10 directors with a recognizable style
When we think about our favorite director, we inevitably remember his directorial style. What does it consist of? What is "catchy" about it?
Directors who have left a significant mark on film art resort to a lot of tricks to make their pictures recognizable, and just to convey their vision in the best possible way-from the choice of certain color schemes and lighting to characteristic camerawork techniques, music, expression techniques, and so on.
It is thanks to all this that it is possible to clearly trace and recognize the "handwriting of the master" in the cinema, because it is not limited to purely visual techniques.
It is possible to analyze the director's style of David Lynch with all his riddles for a long time, if not endlessly. However, if the Lynch mysteries require a universal explanation, it is primarily postmodernism and deconstruction. As a true postmodern director, Lynch takes genre cliches, well-known plots and styles, and makes something out of them that is the opposite of established opinions and expectations.
David Lynch and Naomi Watts on the set of Mulholland Drive»
Somewhere, Lynch just plays with the seemingly familiar content, pouring it into a completely new form. So, "Blue Velvet" is a "variation on the theme" of detective intrigue, "Twin Peaks" was born from the legacy of soap operas, "Highway to Nowhere" - from noir traditions, whose contrasting style is generally close to Lynch.
Somewhere he parodies more, as in "Wild at Heart" — here it is difficult to say whether Lynch in his own way paid tribute to the style of Hollywood road movies, or rather "walked" on it. As an avant-garde artist, Lynch, with his surrealism, appeals more to the viewer's emotions, or even to the subconscious: Lynch's paintings confuse the viewer, and sometimes greatly confuse, but they do not need to be perceived rationally.
According to Lynch, in the cinema, the idea prevails over the form, and he always willingly admitted that he consciously and deliberately tries "the craziest combinations" so that everyone can take something out of his paintings.
Tarantino's famous dialogues are, of course, not the only thing that makes his style stand out: technically and stylistically, his films are always worked out no less than from the point of view of the script. Today, Quentin Tarantino is called one of the best masters of modern cinema, because in terms of technology, he really has few equals.
Quentin Tarantino and Bruce Willis on the set of "Pulp Fiction»
Although in many ways, Tarantino is literally one of a kind — take at least the same inimitable dialogues. He is also a director who has combined the influence of Hong Kong cinema, Japanese cinema, "B movies" and, of course, references and homages, which in his films can be looked for endlessly, getting a unique result and an army of loyal viewers.
Tarantino often uses dynamic shooting with movement, and in his paintings an important role is always given to music (sometimes to the extent that some fragments of the film resemble a clip). No one else really knows how to present scenes of bloodshed like Tarantino with his exaggeration, mandatory "tons of red paint" and masterful choreography of fights.
The" cherry on the cake "for Tarantino is his favorite and constantly occurring technique of "shooting from the trunk" with a camera aimed at the characters from the bottom up.
For 53 years of his directorial career, Martin Scorsese created, taking into account the first short experiments, 66 pictures. One of the most prolific and celebrated American filmmakers in history has spanned many genres (although he is particularly famous for his gangster films), and his signature techniques can be traced back to his very first works.
Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio on the set of The Island of the Damned»
Emotional and expressive Scorsese likes to use motion photography — as if unfolding a large — scale picture in front of the viewer — or slow-motion photography-mainly for the sake of psychological effect.
Another characteristic feature in the Scorsese films is a very large and perfectly coordinated crowd, in which each person has his own small, but no less important role.
The music that Scorsese uses in his films also often becomes iconic. For example, the song "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones, which was played in "Nice Guys", "Casino" and "Renegades" became something of an "unofficial mafia anthem" in the movies.
If the director is Wes Anderson, the creator of" The Kingdom of the Full Moon "and "The Grand Budapest Hotel", then you can guess this from the first seconds of the trailer. There's always something whimsical and slightly fantastic about Anderson's films, and no one else works out the "picture" in every scene as thoroughly as Anderson can.
Wes Anderson on the set of the animated film "Island of Dogs»
He always adheres to a carefully thought-out color scheme, which is selected very painstakingly, and as a result gives each frame a shade of both artistry and a kind of fabulousness. Everything is thought out here-from the clothes of the characters to the entire entourage, in the most detailed details.
Wes Anderson's typical shooting style is a still camera and a planar symmetrical composition (the main objects are almost always in the center of the frame). In simple terms, it feels as if we are looking at a picture, not a film. For the same reason, directors usually avoid such techniques — they deprive the cinema of "three-dimensionality".
For Anderson, on the contrary, this is a favorite "trick", as well as the emphasized use of typography (the inscriptions and their fonts are so striking) and the general vintage spirit that prevails in his films.
Although Zack Snyder's work has earned him both fans and critics, he still remains one of the most influential visionary directors of our time. And Snyder's approach to the action genre almost divided his story into "before" and "after".
Zack Snyder, Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot on the set of Justice League»
Anyone who has watched "300 Spartans "or" The Guardians " knows that Snyder loves slow motion, and also the speed ramping technique — that is, the transitions from slow motion to normal and then to accelerated. This is Snyder's signature technique, which was originally a hallmark of his films, although now it can be seen in almost every first action movie.
In addition, having "eaten a dog" on film adaptations and comic book adaptations (from "300 Spartans" and "The Guardians" to "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" and "Justice League"), Snyder developed his own approach to shooting "action" scenes.
