IMPORTANT FILM Making INFO

Please note that the Webcam and Microphone are not disabled on your Chromebooks.  What is disabled is the native (built in) application that runs that hardware.

At this time, the district is recommending the use of the Screencastify Chrome app for video and microphone recording.  You will need to go to the RCSD Chrome Web Store in order to install and use the webcam and microphone.  In order to do this, please see the directions below:

1. Go to the following link à RCSD Chrome Web Store
2. From the RCSD Chrome Web Store, click on the app you are interested in installing (in this case, Screencastify)

3. Click on the  button
4. A popup will appear, click on “Add Extension”

1. 
5. You should now see an icon in the top right side of their Chrome Browser for Screencastify. ß
1. 
6. Follow the online steps to setting up Screencastify.  You will need to do this after clicking on the button à
7. Follow the CHROME instructions to record video/audio on your Chromebooks...[See previous post for details!]
8. If you need a video converter, you can get a CHROME converter from the same source...check out: Video Downloader & Video Downloader Professional.
9. NOTE: You will have to add these extensions to your Chromebook for them to work!

Documentary Project: Day 2; Minority Voices in Film History

Period 1:

Please use the first period to write and record your documentary script and work on your documentary project. Use your time to gather your researched notes (from last class) and write your voice over "script"--these should be a few paragraphs in length (your film should clock in about 1-3 minutes). See models from the previous post.

When you are done with your "script", please record your voice reading what you wrote. You may use your cell phones or the creative writing cameras to record your voice. You can also use your Chromebooks: (see instructions below...)

Directions for Submitting Video Files

So you created a video for your class and you want to submit it for a grade? 
Here are the steps you need to follow:

Using CHROME books: by Jack Wallen:

Filming short videos on a Chromebook is fast and easy. To do so, you need a Chromebook with a camera and your Chromebook must be associated with your Google Drive account.

Opening the Camera App

Before you can do anything, you'll need to log into your Chromebook.

After you’ve logged on, follow these steps:

1. Click the menu button located on the bottom left corner of the desktop.
2. Type camera in the search bar.
3. Make sure the camera icon is selected.
4. Press Enter on your keyboard (or simply double-click the camera icon).
5. Switching to Video Mode

By default, the camera app opens in camera mode. To switch it to video mode click on the icon that looks like video camera (directly to the left of the camera button at the bottom center of the app window). You are now in video mode and are ready to film your first Chromebook video.

Filming Your First Video

With the camera in video mode, click the oblong red button in the bottom center of the camera app window. You are now filming.

While you are filming, the camera button will lightly pulse and the icon will change slightly to a more solid camera. When you’ve completed the filming session, click the oblong red button again and the session will stop.

Note: One thing you must know is that (especially for video) you’re going to need plenty of lighting. Natural lighting is your best option. If you cannot film outside, make sure you’re shooting your video in a room that is lit quite well. If your video looks grainy you don’t have enough light, regardless of which Chromebook you are using.

Saving Your Video

After you’ve finished filming, you need to save the video. To do this:

1. Select the Gallery icon (the double square in the bottom-right corner of the camera app).
2. Inside the Gallery, select the video you want to save.
3. Click Save (the downward-pointing arrow in the bottom right corner of the Gallery app).

After clicking the Save button, a new window will appear to help you determine where to save the file.

Since your Chromebook is associated with your Google Drive account, you have the option of saving it to the cloud. If you want to save it to the local drive, place it in the Downloads folder (under My Files).

Naming & Renaming Your Video

One rather odd thing about saving videos on a Chromebook: You cannot rename them in the saving process. The default name will be VID_DATE_TIME.webm (where DATE and TIME are the date and time you filmed the video).

Although you can't rename your video during the saving process, you can do it later.

If you want to rename your video, do the following:

1. Click the menu button (bottom left corner of the desktop).
2. Type the word files.
3. Double-click on the Files app.
4. Navigate to the folder housing your video.
5. Two-finger tap the video file.
6. Select Rename.
7. Type a new name.
8. Press Enter on your keyboard.

That’s all there is to renaming your video.

What To Do With Your Video

Fortunately, many services (such as YouTube) do support .webm files, so go ahead and upload that file to YouTube and share away.

If you find you need to convert your .webm video to a format like .mp4, there are online services (such as Video Converter) that do a good job of converting to almost any format.

