D.W. Griffith

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LIGHTS, CAMERA, FILM LITERACY! Framing, Composition, and Distance: Early Narrative Films by D.W. Griffith SOME POSSIBLE ANSWERS TITLE FRAMING COMPOSITION CAMERA DISTANCE 5 shots: water centered: Cart moves lower right to upper left: Long Shots 1) land top and bottom Barrel drops in center 1) Cart close to camera at edge of water The Adventures of Dollie 2) land at top Barrel moves to lower right and moves away from. (1908) 3) waterfall left to right Barrel downward and toward viewer 2) Barrel comes toward camera. land at top/eye slightly above Barrel downward and toward viewer 3) Barrel comes toward camera. 8:10–10:10 4) land on right and left Barrel from upper left to lower right 4) Barrel comes toward camera. 5) land upper right 5) Barrel comes toward camera. WATER ADDS MOVEMENT! Door on left Man standing Medium shot Window on right Girl seated (later stands) The Girl and Her Trust No floor nor ceiling shown Window blind and hanging papers add (1910) Clock pendulum centered on back balance to the differing heights wall… ADDS MOVEMENT! 1:15–1:50 Inner room: Inner room: Medium shots Part of a table on the left Butler stands at center between two The Burglar’s Dilemma Column at back left wall brothers. (1911) Right wall with door and mid-height Popular brother takes up more screen curio cabinet…sculpture on top space…heavier, holds open newspaper, Tall cabinet centered at back wall sits more toward the center 1:34-2:20 No floor nor ceiling shown Tormented one is slender and holds a Outer room: small paperback book or script and sits Door on left close to the right Partial back wall with small table, The women are in the center and turn and a painting above. Top of slightly toward popular brother painting’s frame not shown. Tormented brother alone circles the Rest of back wall covered with a top center , moves to the right and looks o to bottom curtain to the right Outer room: Three women stand at the center Popular brother stands in center Hallway: Hallway: Medium shots Stairs center left w/ door left & right Children in triangle composition The Sunbeam Woman’s room: (1911) Center back window. Woman’s room: Dresser back left. Door on left She sits in front of and is framed by the 2:44–3:40 Part of table on right window, then walks to the door. Man’s room: Back centered closet with curtain Man’s room: Washbasin back right He stands and moves to the door. Door on right Hallway: Part of the table on the left Man and woman in the center Window with curtain at back left No floor nor ceiling shown Washbasin back right Woman with baby seated on the left Medium shots Door on right Police officer enters on right A Blind Love Chairs on left Woman stands (1912) No ceiling nor floor shown Policeman moves to the center and she stands to the left 5:20–5:36 .

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Cutting Patterns in DW Griffith's Biographs
Cutting patterns in D.W. Griffith’s Biographs: An experimental statistical study Mike Baxter, 16 Lady Bay Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham, NG2 5BJ, U.K. (e-mail: [email protected]) 1 Introduction A number of recent studies have examined statistical methods for investigating cutting patterns within films, for the purposes of comparing patterns across films and/or for summarising ‘average’ patterns in a body of films. The present paper investigates how different ideas that have been proposed might be combined to identify subsets of similarly constructed films (i.e. exhibiting comparable cutting structures) within a larger body. The ideas explored are illustrated using a sample of 62 D.W Griffith Biograph one-reelers from the years 1909–1913. Yuri Tsivian has suggested that ‘all films are different as far as their SL struc- tures; yet some are less different than others’. Barry Salt, with specific reference to the question of whether or not Griffith’s Biographs ‘have the same large scale variations in their shot lengths along the length of the film’ says the ‘answer to this is quite clearly, no’. This judgment is based on smooths of the data using seventh degree trendlines and the observation that these ‘are nearly all quite different one from another, and too varied to allow any grouping that could be matched against, say, genre’1. While the basis for Salt’s view is clear Tsivian’s apparently oppos- ing position that some films are ‘less different than others’ seems to me to be a reasonably incontestable sentiment. It depends on how much you are prepared to simplify structure by smoothing in order to effect comparisons.
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He Museum of Modern Art 3/8/65 Vest 53 Street, New York, N.Y
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