Director Presentation

DIRECTOR PRESENTATION

Chosen Director:

JOHN GLEN

John Glen was born 15th May 1932 and is a British film director and Editor. His works span from the years 1945 to 2001 in which he has contributed to several notable television works shows and especially popular films, most notably from the 70 s and 80 s. These range from the editing of television commercials for shoes and car is American and Canada as well as editing Television shows such as 'Man of The World' and 'Danger Man' in the 1960 s.

Glen's notable film contributions include being sound editor on 'The Third Man' (1949), 'The Green Man' (1956), 'Three Men in a Boat' (1956) and 'The Italian Job' (1969) as well as Second Unit Director on 'Superman' (1978). However, Glen is most notable for being the director of five James Bond films, from towards the end of the Roger Moore era to all the way through the Timothy Dalton era. Most of these films were successful. However, John Glen's directing contributions outside of the 007 series have been unfortunately critically panned, especially the squeal to an already failing series 'Aces: Iron Eagle 3' (1992) which receives a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Main Directing Credits:

-'For Your Eyes Only' (1981)

-'Octopussy' (1983)

-'A View To A Kill' (1985)

-'The Living Daylights' (1987)

-'Licence to Kill' (1989)

-'Aces: Iron Eagle 3' (1992)

-'Christopher Columbus: The Discovery' (1992)

-'The Point Men' (2001)

Trademark Style:

John Glen doesn't necessarily have a trademark style but instead has certain motifs which appear in the majority of his directed films. One example is the uses of animals in his films. Glen is known for ( and sometimes criticized ) for his uses of animals for comedic effect. For example, during certain scenes in his films, he would cut away from the action to show animals reacting to what is happening around them. The most infamous of which was not actually from one of his directed films but as an editor in 'Moonraker' (1979) in which he creates what has become known as the 'double-take pigeon'. 

He also uses comedic reactions from bystanders to create comic relief within an otherwise serious scene.

Glen also uses animals to create small jump-scares. These are created in the form of a bird or other animal suddenly jumping out near the lead character as adding more tension to an already perilous situation. Another motif used is a reused sound bite whenever someone falls from a great height. Where other directors might use the famous 'Wilhelm Scream', Glen repeatedly uses a scream that strangely resembles the sound of an elephant. 

John Glen also is known to recast his actors in other film roles, reusing actors such as Benicio del Toro, Robert Davi and Maryam d'Abo. 

Chosen Scenes:

The scenes which I have chosen to film are all from the film 'The Living Daylights' (1987) with all three scenes running in sequence in the film itself.

The scene involves James Bond following a woman named Kara who is suspected of helping her boyfriend defect from Russia. He follows her onto the tram and she is eventually taken away by the police for questioning. However, she leaves her cello case behind which Bond takes and discovers that there is a sniper rifle inside. He finds her adress in the case and meets Kara at her home, confronting her about her boyfreind and offering to take her away from that area and escape the police. The end involves both Bond and Kara making their getaway.

1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHTyWbZPMgE

2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDR79syQBlo

I chose to re-film these scenes, partly due to my own knowledge of the film itself and because these scenes are primarily shot through action with very little dialogue. This would give me a great opportunity to be experiment with shots to retell the story. Also, these three scenes contain a small story within themselves which is resolved by the ending of the third scenes. Allowing me to tell a complete story that will be cohesive in the six to seven minute time-frame. 

These scenes also do not contain any of the stunts that the series is known for and I would not want to try replicating anything like that at this time. The dialogue that is here is interesting, although I will tweak certain lines so that it wold fit the shorter narrative.