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Though telling stories in films occurred early on, moviemaking hit its stride as a viable art form when studios developed innovative narrative techniques including the use of varied camera distances, close-up shots, multiple story lines, fast-paced editing, and symbolic imagery to tell a story—even before sound was introduced. As these techniques evolved, making a movie became more than just telling a story; it became all about how to tell the story. For example, the same sequence of events filmed from different camera angles could have totally different impacts on viewers.

D. W. Griffith, among the earliest “star” directors, used nearly all of these techniques at the same time in The Birth of a Nation (1915)—the first feature-length film (more than an hour long) produced in America. Although considered a technical masterpiece and an enormous hit, the film glorified the Ku Klux Klan and stereotyped southern blacks. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) campaigned against the film, and protests and riots broke out at many screenings.

Other popular films created during the silent era were historical and religious epics, including Napoleon, Ben-Hur, and The Ten Commandments. But the era also produced pioneering social dramas, mysteries, comedies, horror films, science fiction movies, war films, crime dramas, and westerns.