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create a sense of depth in his narrative : the various details add up to a fuller, more persuasively life-like picture of a situation than can a single shot, played against a constant background. Secondly, the director is in a far stronger position to guide the spectator's reactions, because he is able to choose what particular detail the spectator is to see at any particular moment. A short analysis of the excerpt quoted should amplify the point.
The first fourteen shots establish Lincoln's arrival and reception at the theatre.
Then, a title gives the first hint of the impending danger.
The following five shots present an interesting comparison with Porter's simple action continuity because they depict a single character's continuous movements.
15 shows the bodyguard waiting impatiently.
Then, instead of showing what he does next, shot 16 establishes the cause of the bodyguard's impatience — the stage which he wishes to see.
17, 18 and 19 show him getting up, moving through the door and settling down in the box. There is a perfectly logical continuity of theme running through the sequence. The cut from 17 to 18 is straightforward : it merely changes the location of the action as the bodyguard moves into the box.
18 and 19, by contrast, are both views of the same action — 19 merely draws attention to a detail of the previous larger image. Clearly, this cut is not physically necessary : it is made because it is dramatically effective.
There follows another ominous hint in the title and 20 and 21 reveal the theatre audience, unaware of the danger.
In the shots that follow (22-30), the haunting static image of John Wilkes Booth is cut in after each detail of the general scene, partly to create suspense, partly to establish that Booth is, in fact, unidentified and unsuspected.
Then, after a reminder that the bodyguard is not at his post (32), Booth is seen going into action (33-36).
At this point, instead of showing the assassination, Griffith interrupts the action of 36, which was probably shot as a continuous take with 38, to give a glimpse of the stage (37). The last two cuts form a concise illustration of Griffith's newly developed editing method. The view of the stage in 37 adds nothing to our knowledge of the scene. It is inserted for purely dramatic reasons : the suspense is artificially kept up a while longer and Lincoln's complete unawareness of Booth's presence is indirectly stressed.
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