Birth of a Nation
...oted one of the Top 100 American Films - # 44, by the American Film Institute in 1998, which caused even more controversy. (www.filmsite.org) Birth of a Nation has stirred much controversy and there are conflicting views about its message, but it is the single most important and key film of all time in American movie history, according to film scholars. The reasons for this are many. There was much artistic advancement used in the making of this film. For the first time technical affects and refinements were tried, that had a huge influence on the making of future films. Its pioneering technical work, often the work of Griffith's under-rated cameraman Billy Bitzer, includes many techniques that are now standard features of films, but first used in this film. Griffith brought all of his experience and techniques to this film from his earliest short films at Biograph, including the following: • use of subtitles graphically verbalizing imagery • its own original musical score written for an orchestra • the introduction of night photography (using magnesium flares) • the use of outdoor natural landscapes as backgrounds • the definitive usage of the still-shot • elaborate costuming to achieve historical authenticity and accuracy • many scenes innovatively filmed from many different and multiple angles • the technique of the camera "iris" effect (expanding or contracting circular masks to either reveal and open up a scene, or close down and conceal a part of an image) • the use of parallel action and editing in a sequence (Gus' attempted rape of Flora, and the KKK rescues of Elsie from Lynch and of Ben's sister Margaret) • extensive use of color tinting for dramatic or psychological effect in sequences • moving, traveling or "panning" camera tracking shots • the effective use of total-screen close-ups to reveal intimate expressions • beautifully crafted, intimate family exchanges • the use of vignettes seen in "balloons" or "iris-shots" in one portion of a darkened screen • the use of fade-outs and cameo-profiles (a medium closeup in front of a blurry background) • the use of lap dissolves to blend or switch from one image to another • high-angle shots and the abundant use of panoramic long shots • the dramatization of history in a moving story - an example of an early spectacle or epic film with historical costuming and many historical references (e.g., Mathew Brady's Civil War photographs) • impressive, splendidly-staged battle scenes with hundreds of extras (made to appear as thousands) • extensive cross-cutting between two scenes to create a montage-effect and generate excitement and suspense (e.g., the scene of the gathering of the Klan) • expert story-telling, with the cumulative building of the film to a dramatic climax (Tom Dirks (1996-2005) from the web site filmsite.org/birt.html.) According to www.filmsite.org and www.greatestfilms.org, the film looks remarkably genuine and authentic, almost of documentary quality (like Brady's Civil War photographs), vividly reconstructing a momentous time period in history - and it was made only 50 years after the end of the Civil War. Its story includes the events leading up to the nation's split; the Civil War era; the period from the end of the Civil War to Lincoln's assassination; the post-Civil War ...