1. End of the early history
Film History…
End of the early history

2. first narrative film with storyline first film shot out of sequence
1903 (Edwin Porter, U.S.)
Great Train Robbery
12 minutes
considered the first Western
first narrative film with storyline
first film shot out of sequence
pioneered continuity editing
watch

3. Nickelodeons ~ 1905 Nickel shows Pittsburgh Entertainment for…
8,000 of them within a few years

4. Hollywood became center of the world’s film industry
The Silent Period
Hollywood became center of the world’s film industry
Est. the studio-system and role of the director

5. Hollywood 1907 – small film effort started in Hollywood
1910 – D.W. Griffith made his first movie there
1911 – first studio built
1912 – 15 studios operating
filmmakers replaced short films with feature length movies (4+ reels, reel length minutes)
“feature” because…

6. Hollywood…
By 1915 audiences wanted longer films and willing to pay for them
movie palaces built = movies become serious artistic endeavor
Silent movies made during this period est. lasting trends…
appealed to all economic levels
established narrative movie genres
character stereotypes, reinforced prejudices
male-dominated

7. The Studio System Estb. with D.W. Griffith’s A mode of production
Birth of a Nation (1915)
A mode of production
and standardized
the way movies were
produced

8. Studio System & The Director
Director was central
Griffith was most important director of the time
Popularized the feature-length film

9. Birth of a Nation was the most important --and controversial moves made
distorting history and reaffirming the racist stereotypes of his time and background
demonstrated how a manipulative movie could appeal to the public’s worst prejudices and make a fortune
the racist content offensive, but form innovative

12. Birth of a Nation (2016)
Title Interview (Nate Parker)

13. Charlie Chaplin 1889, London (1977) 1912, U.S.
1913, Keystone Company (for $150 a week)
1916 Mutual Film Corporation (for $670,000 a year)
1917 First National (million-dollar contract)
1919, Founded United Artists with Douglas Fairbanks , Mary Pickford, and D. W. Griffith.
Hired in $150 / week, by 1918 signed for $1 million (8 film deal w/ 1st Nation Studio)
In 1919 he formed United Artists Studios w/ DW Griffith, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. & Mary Pickford

14. Chaplin… created a universal character - the Little Tramp
on the wrong side of the law, facing the police, big business, the church (those who hold power)
WWII, J. Edgar Hoover, 1952

15. Gold Rush--1925
1st Feature= The Kid (1921) and Int’l success, The Gold Rush (1925) was his best film.
Last holdout on going to sound

17. Buster Keaton “The Great Stone Face”
The General