Unlike most Hollywood colleagues, Snyder prefers to shoot such scenes from some distance, rather than placing the camera in the thick of the action, thus emphasizing the choreography and saving the viewer from the frequent question "What was that just now?".
Snyder often "flies" from critics for "soulless technicality" and the predominance of form over content, but, on the other hand, first — why not, because the picture is excellent, and secondly-who else can do it?
In Christopher Nolan's films, everything is "not what it seems", the characters constantly face (and usually cope) with impossible situations, and the director bends reality at his discretion. Fiction in the Nolan way is a bit of "magical realism".
Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page on the set of " The Beginning»
Imagine a world that is almost exactly like ours, but only in it you can control dreams ("The Beginning"). Or in which Nikola Tesla manages to create a semi-magical device, with the most striking consequences ("Prestige"). Or a warning world in which life on Earth is threatened with disaster, and nothing else remains but to start looking for a new home for humanity somewhere in the depths of space ("Interstellar").
Nolan in his own way revived the neo-noir, and did it by doing superhero film adaptations and shooting the Dark Knight trilogy (2005-2012) — a good example of the fact that the secret of Nolan, probably, including the ability to squeeze the maximum scale and scope of even the most complex plot. (Although in this regard, "The Dark Knight" with its straightforwardness for Nolan can be called an exception.)
Most of the time, Nolan is immersed in his "mind games", which everyone has come to expect from him. Especially since in his case, the more complicated everything is, the more interesting it is.
David Fincher started out as a music video maker, and today he is one of the most prominent figures of modern neo-noir. Muted colors, shadows, always laconic stylistics-clearly and symmetrically arranged shots, nothing superfluous — and, of course, the company's game on the audience's nerves-the true signs of"Fincher".
David Fincher, Brad Pitt and Edward Norton on the set of Fight Club»
If anyone knows how to make "dark and beautiful", it's David Fincher. And even when it goes into less gloomy and more romantic territory, as in "The Mysterious Story of Benjamin Button". Fincher at the beginning of his career was noted in the franchise "Alien" ("Alien 3"), struck everyone with the thriller "Seven", after which he continued with the pictures "The Game" and the film adaptation of the novel by Chuck Palahniuk "Fight Club", which in itself became a classic.
Book thrillers are actually something that Fincher, as a director, clearly can't get past. He owns the film adaptations " The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo "(2011) and" Disappeared " — both of them are in no way inferior to their original sources.
In terms of technique and attention to the shooting process, Fincher is sometimes compared to Stanley Kubrick himself. Like Kubrick, Fincher likes to bring his creations to "unthinkable perfection", sometimes working on one project for more than one year.
Tim Burton is a director who can not be confused with anyone, even regardless of the degree of acquaintance with his work. The style of Burton, almost the most important "inventor" of Hollywood, has long been associated with something very specific-very bizarre, dark, but colorful in its own way, strange, but elegant, and usually not devoid of humor — usually black.
Tim Burton and Johnny Depp on the set of Edward Scissorhands»
For most viewers, the oddity of Burton's characters ("Sleepy Hollow, "" Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, "" Sweeney Todd, the demon Barber of Fleet Street") looks purely authorial, and it's true. Burton spent years practicing his style, and began as an animation artist. Film connoisseurs can still note the influence of such directors as Fritz Lang or Robert Vinet — in short, all the characteristic features of cinema expressionism.
And Burton used this handwriting not only in pointedly eccentric paintings like "Edward Scissorhands", but also in his adaptations of famous comics, such as"Batman Returns".
Known for his love of seclusion, director Terrence Malick disappeared for 20 years, releasing the drama" Days of the Harvest", which became a cult, after which he triumphantly returned with "The Thin Red Line" - a military drama about the events of World War II, which received no less recognition.
Terrence Malick and Christian Bale on the set of The Knight of Cups»
Malik's work is either surprisingly long breaks (between " The Thin Red Line "and his next film" The New World " it took another seven years), or periods of unusually fast and intense work, when his paintings come out one after another: for example, from 2011 to 2019, Malik released almost one film a year.
Malik often takes pictures either an hour before sunset or an hour before sunrise, trying to catch special lighting. This is evident in Malik's films: natural lighting, smooth shooting with the help of steadicam, muted colors and often a general sense of" stream of consciousness " thanks to the voice-over (and sometimes there are several narrators).
A characteristic theme that occupies Malik throughout his filmography is the interaction (or confrontation) of man with nature.
Director's style of the main Hollywood fuse Michael Bay ("Transformers", "The Rock", "Bad Guys", " Armageddon»...) can be aptly characterized by the word "bayhem" — in Russian, "beyzdets".
Michael Bay on the set of Transformers: Age of Extermination»
Bay's loud, large-scale, exemplary "blockbuster" films, in which everything thunders, explodes and collapses, are akin to a crazy attraction, from which you either get such pleasure that it takes your breath away, or a dull headache.
Bay loves grandiose spectacles and knows a lot about them. The camera slides and hovers, rushes and falls with the heroes. He then shows the action so quickly that you are afraid to blink once again, as if not to miss something, then suddenly it slows down epically — but even at these moments, you can't" exhale", because you instinctively feel: now there will be a "beyzdets".
Critics of Bay do not like, and frankly-bad taste and vulgarity, they say. However, critics have their own films (which are sometimes made specifically for them), and Bay has his own fans, who like his directorial approach.
Keywords: Hollywood | Recognition | Directors | Style