Quentin Tarantino is one of the most prominent representatives of postmodernism in cinema. Tarantino's films are distinguished by a non-linear narrative structure, a rethinking of the cultural and historical process, the use of ready-made forms and aestheticization of violence. Today I would like to share thought about his directing style.
Questions:
1. Do you usually pay attention to the shooting techniques used in a movie?
2. Do you know any techniques that other directors use?
2. Who is your favorite movie director and why?
Comments
Do you usually pay attention to the shooting techniques used in a movie?
Yes, I try to do so. I currently aspire to be an amazing animator, not only for commercial shots or advertisements, but also for movie clips or shorts. Of course, its essential for me to develop my skills, educate myself in every possible way, but it’s also important to look how others, especially much those more successful, with longer experience in the field create their productions.
Usually, I look not only at shooting techniques but also at color consistency, acting, interesting scenes or frames, that can be my inspiration or even reference in the future productions. However, I don’t look for it in Quentin Tarantino productions, it’s not my style, and so I prefer to enjoy his movies without focusing on details.
Do you know any techniques that other directors use?
I’m not sure if it can be considered as “technique”, but recently I’ve read about Wes Anderson work style during his animated productions. As he works only with slow-motion puppet animation it is essential for him to be flawlessly prepared during the preproduction stage of his movie. His team usually creates highly detailed storyboards, that after numerous fixes and alterations are transformed into an animatic. While many companies and studios create animatics just to see if everything looks all right, if the timing is right or if the dialogues are not too boring, Wes creates a mini movie on this stage. His animatics are almost identical to the final productions, they may vary only on few details. Every dialogue, music, shot is checked, reworked, fixed and polished to make sure, that if created in slow motion, it will look exactly as it should.
Why is that unique you may ask? Thanks to this overly elongated preproduction process puppeteers know EXACTLY what to prepare. Every shot may have only as much of a background as in the animatic, there is no need for props creators to spend numerous hours on elements, that won’t be needed or shown. Thanks to that, though the storyboard/animatic part of the production is long, the preparation/animation part goes as quickly as possible and is not that expensive!
Who is your favorite movie director and why?
I think you’ve guessed it already – one of my favorite directors is Wes Anderson. I adore both his animations and his movies. There is just something magical and unique about his artistic perception of this world. Colors palettes used in his movies, the humor, directing... it all just hits me in the right spot 😊
2. Usually it all can be substituted to two types: practical effects and VFX. I like practical effects more when it comes to gore. One of my favorite gore work is with Ridley Scott(Alien, Bladerunner etc.). That man always goes with practical effects and awesome costumes.
2. Hrad to tell. I like Quentin Tarantino, Ridley Scott, Scorsese, Nolan.
2. I cannot name these techniques, but I know that in the film industry there are techniques that have been presented by specific directors or camera operators and they are recognizable thanks to them. As is often the case in art, the creators copy proven and interesting solutions to apply them at their own creations. On the other hand, in Hollywood such "theft" is often treated very seriously, as if the creator who created a given "shot" had the exclusive right to use it. Thats a little weird to me.
3. David Fincher, no doubt. His use of special effects serves to tell a story, not just to show how everything explodes in color. He creates films in such a way that, as I mentioned before, the viewer completely enters the represented world. None of the elements interfere with the perception of the stories that Fincher chooses to match his works perfectly.
If I don't think about it, more often I don't pay attention to that. Obviously sometimes I see that and also I know some shooting techniques which are used in movies.
2. Do you know any techniques that other directors use?
Sure, there are a lot of possibilities to get some expected results. Right now I have in my mind two of them. Firstly I want to mention about Harry Potter. Probably everyone knows this series. Do you remember Rubeus Hagrid ? In the movie you could see a really huge man. He is quite tall but not as it was presented. This shooting technique relies on recording from lower level e.g. close to ground or feet. It is also used by photographers to show long legs of models. Second technique is more like curiosity. The series House of Cards was made by a stable camera. Emotions in this movie are passed to the viewer by wisely created dialogs and music in the background.
3. Who is your favorite movie director and why?
To be honest I don't have a favourite director. I watch everything which can be interesting for me. I think it doesn't matter who made the movie if it is done well.
