Wkl dickson helped create the kinetoscope formed the

But in 1887, Edison’s company added electric motors.
W.K.L. Dickson
 Helped create the Kinetoscope
 Formed the American Mutoscope company
Edwin Porter
 Representation of subjectivity vs. objective/physical space
 Porter used special effects to represent subjectivity in his “Dream of a Rarebit
Fiend” (1906)
 Cross Cutting was typified in films of Edwin Porter
 Was a film projectionist and an expert at building photographic equipment
 He was the most important American filmmaker of this early period and was also
contributed to an industry wide concentration on fiction filmmaking.
American Mutoscope
 The mutoscope was a penny in the slot machine with a crank that turned a drum
containing a series of photographs. It had a circular arrangement of cards, each of
which flipped down and was briefly held still to create the illusion of movement.
It was patented by Casler
 The company had programs playing theatres around the country and touring with
vaudeville shows.
 They dominated the peepshow side of film exhibition as well.
American Vitagraph
 They began producing popular films relating t the Spanish-American War.
 Were threatened with patent and copyright infringement lawsuits by Edison, but
survived by agreeing to cooperate with Edison.
 They made films for the Edison firm and in tern dealing in Edison films
itself
 AM&B’s 1902 legal triumph over Edison allowed Vitagraph to expand
production.
 There was a reduced risk of lawsuits throughout the industry by
establishing that Edison’s patents did not coverall types of motion-picture
equipment.
 Were important in making artistically innovative films.
D. W. Griffith
 Premiere producer at American Biograph
vm100 study sheet 1, p. 6

Annie Yan
 Conventional editing of scene: Long shot  Medium  Close up
 Broke the Proscenium Arch Style
 Was one of the most important silent film directors
 Directed “The Birth of a Nation”
C. B. DeMille

Religious epics: The King of Kings , Samson and Delilah , and The Ten
Commandments (1956). He blended spectacle, sex, and spellbinding narrative to
convey a message of faith.

Created the image of the omnipotent director, megaphone in hand, wearing boots
and a visored cap

One of the first to use theatrical lighting on a movie set

Founder of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Thomas Ince
 Contributed to the move toward efficiency in studio filmmaking, particularly the
use of the continuity script to control production
 “Civilisation” (1916) was notable as one of a number of pacifist films made in the
years before America entered WW1
The Serial
 Served as the main attraction in many theatres during the 1910s.
 A transitional form between the one-reeler and the feature film.