Began as a playwright, very influenced by David Belasco

*When he decided to do film he was unmatched in using the Belasco effect to create melodrama, suspense, pathos and purity.

* 1913 he breaks from the idea of the 1 reel movie and createmore complex material

* loved symbolism and allegory (blatant use)* Most famous for “Birth of a Nation” 1914 and “Intolerance”

1916. * Intolerance was Griffith’s longest, greatest, most complex film

it cost 1.9 million to make and was 14 reels long (only 12 survived)

* By the 1920’s Griffith was seen as “outdated.” He spent the last 17 years of his life “banned” from the art he practically created.

*He received an honorary Oscar in 1935


Intolerance1916

Intolerance is 4 stories told together. The intermixing of the stories, (Belshazzar’s Babylon, The Pharisees against Jesus,

Reformation France and a Modern political story) creates anintellectual, historical and emotional argument, that

the oppression of the little guy or underdog is always goingon. That all men must struggle against oppression,

intolerance and the overwhelming forces of hypocrisy and cruelty.


Mack Sennett* Begin directing for Biograph in 1910

*Wanted to make a comedy about cops but studio said no.* Opened his own company in 1912 called Keystone and started

making his own “cop comedies” * The conversion of people into moving objects is at the center

of Sennett’s comic technique

The three Sennett formulas for comedy: 1. Start with a melodramatic plot and pepper it with gags.

The gags string the plot together.2. Come up with a place or situation and think of gags that might

occur there. Called “riffing”3. Parodying other directors with gags

Keystone CopsFirst to use Charlie Chaplin in

a movie “Making a Living” 1914


Charlie Chaplin

Chaplin working with Mack Sennett developed his character called “The Little Tramp”He found all his props in the Sennett costume rooms. He wanted to add character to his

gymnastics. The oversized shoes, big pants, a little hat, little coat, mustache and cane were all developed by Chaplin. Sennett didn’t want Chaplin to only have one character. They

parted ways. Between 1913 and 1918 Chaplin became one of the most popular “movie stars” ever.

Sennett Idea of Comedy

“the comic world is a realm of silly surfaces”

Chaplin Idea of Comedy

“the comic world provides the meansto examine the serious world of human

needs and societal structures.”


Charlie Chaplin1889-1977


Charlie Chaplin and The Little Tramp* Chaplin slowed down the crazy pace of Sennett.* He strung together distinct pieces of drama and

situation to create a comic narrative. * The comical gags and physical antics tell the storyof a tragic hero, a man out of place, someone who

just wants to be loved. * The “Tramp” is wiry tough and pragmatic, but

he has no social graces and is very naive. He surviveson toughness, opportunism and dishonesty but he

has a kind and giving heart. * There is always a female character that he loves and

wants to help, protect or find redemption with. * For Chaplin though, the woman is not just a sentimentalromantic character, She is a metaphor for natural beauty

uncorrupted by society and materialism.


City Lights 1931

The Kid1921


The Rise of the Movie Star*Early movies did not even recognize actors although they may be known as their character name.

* 1912 the first fan magazine was published called “Photoplay”* By the twenties the lifestyles of the movie stars became big news

* Directors begin to market their stars and create “phony biographies” for more public appeal

Theda Bara -the vamp Lillian Gish-The

first lady of the cinema

Mary PickfordAmerica’sSweetheart

Rudolf Valentino- The Latin Lover


The Rise of the Movie StudioBy 1915 most film companies had moved to Los Angeles

* Ironically most of the first movie producers who made the ethical rules for the artistic and moral values of film were not always the best educated or moral of society.

*Most were immigrants, Russian, Jewish, German and Polish

* Paramount- the most powerful film company. Head: Adolf Zukor

* Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer- Marcus Loew a theater owner, bought the Metro Picture

Company and merged with the Golden picture company to start MGM.* United Artists- the 4 Best actors came together to create United. D.W.Griffith, Douglas

Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin

* Universal- a Nickelodeon theater owner Carl Laemmle merged several companies together

* Fox- William Fox a distributor and producer. First studio to receive awards for artistic quality

* Warner Brothers- Four brothers Albert, Harry, Sam and Jack were Nickelodeon ownersthen bought Vitagraph and began to experiment with sound. It was a minor studio until

“The Jazz Singer”


Buster Keaton*American vaudevillian

* Big fan of Edison* loved to manipulate the

camera (especially splitting a frame into as many as 9

fragments) * one of the greatest performer/athletes

* constantly broke bonesfilming his movies

* competition with Chaplin but in the end they were

friends


Oscar MicheauxPioneer Filmmaker

*Became a one man studio. Between 1918-48 he wrote, produced, directed, editedand distributed more than 30 feature films.

*Controversial subjects: Such as a lynching from the African-American point of view, fightingthe KKK.

* Most popular film was “Body and Soul” 1924-starring great singer Paul Robeson. * Moved to England where the movie industry was more open to Black performers and directors.

*He set the pattern and created the market for the “race movie” Race movies were made with all black casts, for black audiences and shown in segregated theaters.

* themes of race movies was always a struggle of good and evil.