Period 2: 

Minority Voices in Film History:

While most of the pioneers of early film were male Caucasians, the lack of minority voices in film was filled by two very important filmmakers: Alice Guy Blache and Oscar Micheux. While we will focus on these two primarily, they are far from the only minority voices around. Gay & Lesbian, Asian, Latino, and other influential filmmakers begin working in this time period.

Today, we will watch a few of their film clips and take notes of important details. By the end of the lesson you should begin to ask yourself the question: why is minority cinema important? What is the future of minority cinema? How does knowing a little history help minority artists?

Bert Williams' films: Fish (1916) and A Natural Born Gambler (1916) predate Oscar Michaeux as the first African American comedic actor to also write, direct, and star in his own films. Learn more about him here at this link.

Oscar Michaeux is credited as the first black film director. Within Our Gates (1919) (music underscore added recently) and his film in its entirety for those interested Within Our Gates (full film). Evelyn Preer was one of the early black actresses. She was also a popular singer. Here's one of her songs: It Takes a Good Woman to Keep a Good Man at Home. You can hear the rhythms of the jazz age (late 1920's). Think of the book Ragtime.

Zora Neale Hurston, writer and folklorist, made several film documentaries in the 1920's. Here's an example of some of her fieldwork (1928).

Sadly, in American film, the early work of female directors/writers is hard to find (or no longer exists). You can read about African American women's contribution to the film industry here. There's just not much to view. It is, also sadly, not until 1991 that the first African-American female director (Julie Dash) is allowed to make the first studio-produced and widely distributed film Daughters of the Dust. However, since then, more black female directors have joined the ranks.

The first female director is:
Alice Guy Blache
The Cabbage Fairy (1896)
The Life of Christ (1906) (our first religious epic depicted in film, predating Cecil B. DeMille)
The Consequences of Feminism (1906)
Falling Leaves (1912)
Algie The Miner (1912)

Lois Weber, an American female, was also a silent film actress and then director. She invented the first use of the split screen technique in her film Suspense (1913).
Other films include the Blot (1921) and Hypocrites (the first full frontal nudity depicted in film outside of "art film" like Edweard Muybridge's work.) She, too, is important.

As for gay and lesbian films of the early silent film era, there are a few. Apart from two men dancing in the film by Edison, the first depiction of one of the sissy stereotype characters is Algie the Miner (1912, sound track added). The first butch male-to-male kissing scene is the fall of Babylon sequence in D.W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916). It also features a pretty kick-ass heroine: mountain girl.

A little gender bending: Vitagraph's A Florida Enchantment (1914); Here's Sidney Drew's full film: A Florida Enchantment (full film, 1914). This is considered the first lesbian film in the U.S.

German film was one of the first to tackle gay subjects head-on. Here's the film Anders als die Andern (Different from the Others, 1919) by Richard Oswald. Here's a little about the significance of the film. It stars Conrad Veidt (more on him soon).

The lesbian film Madchen in Uniform was made in 1931 (and is a talky, so we won't but mention it here). If you're interested in this film, you may also like the 1933 film Anna und Elisabeth. (This is only a clip, sound is not original, of course.)

Recently, Barry Jenkins' film Moonlight (2016) won best picture and best-adapted screenplay in the Academy Awards.

Latino silent film information can be found here. There is little on line to watch (sorry about that). Bronco Billy and the Greaser (1914), directed by Gilbert Anderson (Bronco Billy). By far one of the most famous Latin actors was Antonio Moreno,  a Spanish-born actor/director, who often played the now stereotypical "Latin lover" role. Ramon Navarro (gay Mexican-American actor) was also popular during the 1920's was rumored to be Rudolph Valentino's secret lover. He ended up tragically murdered in 1968. Here's a link to a short amateur biography of the actor. He starred as Ben Hur in MGM's 1925 historical epic.

And Asian film star Sessue Hayakawa starred in such films as The Typhoon (1914) and The Dragon Painter (1919). He signed on with Paramount Pictures (Famous Players Lasky) where he worked with Cecil B. DeMille in such movies as The Cheat (1915). The first Japanese feature film was made in 1912, the Life Story of Tasuke Shiobara. Here is the Japanese film Jiraiya the Hero (20 min) in 1921.

Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North (Robert Flaherty, 1922) is one of the most important early documentary films ever filmed. It follows the life and times of the Inuit hunter Nanook and his family. It is considered the first feature-length ethnographic documentary. Flaherty shot over 50k feet of film to make the film--which he shot on location in the cold north of Hudson Bay, Canada over the period of 55 days, traveling with the Inuit over 600 miles.

The director Dadasaheb Phalke is considered the father of Indian film, although Asian film begins in the late 1890's. Here's his 1914 film Raja Harishchandra. It is interesting to note that the first optical toy (a primitive zoetrope) was invented by Ting Huan in 180 AD in China.

By the end of the silent film era, most countries have begun to make films. Of particular note are the directors we will look at next class: Sergei Eisenstein, Robert Wiene and F.W. Murnau (German Expression films).

HOMEWORK: Please read the chapter handout on Nanook of the North and the handout on the history of Blackface. You may watch any of the full films listed here for extra credit. See the previous post for details. 

D.W. Griffith; Silent Film Actor/Director Documentary Project

Birth of a Nation (1915), cinematography by William "Billy" Bitzer.

After making the blockbuster American epic The Birth of a Nation (1915), shocked by the fact that people seemed to misunderstand the intent of that film, Griffith went on to make his true masterpiece:  Intolerance (1916). Here are a few clips from the film.

Trailer for the restored version of Intolerance (trailer)

Babylon Long Shot/Crane Sequence (tinted)

Entire Film: Intolerance.

In 1919 Griffith established the film company United Artists with Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and William S. Hart.

Overall, Griffith directed over 500 films. He retired in 1931 and died in Los Angeles in 1948. In 1975 his picture was on a postage stamp and all the world loved him. But by 1999, The Director's Guild of America's National Board renamed the prestigious D.W. Griffith Award (first given in 1953 to such directors as Woody Allen, Stanley Kubrick, John Huston, Alfred Hitchcock, Ingmar Bergman, John Ford, Akira Kurosawa, and Cecil B. DeMille to name but a few) because of Griffith's racism.

"We do not fear censorship, for we have no wish to offend with improprieties or 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 - that art to which we owe the Bible and the works of Shakespeare."
--D.W. Griffith (1915)

"If in this work we have conveyed to the mind the ravages of war to the end that war may be held in abhorrence, this effort will not have been in vain." - D. W. Griffith (1915)

Please take a look at these clips and films starring one of his leading actresses: Lilian Gish.

Judith of Bethulia (1914) (part of the film with Lilian Gish; one of the first Biblical epics)

Broken Blossoms (1919) Entire film (with Lilian Gish)

True Heart Susie (1919) Entire film (Lilian Gish)

Way Down East (1920) (scene with Lilian Gish) One of the most amazing stunts ever pulled in cinema history. Please realize that these actors really were doing their own stunts in most cases. That water is cold and, yes, those are ice floes. Way Down East (1920, full film)

Orphans of the Storm (1921) (Entire film, with sister Dorothy Gish)

The Scarlet Letter (1926)  (scene with Lilian Gish)
Birth of a Nation (1915) (full film, remastered)

Sign up for one of these actors/directors/producers and begin to research them:
Lon Chaney, Sr.; Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.; Janet Gaynor; Lillian Gish; Clara Bow; Lois Weber, Claudette Colbert; Jean Harlow; Mary Pickford; Carole Lombard; Conrad Veidt; Harold Lloyd; Rudolph Valentino; John Barrymore; Gloria Swanson; Greta Garbo; Mae Marsh; Cecil B. DeMille; Carl Laemmle; Oscar Micheaux; Evelyn Preer; Thomas Ince; King Vidor; Erich Von Stroheim

Here is an example of what I might expect you to do with your short (1-3 minute) documentary:
Cameron: Nickelodeons
Frieda: Kinemacolor
Alannah: Goldwyn, Fox, Warner Bros.
Olivia: Alice Guy Blanche
Jocelyn: Anita Loos & Frances Marion 
Karina: Lois Weber
Liana: Janet Gaynor & Charles Farrell 
Alexander: Buster Keaton 
Carina: Clara Bow & Rudolph Valentino

Please use the rest of class today to research and write about your chosen subject. You will need to write your research notes into a basic script (1-3 paragraphs, for example). See previous student films for the kind of information you need: who is the subject? Why is the subject important to film history? What is the subject known for (films made/acted in, and other interesting details)?

HOMEWORK: None. See examples/model student films at the links above.

