Portfolio for Film & Video
Contextual Information
I N S P I R A T I O N A L F I L M S
The Silence of the Lambs
The 80's psychological horror, is by far one of my favourite films. From Anthony Hopkins incredibly acting to Jonathan Demme's academy award winning directing, this film is unnerving and incredibly clever with its narrative and overall cinematography. The use of POV shots from Demme was revolutionary in the cinematography world. These are seen in action with the first meeting with Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling. The shots are taken from Clarice's perspective, The extreme close up shots of Hannibal's blue, piercing eyes literally make the reader feel as though he is inside the audience's head (which is ironic due to Jack Crawford specifically telling Agent Starling "Trust me, you don't want Hannibal Lecter inside your head").
By using these ECU shots, the audience and Starling are drawn in, and succumb to his psychological mind tricks. The only option is to look away in order to rid of the uneasy feeling this clever framing creates, as the whole frame is taken up with his face. These shots are used throughout the whole of the film, with the climax (when Buffalo Bill assaults Clarice) the night vision goggle show from Bill's perspective gives a new spin on being at "arms length" from the action. Through these first person perspective shots the audience develops empathetic relationships with the characters throughout the film, making it emotionally and intellectually engaging.
This particular film inspired my work as I love Demme's use of shot types and angles. His use of ECU's on Hannibal Lecture and third person perspective shots make his film more personal and intriguing., I would like to use these shot types in my video. Moreover, the use of colour throughout the film is essential in creating the foreboding tone in the horror. For many shots, red colour grading/ lighting is used to pre-empt danger/death to come later on in the sequence. I would like to use this technique in my film to add a sense of danger and interest, rather than keeping my shots at their normal colour tint. I plan to do this by adding red highlight/shadow tones and tinting them, to a warmer/cooler tone.
The Truman Show
The Truman Show is also a very inspirational film for it's use of the camera being used as a metaphor for control throughout the film. The narrative follows Truman Burbank, the central character (although he doesn't know it) of a nationwide, live television program encapsulating his daily life, twenty four hours a day. The use of hidden camera shots- for example cameras hidden in the mirror or in cars- give a documentary effect to the film. Often iris shots or fish eye lenses are used to zoom in on Truman. These shots are paired with naturalistic shots, which increase as the film progresses, to connote Truman's realisation that the world he lives in is in fact a fabrication. The political message of this films ties in perfectly with the rise of mass surveillance and the paranoia felt from the cold war. Arguably, it is still relatable today, with the idea of excessive narcissism and rise of machines. The ruptures of reality seen in the film, for example the light which falls from the sky at the beginning of the film, or the physical rupture of Truman' mast into the "end of the world" correspond with the ruptures we are experiencing in modern life, for example 9/11, Brexit, Donald Trump. Society, much like Truman, is trying to wake itself up from the pain the system is putting us under.
The end shot, arguably the most symbolic of the theme of control throughout, uses a wide angle lenses, and tracks Truman as he ascends the stairs. The colour pallet of light blue and white sets the tone for this emotional scene. The action of Truman walking up the stairs gives a sense that he is ascending to heaven, an unearthly world. The door envisions a dark expansion, which juxtaposes with the light open expanse of the world behind him. However this world is devoid of truth and real emotion. The Truman Show shows us what it's like to wake up from a world that is controlled by pain and struggle, it doesn't paint the idea of liberation from a system as a utopia, with sun clouds and blue skies, but instead a multi-flawed ideology that it is, a dark shadowed door, but hopefully with more authenticity than the fabrication we try to imagine.
This film inspires my music video through the use of the blue colour pallet, which I hope to use in my water scenes for my film, and also through the techniques of the water shots and the use of inventive lenses, fish eye and iris. I feel the different lens types makes it more unique rather than a normal lens, and also adds a sense of first person viewing, as if you are rally there. Moreover, the night shots of the moon are valid for my video, as I wish to take similar shots.
