<P> As films grew longer, specialist writers were employed to simplify more complex stories derived from novels or plays into a form that could be contained on one reel . Genres began to be used as categories; the main division was into comedy and drama, but these categories were further subdivided . </P> <P> Intertitles containing lines of dialogue began to be used consistently from 1908 onwards, such as in Vitagraph's An Auto Heroine; or, The Race for the Vitagraph Cup and How It Was Won . The dialogue was eventually inserted into the middle of the scene and became commonplace by 1912 . The introduction of dialogue titles transformed the nature of film narrative . When dialogue titles came to be always cut into a scene just after a character starts speaking, and then left with a cut to the character just before they finish speaking, then one had something that was effectively the equivalent of a present - day sound film . </P> <P> The years of the First World War were a complex transitional period for the film industry . The exhibition of films changed from short one - reel programmes to feature films . Exhibition venues became larger and began charging higher prices . </P> <P> In the United States, these changes brought destruction to many film companies, the Vitagraph company being an exception . Film production began to shift to Los Angeles during World War I . The Universal Film Manufacturing Company was formed in 1912 as an umbrella company . New entrants included the Jesse Lasky Feature Play Company, and Famous Players, both formed in 1913, and later amalgamated into Famous Players - Lasky . The biggest success of these years was David Wark Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915). Griffith followed this up with the even bigger Intolerance (1916), but, due to the high quality of film produced in the US, the market for their films was high . </P>

Prior to wwi the french film industry seriously challenged the united states film industry