D.W. Griffith

D.W. Griffith & the Blockbuster Film

The modern blockbuster (Crash Course #6) is not a new idea. In fact, as early as 1915, the Hollywood Blockbuster became a big deal and influenced many directors, writers, actors, and their audiences.

D.W. Griffith was called the "Father of film technique" & "the man who invented Hollywood"

Birth of a Nation 

With cinematographer G.W. Bitzer, (see student documentary: (Alexis: Billy Bitzer) he created and perfected the film devices:

• the iris shot
• the flashback
• crosscutting

D.W. Griffith directed the very controversial The Birth of a Nation (1915) Based on Thomas Dixon's stage play "The Clansman." Over 3 hours long, the racist epic included a cast of hundreds. The film contained many new film innovations:

• Special use of subtitles
• Its own musical score with orchestra
• Introduction of night photography
• Used a "still shot"
• Used an "Iris shot"
• Used parallel action
• Used panning and tracking shots
• Used close-ups to reveal intimate expressions of actors
• Used fade outs and cameo-profiles
• Used high-angles and panoramic (extreme) long shots
• Used cross cutting between two scenes to create excitement and suspense

Birth of a Nation (1915), cinematography by William "Billy" Bitzer.

After making the blockbuster American epic The Birth of a Nation (1915), shocked by the fact that people seemed to misunderstand the intent of that film, Griffith went on to make his true masterpiece:  Intolerance (1916). Here are a few clips from the film.

Trailer for the restored version of Intolerance (trailer)

Babylon Long Shot/Crane Sequence (tinted)

Entire Film: Intolerance.

In 1919 Griffith established the film company United Artists with Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and William S. Hart.

Overall, Griffith directed over 500 films. He retired in 1931 and died in Los Angeles in 1948. In 1975 his picture was on a postage stamp and all the world loved him. But by 1999, The Director's Guild of America's National Board renamed the prestigious D.W. Griffith Award (first given in 1953 to such directors as Woody Allen, Stanley Kubrick, John Huston, Alfred Hitchcock, Ingmar Bergman, John Ford, Akira Kurosawa, and Cecil B. DeMille to name but a few) because of Griffith's racism.

"We do not fear censorship, for we have no wish to offend with improprieties or 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 - that art to which we owe the Bible and the works of Shakespeare."
--D.W. Griffith (1915)

"If in this work we have conveyed to the mind the ravages of war to the end that war may be held in abhorrence, this effort will not have been in vain." - D. W. Griffith (1915)

Please take a look at these clips and films starring one of his leading actresses: Lilian Gish.

Judith of Bethulia (1914) (part of the film with Lilian Gish; one of the first Biblical epics)

Broken Blossoms (1919) Entire film (with Lilian Gish)

True Heart Susie (1919) Entire film (Lilian Gish)

Way Down East (1920) (scene with Lilian Gish) One of the most amazing stunts ever pulled in cinema history. Please realize that these actors really were doing their own stunts in most cases. That water is cold and, yes, those are ice floes. Way Down East (1920, full film)

Orphans of the Storm (1921) (Entire film, with sister Dorothy Gish)

The Scarlet Letter (1926)  (scene with Lilian Gish)
Birth of a Nation (1915) (full film, remastered)

Sign up for one of these actors/directors/producers and begin to research them:
Lon Chaney, Sr.; Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.; Janet Gaynor; Lillian Gish; Clara Bow; Lois Weber, Claudette Colbert; Jean Harlow; Mary Pickford; Carole Lombard; Conrad Veidt; Harold Lloyd; Rudolph Valentino; John Barrymore; Gloria Swanson; Greta Garbo; Mae Marsh; Cecil B. DeMille; Carl Laemmle; Oscar Micheaux; Evelyn Preer; Thomas Ince; King Vidor; Erich Von Stroheim

Here is an example of what I might expect you to do with your short (1-3 minute) documentary:
Cameron: Nickelodeons
Frieda: Kinemacolor
Alannah: Goldwyn, Fox, Warner Bros.
Olivia: Alice Guy Blanche
Jocelyn: Anita Loos & Frances Marion 
Karina: Lois Weber
Deja: Gloria Swanson
Tamaron: Cecil B. DeMille 
Liana: Janet Gaynor & Charles Farrell 
Isabella John Barrymore 
Kyra: Thomas Ince 
Alexander: Buster Keaton 
Carina: Clara Bow & Rudolph Valentino

HOMEWORK: None. You are welcome to begin researching your chosen actor/director subject. See examples/model student films at the links above.

