OutSide choice Wes Anderson Life Aquatic

Wes Anderson has a unique way of making films unlike any other. Wtaching his films doesn't feel like watching an ordinary film because the way it flows, the music he uses and when be blends it in using abnormal shots its unlike any other film. I watched The Life Aquatic and instatnly noticed connections to his other films, but at the same time the film is unlike any other I have seen. In every aspect of filmaking I can see connection with the Life Aquatic, Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, and the Royal Tenebaums. It has an abnormal flow to the film where at times the pace slows down tremendously, but then speed up once again. This is seen in all three of the other films. It has unique shots such as when they cut the boat in half and film it as if it was a play(Shown here is the set of the see through boat shot). But the biggest simularity I saw was the style of music he uses and how he integrates it into the film. In Bottle Rocket he turns the film silent besides the song when Dignan is running from the police. In the Life Aquatic he turns the film silent all besides the song when he is in a gunfight with highjackers both times adding a very experimental feel to and emotional climax of the film. This is what makes Wes Anderson films stand out besides others and why they are so amusing to watch.

Akira Kurosawa

Akira can take a very simple situation or a very complicated situation and show them with full understanding through the same shot. This is how intricate his shot can get. Sometimes he will go a great distance to get an amazing unique shot which can help clear out and explain the story with only a few seconds.



The most obvious times we saw him go great distances to do this was in Ran where he would build and entire castle set then destroy it just for 1 shot. Its these great distances he goes to take his films to the next level and really impress the viewer. I liked all of his films we viewed in class because I always was impressed with the next level of camera work I saw in each film. In Stray Dog we see him take very long shots of the detective walking through the back alleys, and in Yojimbo we see these shots above the bell tower looking down on the two gangs from a unique angle, and in Ran we see the final shot of Tsurumaru standing on the ruins of his father's castle from extremely far away(shown below). All of these shots were extremely impressive and really took the movies to a different level above that of other directors I have seen.

Hitchcock

Hitchcock uses many unique tricks and styles in his films that always seem to intrigue the viewer. Something I noticed watching a few of his films is that he focuses more on capturing characters reactions than on capturing the environment around them. In Vertigo he gives us many long shots of them driving through the woods and near the ocean, (seen on right) but he never does this near our during characters conversations. When they are exchanging dialogue he almost never has a shot not on the detectives face to show us his reaction.


Some other traits we see Hitchcock use are long periods of silence where he lets the camera do the talking. These periods have no dialogue but occasionally have quiet music looming in the background. We see this in The 49 Steps, Rear Window, and Vertigo. All 7 films we have watched. Using these uncommon tricks he gives us a different type of movie that can move at a slower pace and still hold our attention.

A History Of Violence

A History Of Violence is another movie by David Cronenberg which involves a quick turn in a characters life by the presence of a mafia or gang organization. In this case the main character played by Viggo Mortensen once again stops a robbery in progress in his dinner and saves the day (Picture on right), but this draws the attention of a crime family which pays them a visit.

Like his other films he can take a normal situation at the start then put a very dark and grim turn on it instantly. He does this by swift changes in the music no longer playing anything upbeat, but insted long drawn out music in the background. He also does this by using far shots from low angles above the bad guys to add a dramatic effect before a big conflict.

The biggest aspect that I can see in both of these films we have watched of his is his "body horror". Where he will go the extra mile to make something more grotesque than it had to be. Such as when the main character defends his family he strikes a man in the face multiple times breaking his nose and then the camera gave us a close up shot on it on the ground which was very animated. Overall David Cronenberg has a unique style of creating a dark haze overall all of his shots to give us a real feel for the situation and its seriousness that the main characters are dealing with.

Eastern Promises

The director we chose to do is David Cronenberg who has a unique style of trying to put you as close to the film as possible. He does this in Eastern Promises a movie based on a russian mafia family in London by using many close up shots on faces and shots from characters perspectives when they are talking to other character. (As shown on the right)

From the opening of the film to the end we see him use this trick when two characters are interacting he will switch from a close up shot on the face of one to a close up shot of the others face. This engages us more in the film and makes it much more entertaining to view. This film was a very dark film purposly because I believe he wanted to set and overtone on the mood since the story was not a happy one. Whenever we saw shots of the russian mafia during dinner or meetings it was never a close up shot. He wanted to give us a third person perspective whenever something bad was happening or being plotted. I believe he did this to give us two perspectives on the good and bad characters in this film. By using close ups as two characters talk it engaged us more in what was being said, but when the russians talked we were never that close to give us a divider of the two sides in this movie. (As shown on right)

Using this unique style it gives the movie a more interesting feel and perspective. Throughout the duration of the movie this difference is even more obvious. Without this style the films story would have not been enough to make a good movie, but because it uses so many tricks it sets itself apart from other films.

Introduction

Films can be about anything and there is never a limit or at least now there isn't. With advances in technology we can do things in film that we couldn't before. Like the movie Beowulf, not the greatest movie ever but that is something 30 years ago no one could have imagened to have an entire film be animated from start to finish. With the new technology directors have alot more options and almost no boundries besides money of course to express their creativity and make many new forms of movies we havent seen befre. In the future we will see them taking advantage of this much more. (http://www.theartoffilm2klob.blogspot.com/ Quick link)