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Gottfried Wilhelm "Billy" Bitzer is a Actor, Director and Scriptwriter American born on 21 april 1872 at Massachusetts (USA)
Gottfried Wilhelm "Billy" Bitzer (April 21, 1874 - April 29, 1944) was a pioneering cinematographer notable for his close association with D. W. Griffith.
Bitzer provided assistance during Griffith's directorial debut, 1908's The Adventures of Dollie, which was shot by Arthur Marvin. He eventually succeeded Marvin as Griffith's regular cinematographer, working with him on some of his most important films and contributing significantly to cinematic innovations attributed to Griffith.
In 1910, he photographed Griffith's silent short, In Old California, in the Los Angeles village of "Hollywoodland", qualifying Bitzer as, arguably, Hollywood's first Director of Photography.
In 2003, a survey conducted by the International Cinematographers Guild named him one of the ten most influential cinematographers in history. Bitzer, it is said, "developed camera techniques that set the standard for all future motion pictures."
Among Bitzer's innovations were
the fade out to close a movie scene;
the iris shot where a circle closes to close a scene;
soft focus photography with the aid of a light diffusion screen;
filming entirely under artificial lighting rather than outside;
lighting, closeups and long shots to create mood;
perfection of matte photography.
Prior to his career as a cameraman, Bitzer developed early cinematic technologies for the American Mutoscope Company, eventually to become the Biograph Company. He admired and learned the art of motion picture photography from Kinetoscope inventor W.K.L. Dickson, who directed the early Biograph shorts on which Bitzer cut his teeth. Until 1903, Bitzer was employed by Biograph primarily as a documentary photographer, and from 1903 onward primarily as the photographer of narrative films, as these gained popularity. (Hendricks 1964, pp. 5)
In 1908 Bitzer entered into his first collaboration with Griffith. The two would work together for the rest of Bitzer's career, leaving Biograph in 1913 for the Mutual Film Corporation where Bitzer continued to innovate, perfecting existing technologies and inventing new ones. During this time he pioneered the field of matte photography and made use of innovative lighting techniques, closeups, and iris shots.
The apex of Bitzer and Griffith's collaboration came with The Birth of a Nation (1915), a film funded in part by Bitzer's life savings, and the epic Intolerance (1916).
For all his innovation, Bitzer did not survive the industry's transition to sound, and in 1944 he suffered a heart attack and died in Hollywood in relative obscurity.
His autobiography, Billy Bitzer: His Story, was published posthumously in 1973.
Source : Wikidata
Gottfried Wilhelm "Billy" Bitzer
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Nationality USA
Birth 21 april 1872 at Massachusetts (USA)
Death 29 april 1944 (at 72 years) at Hollywood (USA)
Birth 21 april 1872 at Massachusetts (USA)
Death 29 april 1944 (at 72 years) at Hollywood (USA)
Bitzer provided assistance during Griffith's directorial debut, 1908's The Adventures of Dollie, which was shot by Arthur Marvin. He eventually succeeded Marvin as Griffith's regular cinematographer, working with him on some of his most important films and contributing significantly to cinematic innovations attributed to Griffith.
In 1910, he photographed Griffith's silent short, In Old California, in the Los Angeles village of "Hollywoodland", qualifying Bitzer as, arguably, Hollywood's first Director of Photography.
In 2003, a survey conducted by the International Cinematographers Guild named him one of the ten most influential cinematographers in history. Bitzer, it is said, "developed camera techniques that set the standard for all future motion pictures."
Among Bitzer's innovations were
the fade out to close a movie scene;
the iris shot where a circle closes to close a scene;
soft focus photography with the aid of a light diffusion screen;
filming entirely under artificial lighting rather than outside;
lighting, closeups and long shots to create mood;
perfection of matte photography.
Prior to his career as a cameraman, Bitzer developed early cinematic technologies for the American Mutoscope Company, eventually to become the Biograph Company. He admired and learned the art of motion picture photography from Kinetoscope inventor W.K.L. Dickson, who directed the early Biograph shorts on which Bitzer cut his teeth. Until 1903, Bitzer was employed by Biograph primarily as a documentary photographer, and from 1903 onward primarily as the photographer of narrative films, as these gained popularity. (Hendricks 1964, pp. 5)
In 1908 Bitzer entered into his first collaboration with Griffith. The two would work together for the rest of Bitzer's career, leaving Biograph in 1913 for the Mutual Film Corporation where Bitzer continued to innovate, perfecting existing technologies and inventing new ones. During this time he pioneered the field of matte photography and made use of innovative lighting techniques, closeups, and iris shots.
The apex of Bitzer and Griffith's collaboration came with The Birth of a Nation (1915), a film funded in part by Bitzer's life savings, and the epic Intolerance (1916).
For all his innovation, Bitzer did not survive the industry's transition to sound, and in 1944 he suffered a heart attack and died in Hollywood in relative obscurity.
His autobiography, Billy Bitzer: His Story, was published posthumously in 1973.
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Filmography of Gottfried Wilhelm "Billy" Bitzer (5 films)
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Lucky Jim (1909)
, 5minutesDirected by D. W. Griffith
Origin USA
Genres Drama
Actors Marion Leonard, Mack Sennett, Herbert Yost, Anita Hendrie, Harry Solter, Linda Arvidson
Rating47%
Director
The Adventures of Dollie (1908)
, 12minutesDirected by D. W. Griffith, Gottfried Wilhelm "Billy" Bitzer
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller
Actors Arthur V. Johnson, Linda Arvidson, Gladys Egan, Charles Inslee
Rating57%
On a beautiful summer day a father and mother take their daughter Dollie on an outing to the river. The mother refuses to buy a gypsy's wares. The gypsy tries to rob the mother, but the father drives him off. The gypsy returns to the camp and devises a plan. They return and kidnaps Dollie while her parents are distracted. A rescue crew is organized, but the gypsy takes Dollie to his camp. They gag Dollie and hide her in a barrel before the rescue party gets to the camp. Once they leave the gypsies and escapes in their wagon. As the wagon crosses the river, the barrel falls into the water. Still sealed in the barrel, Dollie is swept downstream in dangerous currents. A boy who is fishing in the river finds the barrel, and Dollie is reunited safely with her parents.
The Impossible Convicts (1906)
Directed by Gottfried Wilhelm "Billy" Bitzer
Genres Comedy, Crime
Rating56%
2 A.M. in the Subway (1905)
Directed by Gottfried Wilhelm "Billy" Bitzer
Genres Comedy
Rating45%
A tired cop and a subway conductor are seen waiting at a subway platform, late at night. The conductor opens the doors to the train at left, and out steps an obviously drunk man carried between two women in fancy dress. The cop begins to mix it up with the three of them, and they are interrupted by another man in a bowler hat; he is carrying a large package and steps onto the train to the right after greeting the two women and the drunk man. One of the women steps forward into the frame and lifts up her skirt so that the drunk man can tie her shoe. This gets the attention of the cop, who hustles the three of them onto the train; meanwhile what appears to be a pair of bare legs stick out from a window of a train car and are quickly withdrawn. The cop just manages to notice this, and calls all parties back out to the platform where it is revealed that the man in the bowler hat has a pair of department store mannequin's legs with him.
Scriptwriter
The Curtain Pole (1909)
, 13minutesDirected by Mack Sennett, D. W. Griffith
Origin USA
Genres Comedy
Actors Mack Sennett, Harry Solter, Florence Lawrence, Linda Arvidson, Clara T. Bracy, George Gebhardt
Rating56%
Un homme est en difficulté avec sa tringle à rideaux.