D.W.Griffith's "Birth of A Nation" (1915)

his movie although long was alright to watch clips rarther than the whole thing. Lighting wise this film dosent really have any advances although there are interesting uses of shadows, explosions and colouring. The exterior shots manily used natural light for the day scenes, with dapple effects being created by trees and the coveradge of the light usualy being evenly desperced. The interior shots also have a wash over them but differing iris levels help give these darker rooms a brighter feel, coupled with the studio or natural light used to light these sets. The scene in the basement is a good use of iris controll because it vinetts the two girls and brings the light level of the room down making it feel dark and secluded from the blacks in the house above. Another use of light is seen in the battle scene shot at night, here random of flashes of light are seen, not as good as what it could have been and more exposions and cannons could have been used.
The colour overlay is also a good use of what can be achived with out colour film to hightlight fire or death. It is particuarly good when used to represtent fire because it helps give the sence of danger and urgency that we dont get without being alble to see the orange and red flames of actual fire. Over all this movie is pretty good for its time but lighting wise nothing substantial was really achevied.