Universal Film Magazine - Issue 8 - www.ufmag.biz

Universal FilmIssue 8 - 2013nic lines. Scorsese is hailed as 1 of the mostsignificant and influential directors of alltime. His most successful films include: MeanStreets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull(1980), Goodfellas (1990), The Aviator (2004),The Departed (2006) and Hugo (2011). Healso directed Michael Jackson’s music videoBad (1987). Scorsese is influenced by: FrenchNew Wave, Satyajit Ray, Ingmar Bergman,Michelangelo Antonioni, Alfred Hitchcock,amongst others.His trademarks include: using New York Cityas the main setting in his films. Some of hisfilms are based on true stories. He has a quickcameo in his films or contributes his voicewithout showing his face on screen. Charactershave a choice of worshipping organisedreligion or organised crime. His lead charactersare often morally ambiguous, prone toviolence, and/or want to be accepted in societyor a society and aren’t infrequently sociopaths.In most of his films the main characteroften falls in love and has a wife, andoften has a turning point between the maincharacter and the wife. His blonde leadingladies are usually seen through the eyes ofthe protagonist as angelic and ethereal. Theywear white in their 1st scene and are photographedin slow motion.He sometimes highlights characters in ascene with an iris. Often the supporting actorwill betray the protagonist. Guilt is a prominenttheme in many of his films, as is the roleof Catholicism in creating and dealing withguilt. More recently, his films have featuredcorrupt authority figures. His doesn’t shyaway from unflinching, graphic and realisticviolence. Scorsese often casts the same actorsin his films, most notably his close friendRobert De Niro. More recently, Scorsese hasfound a new “muse” with Leonardo DiCaprio.The song “Gimme Shelter” by the RollingStones is used in many Scorsese films. Heuses diagdic music (source of music is visibleon screen) and his movies are “cut” tothe music. He begins his films with segmentstaken from the middle or end of the story. Heuses slow motion technique, freeze framing,virtuoso steadicam shots, slow motion flashbulbsand accented camera/flash/shuttersounds.The use of MOS sequences set to popularmusic or voice over, often involving aggressivecamera movement and/or rapid editing.He often uses long tracking shots. This is anotoriously difficult shot to perfect and he isoften dubbed “king of the tracking shot”.Quentin Tarantino was born 27/3/63 in Knoxville,Tennessee, USA. He is also a screenwriter,producer, cinematographer and actor.He is of Italian, Irish and Cherokee decent.His most successful films include: ReservoirDogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), JackieBrown (1997), Kill Bill Vol 1 and Vol 2 (2003/4)and Inglorious Bastards (2009). His moviesare generally characterized by stylistic influencesfrom grindhouse, kung fu, spaghettiwesterns, wuxia, Jidaigeki, manga and Italianhorror. Despite his films featuring criminals,drugs and violence, in reality he deteststhose elements. Music plays an importantpart of his style. He would listen to music andcreate scenes that correlated to the music.There is an astute, bold use of music and hissoundtracks have the Spanish classical guitar.Tarantino was inspired to get into moviesby paying close attention to the typesof films people liked to rent. He was quotedsaying “When people ask me if I went to filmschool I tell them, no, I went to films”.He cites Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese,Brian de Palma, Sergio Leone, amongst othersas influences. Tarantino frequently collaborateswith his friend and fellow directorRobert Rodriguez. He directed a car scene inRodriguez’s Sin City (2005) and was creditedas “Special Guest Director”. Tarantino uses hisHollywood power to give smaller and foreignfilms more attention than they might havereceived otherwise. The films are usually labelled“Presented by Quentin Tarantino” or“Quentin Tarantino Presents”. Iron Monkey(2001) and Hero (2004) were massive successesin America because of his labelling.His many trademarks include: references tohis home state Tennessee and setting hisfilms in LA. He often makes a directors cameoin his films and he crates fictional brands ofobjects due to his dislike of product placement.All his female characters are portrayed asstrong, capable, powerful and independentwomen. This is a reference to his motherwho raised him alone. He often has a femalecharacter who wears a black and white trousersuit. Although he likes to deny it, he hasa major foot fetish. All his characters havetheir feet shown on camera at least once andhis characters often use the phrase “bingo”.Tarantino regularly uses the same actors andis known for giving comebacks to “forgotten”actors and/or cult actors by giving themimportant roles in his movies. His lead charactersusually drive General Motors vehicles,particularly Chevrolet and Cadillac and hisfilms usually have a shot from inside a cartrunk.He likes his actors to speak in their nativelanguages or the language of where thecharacter originates from. He always has aDutch element in his films and uses aliases orcodenames in nearly all his films. His charactersoften utilize sharp, bladed Melee weaponssuch as the samurai sword. All his filmsfeature scenes in a restaurant. Briefcases andsuitcases play an important role in his films.Quentin makes references to cult moviesand TV and his characters often discuss theirfavourite films or shows while carrying outtheir activities. All his movies use the MexicanStandoff and feature a scene in which 3or more characters are pointing guns at eachother at the same time.Although there is a tone of extreme violencein his films, much of which is suggested offscreen,it’s played for laughs as much as forshocks. A recurring hallmark in all his moviesis that there is a different sense of humourwhich gets the audience to laugh at thingsthat aren’t funny. His many visual trademarksinclude: 1 long, unbroken take where a characteris followed around somewhere, widelyimitated quick cuts of characters hands performingactions in extreme close-up, longclose-up of a person’s face while someoneelse speaks off-screen, frames characterswith doorways and shows them openingand closing doors and minor character dialogueis off-screen.Incidental dialogue is pushed centre stage.A character would coolly talk through anintense situation, either delaying the occurrenceof violence or avoiding it throughresolution. Tarantino prefers to start most ofhis films with a scene before the main titlesare shown and interject scenes with introductionof a characters background or titlesto tell the audience of a new portion of thestory.As can be immediately seen, novelistic narrativetechniques bear a strong influenceon his distinct style. It’s an unconventionalstorytelling device using retrospect, nonlinearor chapter format. They are fractured,chronologically reshuffled narratives. Generallyall his movies are about trust, mostly betweenan older experienced character and ayounger character. The betrayal of which, isthe worst thing 1 can do to the other.Sir Alfred Hitchcock, KBE was born 13/8/1899in Leytonstone, England and died 29/4/1980.He is also a producer. He described his childhoodas being very lonely and sheltered, asituation compounded by his obesity. Overa career spanning more than ½ century,Hitchcock fashioned for himself a distinctiveand recognisable directorial style. Hepioneered many techniques in suspense andpsychological thriller genres. He was knownas “Master of Suspense”. His films also borrowmany themes from psychoanalysis and featurestrong sexual undertones. His most famousand successful films include: The ManWho Knew too Much (1934), The 39 Steps(1935), Suspicion (1941), Spellbound (1945),Notorious (1946), Dial M for Murder (1954),Rear Window (1954), To Catch a Thief (1955),Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959),Psycho (1960), The Birds (1963) and Marnie(1964).Many of his films have twist endings andthrilling plots of depictions of violence, murder,crime and the extremely complex psychologicalexaminations of the characters.His real skill was making silly, often implausiblestories engaging and compulsive. Hitchcockis often regarded as the greatest Britishdirector ever and a cultural icon. He did morethan any director to shape modern cinema,which would be utterly different withouthim. His innovations and vision have influencedmany directors, producers and actors.His influence helped start a trend for directorsto control artistic aspects of their movieswithout answering to the producer.51www.ufmag.org