D.W. Griffith
"We do not fear censorship, because we have no wish to offend with improprieties of obscenities. But we do demand, as a right, the liberty to show the dark side of wrong, that we may illuminate the bright side of virtue, the same liberty that is conceded to the art of the written word." - D.W. Griffith
David Wark Griffith, considered the most important individual in the development of film as an art, was born on April 22nd, 1875 in Crestwood, Kentucky. His family was constantly in debt after the Civil War, which lead Griffith to drop out of school and take part-time jobs to support his mother. He eventually landed in the theater and began touring the country with different troupes. He tried his hand at playwriting and failed, turning to the new movie industry for his livelihood, landing at Biograph Studios in New York City. It was there that he began to revolutionize the way films were made. What had until then often been single-shot, uncut showings became adventures in narrative storytelling that entertained and enraptured the masses at a level that had yet to be seen. He used close-up shots, panoramas, scenes cut together to convey not only the story, but the emotion behind it. He also pioneered "parallel editing", a technique that edits different scenes together to make them appear as though they are happening at the same time. This and other film techniques cultivated by Griffith are the basis of film today, and can be seen in movies like Inception. Because his films were such an art, so emotionally invested, |
"I moved the whole world onto a 20-foot screen." - D.W. Griffithwere an influence to the mood of the time. This caused the rise of the media, entertainment used to convey and project an emotion onto the masses. Especially in war times, these innovations were extremely important and still are today. He died on July 23, 1948.
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