I don’t or I don’t know that I am. 😅 I am paying attention to style, colors or how the individual frames are composed. To be honest I’m not animation or movie master and I don’t have any knowledge about creation of films itself or how are they made. I definitely love cinema, regular movies and animated ones but I think that I am looking most for the told story or plot. Sometimes I enjoy them just for the sceneries or colors used, design in one word. Of course, as a girl, sometimes I love particular movie just for the actor playing the main role, or any role if it’s THAT actor. ;)
2. Do you know any techniques that other directors use?
The only one that comes to my mind is Wes Anderson’s technique. He is the director known the most for “Grand Budapest Hotel” movie and for his personal style. He is very carefully choosing colors, sceneries, actors. His works are for me true art pieces, they are very pleasant, beautiful and interesting. Recently I’ve heard about his creating process. Artboards created for his productions are very detailed pieces, they are almost identical to the final result of the scene. His crew is using slow puppet tool animation to create as much detailed and accurate work as possible. Usually movie creators are making animations just to see if everything looks fine, natural etc. In this case those animated shorts are almost identical to recorded, final frames. I also know something about Hitchcock’s techniques, but I’m not sure if I could call them techniques or rather work environment. Hitchcock recording his films was very into realness, so he used very little effects or post production corrections. In his film “The Birds” all of the scenes when the main character was attacked by titled birds were recorded live, so the actress was actually attacked by real birds. The scenes were recorded repeatedly, because Hitchcock was very demanding.
2. Who is your favorite movie director and why?
Actually Quentin Tarantino! I fell in love with his works when I was little. I know they are not appropriate productions for a child, but what my mothers eyes didn’t saw it’s mine. ;) My love started with Pulp Fiction. I wanted to be Mia Walles, having cocktails in fancy, cool restaurants with handsome gangster like Vincent Vega, played by my young years crush John Travolta. I like that many things in the Tarantino movies were simultaneously, so the plots were very engaging and you needed to focus to actually know what is going on. So the style, the dialogues, actors and sceneries. That what made me love Tarantino. I must say, that handsome actors played big role in my opinion. Later there was “The Glorious Bastards”, Brad Pitt and Michael Fassbender. I hate war themed films, but I do love war times fashion and visual sceneries (by that I mean indoors design, not some war fields cruel scenes). So the whole theme was making it for me, beautiful and clever Shoshanna, funny and interesting dialogues, carefully prepared plots and unexpected endings. There were many other movies that I fell for, but I don’t think there is a place and a time for book alike story. ;)!
Honestly yes, I have started to pay attention to it recently. Beautiful shots are usually in the movies of Denis Villeneuve. Of course, I like movies in muted colors - no flares, frenzy, etc. I don't like movies with unrealistic special effects or CGI scenes. I don't like movies shot on a computer.
2. Do you know any techniques that other directors use?
I know that Tarantino does special group interviews with actors, writing down his thoughts so that the dialogues in the film are as natural as possible. In addition, while watching the Cezary Pazur channel, I learned that in order to show rain in the film, you have to artificially pour water on the film set - preferably with fire trucks. Probably all of us know about the "Magic Hour" - the time when it is best to take pictures, because then you can bring out the depth of colors. There are definitely many more techniques, but I don't really know much about them.
3. Who is your favorite movie director and why?
I have two favorite directors - Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino. Whenever I see that the films of these directors are shown on television, I try to watch them. It seems to me that they are universal, shot with attention to the smallest details, the actors are perfectly matched to their roles, and the plot makes you think. Moreover, these films are made with taste. The viewer may feel like one of the heroes of the movie. I don't really like Michael Bay's movies, they all look the same, all of them have the same movie-making style.
Just found out a fun fact, Fight club in polish is called underground circle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlNviMsi0K0&ab_channel=ParkerWalbeck
I don't know about shooting techniques but I know that some movie directories have a unique style as for example Tarantino. He always presents his movie on different way it is always movie divided into chapters I think this is very interesting. Or another example is Guy Ritchie movies usually movie with lots of action with strong hero and etc(usually very classical)
2. Do you know any techniques that other directors use?
No I have never paid attention to shooting techniques and never thought/inerested about that
2. Who is your favorite movie director and why?
I don't have any favorite directories but I have favorite movies. and even if I like movie I don't know about the cast and who worked on that movies. So I don't know a lot about that, but I know some famous directories like Tarantino, Ritchie, Spielberg etc
2. Yes, to describe some book-like ways of other directors is not very. But from my own experience in other movies, I know a few cool shooting methods. First of all, the most effective procedure in films for me is breaking the third wall. Deadpool or the house of cards was a lot there, and it always made a good impression on me.
3. Quentin tarantino is my favorite director. He is very original and his films are simply works of art. Each of his films is a classic.