British & European Invasion: Acres, Paul, Hepworth, Pathe, Zecca, & others

Please use the first 15 minutes of today's class (until about 7:50) to work on your arranged scene/storyboard project (this is due today!); if you have finished this, please read and take notes on the chapter handout (see homework).

While Melies in France and Porter in America were important, they were not the only early filmmakers and directors working to explore this new art form. Let's take a look at some other pioneers in the film industry.

Birt Acres & R.W. Paul

Birt Acres was born in the USA in 1854, orphaned at the age of fourteen during the American civil war and was taken in by his aunt. Around 1872 Acres was sent to Paris to complete his education at the Sorbonne. Acres returned to the United States four years later to lead the life of a Frontiersman and it during a period of eight or nine years became quite wealthy. Around 1885 he moved to England. He set up a studio in the seaside resort of Devon for the production of painted portraits and photography. In 1894 Acres was introduced to an electrical engineer, Robert W. Paul. At this time Paul was in the process of manufacturing copies of Edison’s Kinetoscope and was anxious to construct a camera with which to produce films to show on his machines.

The pair worked together and Acres used the camera to make the first successful film in Britain - Incident at Clovelly Cottage in 1895. It was at this point where the two entered into a partnership with a ten-year business agreement. This agreement lasted only six weeks before splitting. During their brief partnership, the two shot films. It is widely believed that Paul was angry because Acres had patented his own Kinetic camera in his own name - almost identical to the one they had developed together. The resulting projector became known as the Kinetic Lantern, Kineopticon, and the Cinematoscope. 

As for Paul, he invented the Theatrograph projector and shot the first "news" films. Paul also made various “Actuality” films,  and a short comedy - “The Soldier’s Courtship.” He is, also, curiously, responsible for the first Scrooge film. In 1898 Paul began construction on Britain’s first film studios in Muswell Hill, North London and during that summer produced over eighty short dramatic films.

Paul’s production company peaked during 1900 and 1905 but he gradually became disenchanted with the business. He returned to his previous occupation, concentrating on electrical engineering.

Meanwhile, Acres gave the first public performance of his projector at the Royal Photographic Society in 1896 - five weeks before the screening of Lumière’s Cinématographe and Paul’s Theatograph. Acres formed his own company - the Northern Photographic Works which specialized in coating, perforating, and processing film. In 1898 he unveiled the Birtac - the first 'sub-standard gauge' cine camera and projector, instead of normal 35mm film the camera used narrower width film - typically 17.5 mm. Unfortunately for Acres, within weeks, a rival 17.5 mm camera/projector was announced - the Biokam by the Warwick Trading Company. The Biokam benefitted from its heavy backing and cheapness - half the price of the Birtac. Regardless of this, Birt Acres invented the first amateur cine camera and remained in the film business until his death in 1918.

R.W. Paul: Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee (1897)

Upside Down (1899) (watch camera tricks)

 Scrooge, or Marley's Ghost (1901) (the first Scrooge film).

The Magic Sword (1901)

Birt Acres: Rough Sea at Dover (1895)

Rip Van Winkle (1895)

Cecil Hepworth

Cecil Hepworth (1874 –1953):

How it Feels to Be Run Over (1900)
Explosion of a Motor Car (1900)
Alice in Wonderland (1903) by Cecil Hepworth
Rescued by Rover (1905), Cecil B. Hepworth; a sequel: The Dog Outwits the Kidnapper (1908)
That Fatal Sneeze (1907), Cecil B. Hepworth 

• Hepworth was an English film director, producer and screenwriter, he was among the founders of the British film industry and continued making films into the 1920s.
• His father was a famous magic lantern showman.
• He became involved in the early stages of British filmmaking, working for both Birt Acres and Charles Urban, and wrote the first British book on the subject in 1897.
• With his cousin Monty Wicks he set up the production company Hepworth and Co. — later renamed the Hepworth Manufacturing Company, then Hepworth Picture Plays.
• In 1899 they built a small film studio in Walton-on-Thames. The company produced about three films a week, sometimes with Hepworth directing.
• Rescued by Rover (1905) was a huge success at the box office, starring a collie in the title role. The film is now regarded as an important development in film grammar, with shots being effectively combined to emphasize the action. Hepworth was also one of the first to recognize the potential of film stars, both animal and human, with several recurring characters appearing in his films.
• The company continued making popular films into the 1920s.
• The company went public to fund a large studio development but lost money and closed.
• Tragically, all of Hepworth's original film negatives were melted down.

