Early American Cinema & European Cinemas in the 1910S

Jaakko Seppälä Early American Cinema & European Cinemas in the 1910s Early American Cinema

• The United States was the biggest market for ﬁlms • The Edison Company hoped to control the whole American ﬁlm market – Lawsuits (patent and copyright infringements) • American Mutoscope Company (1896) • American Vitagraph (1897) • A patent case victory in March 1902 allowed American Mutoscope and Biograph to use its camera and 35 mm format without an Edison license • Soon the struggle connued Edwin Stanton Porter

• The Edison Company hired Porter in 1900 and he began filmmaking in 1901 • Porter soon became the most influenal American filmmaker of the pre-1908 era • Porter drew on techniques used by European filmmakers (Méliès and The Brighton School) • Life of an American Fireman (1903), The Great Train Robbery (1903), The Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906) • Showing the same acon from two different vantage points (overlapping acon) was the norm Trip to the Moon (Méliès, 1902)

Shots one and two show the same action from two different vantage points. This is overlapping action.

Porter copied this manner of telling a story in shots and used it, for example, in Life of an American Fireman (1903). Edwin Stanton Porter (1870-1941) The Moon Picture Patents Company

• Due to patent struggles American companies missed their chances to expand producon in the early 1900s • 1907 court decision ruled that the Biograph camera did not infringe Edison’s patent • In 1908 The Edison Company and American Mutoscope and Biograph formed the MPPC – This new company was to control all competors and charge license fees • The MPPC set the stage for control over the enre American market by an oligopoly The Independents Stand Firm

• Many producers, distributors and exhibitors refused to pay fees to the MPPC • Independent ﬁlm theatres provided a market for unlicensed producers and distributors • The MPPC hires detecves to gather evidence against the independents • In 1912 it was ruled that the patents were invalid • In 1915 the MPPC was ordered to dissolve on the basis of the Sherman Antrust Act • Meanwhile the independents had organised The MPPC The Edison Company Biograph Company Vitagraph Company of America Selig Polyscope Company The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company Lubin Manufacturing Company Kalem Company

Naonal Independent Moving Picture Alliance Independent Moon Picture Corporaon Thanhouser Film Corporaon Solax Film Company New York Moon Picture Company David Wark Griﬃth

• D. W. Griffith is known as the most important filmmaker of the American cinema • In 1907 he gave up his unsuccessful theatrical career • He wrote scenarios and acted in films unl Biograph Company made him a film director in 1908 • Before 1913 he had made over 400 films for the company • D. W. Griffith understood how different film techniques could be used to create a coherent style • Made feature films as an independent producer & director • Major developer of cross cung and “realisc” acng D. W. Griffith (1874-1948)

Fairbanks, Pickford, Chaplin and Griffith Hollywood

• In 1909 American producon centres were New York, New Jersey, Chicago and Philadelphia • In East poor weather could hamper producon • The Selig company made films in California in 1908 • In early 1910s major producers moved to California • Dry weather permied filmmaking outdoors also into winter months • California offered a variety of landscapes • The head offices of the studios stayed in West

Danish Cinema

• Ole Olsen founded Nordisk Films Kompagni in 1906 • In 1910 it was one of the biggest producon companies in the world • The internaonal reputaon of Danish cinema was based on good acng and high producon values • Typical themes: sexuality and desire • Danish ﬁlms are noteworthy for psychological realism, lighng techniques, camera-posioning and set design • Asta Nielsen began her career in The Abyss (1910) – Uniquely cinemac acng Asta Nielsen (1881-1972) Pre-Revoluonary Russia

• Drankov produced Stenka Rasin in 1908 • Early Russian cinema was dependent on non-cinemac culture (influenced by Film d’Art producons) • In the early 1910s Russian filmmakers were influenced by Danish melodramas and Italian diva films • Russian style: slow pace of acng, melancholy mood, morbid endings, upper middle class interiors • Russian themes: mad love, infidelity, crime, class conflicts • Yevgeny Bauer was the most important filmmaker – Vast Art Nouveau sengs, tracking shots, tragic endings Yevgeny Bauer (1867-1917)