The history of film and the beginning of D.W. Griffith

The Kinetescope, invented by Thomas Edison in 1891, is the first device able to capture a moving image. But it wasn't until 1895 when Louis Lumiere invented the Cinematographe that the moving picture industry began. During the early years, movies were still trying to hit main stream and no film before 1915 resembles the complicated films we see today with close-ups, epic panoramas, detailed story lines etc... Most films were short, no more than 10 minutes and usually consisted of continuous straight on long shots, much like the audience's point of view at a play. The moving picture industry at this time had no where near the popularity that it has today.



In 1907, a struggling young actor and playwright named D.W. Griffith moved to New York. His love had always been for theater but he soon found himself acting in the motion picture business. In 1908, the Biograph motion picture company's chief director became ill and Griffith was asked to fill in. Over the next 5 years, he directed hundreds of films for them, all the while developing new techniques in editing and shooting films that would redefine the motion picture industry. His innovations in lighting, camera angles, and editing intensified the drama and emotion in his films and helped audiences connect with his characters. Nearly all of his films up to 1913 were one reelers(10 minutes or less) but Griffith believed the motion picture industry should have feature length films(60 minutes or longer). He left Biograph because of this and started a new company with Harry Aitken. He took all of his actors and actresses with him and moved to California (Drew p 1). In 1914 he directed the very popular feature film The Avenging Conscience but his next film would surpass all of his previous works and change the motion picture industry, and America, forever.