He has 11 feature films including Batman Begins, Interstellar, Inception, Memento and Dunkirk. He also got Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay(Memento, written by his brother Jonathan Nolan) and Best Picture and Director(Dunkirk). His distinctive film style includes Non-linear storytelling, ambiguous heroes/anti-heroes, character perspective, strong light/darkness to show character development and easter eggs/hidden connections. Nolan likes to position the camera at the main characters eyeline and uses the character movement to reveal a location. He also has a preference for IMAX format. "Breaking rules isn't interesting" In his own words.
Alfred Hitchcock
Hitchcocks career has lasted 54yrs filled with crowd pleasing, complex films that satisfy academics. His film style includes emotionally dysfunctional worlds, voyeurism, sexual guilt, innocent men accused, icy blondes, overpowering mothers and psycho killers. He used intentionally dodgy backdrop projections and usually ended with a chase scene over a famous landmark. He has won The Irving Thalberg Award from the Oscars in 1968. "I am a typed director. If I made Cinderella, the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach".
Some Hitchcock essentials: Shadow of a Doubt(1943) Strangers on a Train(1951) Vertigo(1958) Psycho(1960) and The Birds(1963).
After watching the analysed shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), address the following questions…
What was the director’s intention of the shower scene? to show Marions decision of returning the money and regaining her innocence, only to have her plan derailed by untimely murder. Norman peeping at her though a hole adds to the growing evidence that there is something wrong with him and helps cast doubt on his innocence in everything.
What is the importance of the scene to the story? Marions death provides a way for the audience to switch allegiance from her, to Norman as the main character with him gaining our sympathies at least initially.
What techniques were used to convey intended meaning? The constant running water goes from cleansing Marions sins, to erasing her memory down the drain. The final camera shot in this scene spirals away from her eye, mimicking the water, as a way to show her life being washed down the drain.
No comments:
Post a Comment