Overview

This book offers a significant and original contribution to studies on D.W. Griffith and film, through a systematic analysis of the director's chase scenes, which create suspense and resolution in his films. The predominance of the emphasis of building suspense differs in the various stages of his chase scenes. The primary source of material discussed here is Griffith's films after 1913 when he left the Biograph Company. Griffith's post-Biograph films are more complete and representative of his techniques than his earlier films, which were subject to financial constraints while he was still innovating and developing his cinematic techniques. Most of his films used in this analysis were provided by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The purpose of this study is to determine a definition of a Griffithian chase scene in terms of his editing techniques. Categories are established, defining specific tools. This is done by determining and documenting consistencies, comparisons, and specific patterns occurring in his chase scenes that generally do not occur in his general editing. Griffith's basic mechanics in editing are filmic time and space, parallel action, referential crosscutting, and decomposition.A major finding in this book is that Griffith's chase scenes are the most important part of his films in terms of suspense and resolution. His chase scenes are complex, unique and sometimes even unpredictable. As such, this is an important new work on D.W. Griffith, and will be of interest to scholars and others interested in both the director and film, and will also be an asset to libraries and bookstores.

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9781527513235

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George Pavlou holds a BA in Urban and Regional Planning and an MA in Radio and Television from Ball State University, USA, and a PhD in Communication and Mass Communication from Wayne State University, USA. He has been a faculty member in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at European University Cyprus, teaching communication and media courses, since 2002. From 1993 to 2002, he served as the Academic Dean at Europa College in Cyprus. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Athens Journal of Social Sciences and the Athens Journal of Mass Media and Communication of the Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER) in Athens, Greece. He has also published several papers on D.W. Griffith.

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