Blue Films: 

Blue films were erotic films meant to titillate the imagination and excite the viewer.  While these films were extremely lame and unerotic for us (we have broken the taboo of nudity, for example, in films) early blue films would later expand, particularly in the 1970s with home video capabilities (VHS and Betamax). We'll come back to that later in the course if we have time. For now, here are a few early examples.

• After the Ball (Melies; 1897)
• Lillian's Corset (1905)

Pathe Freres Company

Charles Pathé (1863-1957), French motion-picture magnate, who, in the early 20th century, was the first to create a system for mass-producing motion pictures. It is thanks to The Pathe Frere Co. that films were shared and distributed around the world. Now, a film made in New York could be seen as far away as Japan. This is the start of a worldwide cinema (and a lucrative business venture...) Check out information about Pathe and some of his company's films:

Aladdin & the Magic Lamp (1907)
The Policeman's Little Run (1907) directed by Ferdinand Zecca
Slippery Jim (1910) directed by Ferdinand Zecca
Onesime Horloger (Onesime, Clock-Maker) (1912)

• Pathé began his career as an importer and merchant of the phonograph in France.
• He extended the business to include projectors and films, creating the company Pathé Frères in 1896.
• By 1901 he concentrated on film production, together with French director and producer Ferdinand Zecca.
• Pathé made films rapidly and reinvested the profits back into the business to improve the technical quality of his films.
• By 1905 the company was employing numerous production teams of scriptwriters, set builders, cameramen, directors, and actors, making short films in an assembly-line process.
• Pathe Company opened in New York in 1904 as a subsidiary of Pathe Freres (Bros.) in France and boasted a catalog of 12,000 titles.
• In 1909, Pathe was asked to join Edison in forming the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC) to try to shut out smaller studios.
• In 1911, Pathe Weekly was issued. This is the first newsreel.
• WWI took its toll on the company. Pathe ceased production in the US in 1914.
• In 1915, the Pathe Freres temporarily moved its headquarters to New York and changed its name to Pathe Exchange, Inc.
• In 1923, Pathe Exchange sold for 26 million Francs and came under the control of Merrill Lynch.
• In 1926, Joe Kennedy (father of John F. Kennedy) becomes president of the company and a film director.
• In 1930, Pathe Exchange merges with PDC, K-A-O, and DeMille to become RKO

EARLY FILMS & INVENTION:

Hollywood has never been that original compared to early filmmakers. Here are a few films that keep getting made over and over again. Other films of the early 20th century:

• Joan D'Arc (1900) George Melies, compare to The Messenger (trailer, 1999) and the film.
• Frankenstein (Edison) (1910), compare to Frankenstein (trailer, 1931), and the newest flop Victor Frankenstein (trailer, 2015)
• A Trip to Mars (Edison) (1910), compare to The Martian (trailer, 2015)
• Wizard of Oz (1910), compare to The Wizard of Oz (1939), and Oz, The Great & Wonderful (2013)
• James Searle Dawley: Rescued From an Eagle's Nest (1907, Frodo & Sam were not the first little guys to get rescued!); compare to Return of the King (2011)

Italian Cinema:

• Milano Films: Odissea (Italian cinema, 1911)
• Milano Films: Dante's Inferno (Italian cinema, 1911--the oldest surviving feature-length epic)

• Oldest surviving color film (1902)

HOMEWORK: If you missed some of these links or films, please view what we didn't complete during class. Take notes on key films/directors and look at these early examples. Please read the chapter on D.W. Griffith, The Edison Monopoly Decision, and Hollywood and take notes.

Sign up for one of these actors/directors/producers and begin to research them:
Lon Chaney, Sr.; Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.; Janet Gaynor; Lillian Gish; Clara Bow; Lois Weber, Claudette Colbert; Jean Harlow; Mary Pickford; Carole Lombard; Conrad Veidt; Harold Lloyd; Rudolph Valentino; John Barrymore; Gloria Swanson; Greta Garbo; Mae Marsh; Cecil B. DeMille; Carl Laemmle; Oscar Micheaux; Evelyn Preer; Thomas Ince; King Vidor; Erich Von Stroheim