Contextual Research (The style of 3 directors.)

Magnolia – Paul Thomas Anderson:

Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia is his third film and it is truly where his trademark style fully comes into play. It tells seven interconnecting stories about family, love, loneliness and lies which all tie into an unpredictable and biblical finale. The film is large in its scope and could be almost described as an “Epic”. It tells all of these stories over a three-hour run time allowing us to grow to know the characters as is customary with Anderson’s films and with so many characters, it makes sense for this length.

Anderson’s trademark visuals usually consist of fast paced dolly shots, ethereal crane shots and even static long takes allowing his actors to just perform and sell the scene they are performing. Anderson’s storytelling has changed dramatically since this film and some of his other early projects, his projects now tend to be high concept period pieces rather than his previous intelligent and ambitious Comedy Dramas.

Anderson’s approach to blocking camera movement is what really has inspired me other than his writing which is a whole other thing. Even though the techniques he uses have been used by many before him, he makes them his own and when you are shown a shot from his films, it is almost instantly identifiable as his. I also love his approach of directing actors in scenes which you wouldn’t normally see them do, Like Adam Sandler in Punch Drunk Love or John C Riley in Magnolia and even Joaquin Phoenix in Inherent Vice.

Brazil – Terry Gilliam:

Brazil is director Terry Gilliam’s ambitious anarchic dystopian sci-fi masterpiece. Commonly considered by many to be one of the best films of the 20^th century and one of the best sci-fi films ever made. It tells the story of Sam, a government bureaucrat who tries to break free of the system he is trapped in in hopes of finding the woman of his dreams. The film took years to even begin production, Gilliam shopped it around with every major distributor at the time where he was told no every time. Eventually after a few years he finally got told he could make the film thanks to the success of his other projects.

Gilliam’s style is usually designed to unnerve but intrigue the audience, his sets are realistic yet fantastical, a normal dolly shot through a abandoned town can suddenly become a drunk homeless man looking down on a miniature, an actor can switch from calm and content to vengeful and full of anger in the blink of an eye. Gilliam’s film’s usually feature strange satirical ideas about all aspects of human life whether that be Alcohol & Drugs in Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas or his work with Monty Python on all three of their feature films. They’re ambitious with their topics which makes sense when thinking about Gilliam’s unstoppable passion for making sure his films are made the way he wants them to be made.

I’m personally inspired by Gilliam’s positive attitude towards directing and persevering through the odds, it’s taught me that if you keep on trying and improving and refining your craft constantly, it can lead to great stuff.

Under the Silver Lake – David Robert Mitchell:

Under the Silver Lake is the divisive third feature film from It Follows Director David Robert Mitchell. It’s an ambitious film that centres around the mystery of a man who’s neighbour goes missing all of a sudden, it has many different branching mysteries such as a serial dog killer, a half human half owl woman, cryptic song lyrics and the sinister nature of Hollywood Hills.

Mitchell has only directed one horror film, but it seems that horror directing tropes are an embedded part of his style, he uses classic slasher horror long shots and tracking shots which usually follow behind a subject in a situation or location they are not used to. However, even when things get intense in his work the music does not suddenly pick-up tempo, the camera does not become erratic and dart all over the place, he lets the terrifying moments that take place just happen and unsettle you from how disturbing they are themselves, usually relying on the actors and mise en scene to do the work.

I am personally really inspired by Mitchells ability to use filmmaking techniques from other genres of film, particularly horror, and incorporating them into stories that really are disturbing at their core. It is uniquely original.

 

From this I have decided to go onto working on a scene from Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia. The scene in particular I have chosen is a scene I feel can be improved upon due to its static shot composition and lack of nuance in one of the lead characters featured which I feel can be sorted with some simple first-person visual perspective. The scene in which I am talking about is Officer Jim Kurring’s first meeting with Claudia Wilson.