1. Do you usually pay attention to the shooting techniques used in a movie?
Absolutely! After lectures on the history of cinema which I had here at PJATK, I started focusing on every part of film making. The aim of visiual storytelling is sending a subconscious message to the viewer. Every inch of the film frame is meticulously planned and designed. I believe that shooting technique is what gives the movie character.
2. Do you know any techniques that other directors use?
Well, most of the techniques that exist were mentioned in the video but the most I like the symmetry in film making. My favourite example will be Kubrik and Anderson.
2. Who is your favourite movie director and why?
I’ve got a few of them! First of them will be Tim Burton. I enjoy his dark visions, shots and everything about his movies! Another one will be Wes Anderson. I love his way of shooting scenes and the vibe of his animations. Another one is Guillermo del Toro. I love the way he makes this dark chilly movies.
Yes, I pay attention to shooting techniques. I very like seeing some technique in a movie and recocnizing it.
2. Do you know any techniques that other directors use?
Yes, I know some of them. E.g. Guy Ritchie uses slow-motion shots in almost every movie, also he's known for very quick cuts in order to fasten up speed of the movie. There is also a technique called mastershot in which director shoots long scenes in one shot without any cuts.
2. Who is your favorite movie director and why?
Well, I have a few favourite directors. One of them is Wojciech Smarzowski. I like his movies because of their naturalism, he always shows the real side of life without coloring it up. He often talks about truth in his movies, which I also very like. At the end I also like his editing style: very fast cuts, rough sometimes.
I have heard of a technique for recording scenes with the actor's reflection in a mirror. I don't remember the details, but I know that with the use of an extra mirror, the camera can "hide" and you don't see the mirror image on the recording
My favorite director is Tim Burton. I have always enjoyed the style and colors in his films. They draw the viewer in with their mysterious nature.
I studied Set Design for 3 years, so I was very close to the movie industry as one of its creators. During these studies I learned a lot about the importance of many aspects of a film production process, including shooting techniques. Now I pay attention to many factors that may be not so important for an ordinary movie-goer. I personally think that it also depends on how many movies you watch. The more you’ve seen the easier it is to catch all the nuances, subtleties and refinements in techniques used to make a movie.
2. Do you know any techniques that other directors use?
I think that every prominent director have their specific technique of shooting, which makes their work unique. Guy Richies’ movie has a very original way of shooting. The scenes are changing incredibly fast and I don’t really know any other director who would use this kind of dynamics.
3. Who is your favorite movie director and why?
It is one of the hardest questions. I can’t say that I have only one favourite movie director. There are so many movies that I like and it is impossible for me to compare them. I have a weakness for old cinematography, especially Italian and Czechoslovakian movies. They have some magical, unrealistic atmosphere, which I think is not very popular in modern cinema.
I don't really pay attention to the techniques used in the film. I must like the movie. however, I don't like old films because I pay a lot of attention to new graphics. it's the same with the games I want to play.
2. Do you know any techniques that other directors use?
No I don’t. But I really want to know. It’s really cool that any director have one.
2. Who is your favorite movie director and why?
my favorite director is roman polanski. Despite the great publicity about it. His films are more well-chosen graphically and everyone who has a taste for film should not complain about his works
As I mentioned before I’m not good at these things, so I don’t know even how called other technics, I just enjoying films which I like or disappointed sometimes about new films which everybody blame.
I don’t have a favorite, but Quentin works I like very much.
Not necessarily, but I usually notice when a movie uses a unique technique.
2. Do you know any techniques that other directors use?
Nothing comes to my mind at the time, I think I will pay more attention next time I watch a movie and try to notice some interesting techniques.
2. Who is your favorite movie director and why?
Definitely Edgar Wright is my favourite director, mostly because he directed one of my favourite movies: "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World". I adore the movie's visual style, it's quite unique.
While watching a movie for the first time I don't pay attention to it usually. Sometimes it catches my eye how a scene was made and what camera angle was used, but only if it is "part" of the scene and makes it unique some way. Many scenes in Tarantino movies are made in such unusual way and camera angles are also telling a stroy to viewer. After watching some movie I sometimes watch youtube videos explaining how the particular scene was made. That can help in understand the movie and appreciate it.
2. Do you know any techniques that other directors use?
No I am not an exper but that seems like an interesting field.
2. Who is your favorite movie director and why?
I don't have a favourite director but I can say that I really like Tarantino. His movies are really amazing and it is unable to define them but just a single genre. I also like movies of Polanski. Also Sorrentino has amazing moviews in which you can see really exeptional camera work. There is also Cristopher Nolan. His moviews contain many plot twists that are always fun to discover and think about later on.