Production
The Birth of a Nation began filming in 1914 and pioneered such camera techniques as the use of panoramic long shots, the iris effects, still-shots, night photography, panning camera shots, and a carefully staged battle sequence with hundreds of extras made to look like thousands. It also contains many new artistic techniques, such as color tinting for dramatic purposes, building up the plot to an exciting climax, dramatizing history alongside fiction, and featuring its own musical score written for an orchestra.
When the film was released, it shattered both box office and film-length records, running three hours and ten minutes. Its power continues to be recognized. In 1998, it was voted one of the "Top 100 American Films" (#44) by the American Film Institute.
The film was based on Thomas Dixon, Jr.'s novels The Clansman and The Leopard's Spots. It was originally to have been shot in Kinemacolor but D. W. Griffith took over the Hollywood studio of Kimemacolor and Kinemacolor's plans to film Dixon's novel. Griffith, whose father served as a colonel in the Confederate Army, agreed to pay Thomas Dixon $10,000 (equal to $232,027 today) for the rights to his play The Clansman. Since he ran out of money and could afford only $2,500 of the original option, Griffith offered Dixon 25 percent interest in the picture. Dixon reluctantly agreed, and the unprecedented success of the film made him rich. Dixon's proceeds were the largest sum any author had received for a motion picture story and amounted to several million dollars.
Griffith's budget started at US$40,000 (equal to $928,106 today), but the film finally cost $112,000 (the equivalent of $2.41 million in 2010). As a result, Griffith had to seek new sources of capital for his film. A ticket to the film cost a record $2 (equal to $45.95 today).
West Point engineers provided technical advice on the Civil War battle scenes. They provided Griffith with the artillery used in the film.
The film premiered on February 8, 1915, at Clune's Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles. At its premiere the film was entitled The Clansman, but the title was later changed to The Birth of a Nation to reflect Griffith's belief that the United States emerged out of the American Civil War and Reconstruction as a unified nation.
The film is in the public domain.
Read more about this topic: The Birth Of A Nation
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