Directing Research

During my research as to how John Glen directs his other films, I also watched several other directors and looked at how they directed their own films.

The first director I looked at was Sam Mendes. This director has worked on many successful films but mostly hit mainstream audiences with his direction of two James Bond films, 'Skyfall' and 'Spectre'. I mostly watched these two films to compare how one Bond director directs his film to another Bond director. During my viewing, I noticed that Mendes likes to just keep the camera rolling, letting audiences see the entirety of a scene rather than using quick cuts. We clearly see the action on screen which is not shown from several different angles. On particular scene in Skyfall uses lighting to cast two characters completely I shadow during a fight scene. Despite not being able to see the character's faces, we still get a sense of urgency in the struggle. The fight is y rough and is conveyed through one single, slowly zooming, shot until the end of the fight. I would love to utilise this type of directing in which I would show audiences an action in its entirety with one shot, rather than cutting to a different angle or a reaction shot/ close-ups on certain characters.

Another rather impressive continuous shot that Mendes used was the very first shot of Spectre. The continuous shot starts from a high angle, then starts to follow behind the characters into a building, up a lift, into one of the rooms and eventually onto the roof of that building. The entire shot follows the character's journey from point A to point B.

Mendes also chooses a very unique colour palette. A lot of the locations are either emphasised with the colour blue and the colour of gold. The colours are all very vibrant and glamourous, keeping in tone with the type of character that is being portrayed.


Another director which I looked at who I thought was very creative with his directing style was Sam Raimi, most notably for me in 'Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn'. Raimi also uses a lot of continuous shots like Mendes but ultimately uses them to depict a kinetic object in the film. There is a specific scene in Evil Dead 2 where the protagonist is being chased by an invisible presence (depicted by the camera as its POV). It chases him through a wooden cabin, crashing through doors and eve at one point through the rear and front windows of a car. I find these types of shots to be very creative and seem very difficult to pull off.

Other shots include a series of tilted shots that change the perspective of certain objects, as though they were being travelled through by the unknown force. Raimi appears to break the rules of filmmaking and ultimately like the audience to become aware of the filmmaking at hand while still keeping viewers invested in the action on screen.

I would like to use creative shots like these, however, I would not like to make it plainly obvious that there is a filmmaker behind the camera letting the viewer know they are there. I wold like the audience to be invested rather than distracted from the film.

Both directors also choose a certain style, which I would like to create for my film. if I was to create my own style than he film I would make would be special to me and viewers would recognise that the film is mine.