Shutter Island
Shutter Island is an incredibly clever film, filled with small details, nuances and irony that is often overlooked upon first watch. Martin Scorsese has many incredible films under his belt, including Taxi Driver, Goodfellas and The Departed. However Shutter Island in my opinion, is one of his more psychologically challenging films.. The storyline follows a US marshal named Teddy Daniels, who has been sent to the island to find a missing patient. However, the audience comes to realise that 95% of the narrative is in fact false, and Teddy is the missing patient, who created a false reality in order to escape from the truth that he killed his wife.
However, subtle symbolism and shots throughout connote that this story is in fact untrue. The use of fire throughout the film is important in understanding the truth behind Teddy (who's real name is Andrew Leidis). Supposedly, Teddy's wife died in a fire, caused by arson, by a man who is held at the island. However, this figure mirrors with Teddy's character through the use of ECU shots of lighting of matches. This scene contains the first use of the extreme close-up shot of a hand lighting a match. In this scene, that hand belongs to Scarred Laeddis. In the rest of the film, the only other time we see this same extreme close-up of a hand lighting a match in the same way is when we see Teddy lighting it. Thus, Teddy is this scarred man named Andrew Laeddis. Moreover, another shot that connotes this fabrication is when Teddy is interviewing a caretaker at the centre. In one shot, she mimes drinking a glass of water, but in the second shot, the glass of water is real and in the other hand. This clever use of subtle shots connotes Teddy's fabrication of the world around him, and how he is in fact insane, therefore alluding the rest of the film. These shots used by Scorsese are vital in the understanding on the film, and perhaps make this film more intriguing due to the need for a strong attention span throughout.
I took inspiration from Scorcese's film for my own video. The use of repeated motifs throughout are subtle, and I would also like to use this idea of repetition in my video. Moreover, the symbolism of fire is inherent in this film, and my video also uses the idea of symbolism with fire vs. water.
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I N S P I R A T I O N A L D I R E C T O R
Martin Scorsese
"Cinema is a matter of what's in the frame and what's out"
For my favourite director, I chose Martin Scorsese. He has never, over his 50 year long career, sacrificed his creative flair for popular demand, making him an archetype of auteur filmmaking. His films can be located between the avant-garde and commercially satisfying. For 20 years, he has made personal films that are bankrolled by Hollywood film industry, something that only a handful of directors have achieved. His films are often personal, taking inspiration from his life as an Italian-American in flushing New York City. Originally, Scorsese wanted to become a priest. He attended a Catholic grade school but left after one year. He then entered the Film School at New York University. Scorsese's "It's Not Just You Murray!" won the Producer's Guild Award for best student film in 1964. He also received awards for other short films that he made as an undergraduate.
Scorsese is known for using long tracking shots, masterful soundtrack choices and slow motion scenes. These can be seen in Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. Moreover, he is famously known for his masterful use of editing scene lengths, cutting them shorter than usual or lengthening them, creating an uncomfortable scene. For example, in Taxi Driver when De Niro puts the effervescent pill in a glass of water. The duration of this shot was originally cut short, however, Scorsese changed this to a full 20 second scene, where the camera zooms into the water. This shot skilfully creates a parallel to how Travis feels internally and his deteriorating surroundings. Adding on his use of soundtracks in his films make them cult classics. For example, think about Reservoir dogs "Little Green Bag" or "Lust for life" in Trainspotting. Scorsese often uses The Rolling Stones eg. "Gimme Shelter" in Goodfellas.
Scorsese takes risks with his films, he plays his cards well with risks and they seem to always pay off. For example his running times, with his latest film The Irishman having a run time of three hours and thirty minutes, he's never been a director who plays by the rule book. Perhaps the long run time could be seen as an act of auteur self-indulgence, or a way of reinterpreting the crime thriller. Many cinema chains have refused to show this film, but Scorsese is therefore using streaming services such as Netflix, normally seen as the killers of cinema, but perhaps now saving film. This makes him a trend setting director, having paved the path for post-modernism in films, which he continues to do so to this day. Who says an old dog can't be taught new tricks?
