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.