D.W. Griffith
D. W. Griffith (1875–1948) was an American director, producer, and screenwriter who established many of the conventions of feature-length narrative cinema during the 1910s. He began as an actor and stage playwright before turning to filmmaking at the Biograph Company, where he directed hundreds of one- and two-reelers and refined techniques of editing, framing, and camera movement that became foundational to the medium. His feature films were enormously influential and, in the case of The Birth of a Nation, deeply controversial for their racial politics. His acclaimed films include The Birth of a Nation, Intolerance, Hearts of the World, Broken Blossoms, Way Down East, and Orphans of the Storm.