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DIRECTORS
KATHRYN
BIGELOW
Kathryn Bigelow is an American film director, writer and producer born in San Carlos, California in 1951. After directing The Hurt Locker, Bigelow became the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director, Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing and the BAFTA Award for Best Direction.
Bigelow's popularity began to rise after she directed Blue Steel, Point Break and Strange days. The three films explored ideas of gender and racial politics, whilst maintaining the conventions of action films. Point Break became Bigelows most profitable film, receiving $80 Million at the box office at the year of its release. Point Break starred Keanu Reeves as an FBI agent tasked with taking down the 'Ex-Presidents', a group of bank robbers that wear masks of ex US presidents. To this day, the film remains as one of her least well-received films both critically and commercially.
Bigelow is well known for the violence in her films, with many of her films containing scenes of violence and including themes of violence. The Hurt Locker, which tells the story of a Bomb-squad in the Iraq war gave her a comeback, with critics praising her use of using jump-cuts, handheld camera movement and an unorganized narrative structure.
The thing I found interesting about Kathryn Bigelow's directing in this clip from The Hurt Locker is that it was shot almost as if it was a documentary. The handheld camera movements, reaction shots and absence of music in the scene convey to the audience the anxiety the soldiers are feeling in the scene and make the film tonally dark.
THE HURT
LOCKER
En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Kathryn Bigelow. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathryn_Bigelow.
IMDb. (n.d.). Kathryn Bigelow - IMDb. [online] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000941/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1.
The Hurt Locker (2008) Film.
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow. USA, Voltage Pictures.
J.J.
ABRAMS
J.J. Abrams is an American film Director, Writer, Producer, Actor and Composer, born in New York City in 1966. He is best known for his films in the drama, action and science fiction genre. Some of his most popular films are Mission: Impossible III, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars Episode IX and Star Trek and the sequel Star Trek: Into Darkness. Altogether, his films have grossed around $3 Billion, making him one of the most profitable directors of all time.
Abrams started in the film industry when he was 15 years old. He wrote music for 'Nightbeast', a 'B' movie directed by horror director Don Dohler. During his time at college, he wrote a a script which was the basis for Arthur Hiller's film 'Taking care of Business', released in 1990.
The thing I found interesting about J.J. Abrams directing in The Force Awakens is that during action scenes, the focus is always on the characters. This makes it easier for the audience to see everything that is happening in the scene and identify the characters that are in the scene.
The thing I found interesting about J.J. Abrams is that each of his films have a similar visual style, but he adapts this for each of his films. This gives each of his films their own unique style, whilst still maintaining his signature directing aspects.
STAR WARS:
THE FORCE AWAKENS
J.J. Abrams frequently uses techniques such as Dolly Shots, Shaky and Handheld camera shots, Snap shots and Lens Flares in his films.
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3
Mission Impossible 3 was J.J. Abrams' first feature film.
En.wikipedia.org. (2019). J. J. Abrams. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._J._Abrams.
IMDb. (n.d.). J.J. Abrams - IMDb. [online] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0009190/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1 [Accessed 23 May 2019].
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) Film.
Directed by J.J Abrams. USA, Lucasfilm.
Mission Impossible 3 (2006) Film.
Directed by J.J Abrams. USA, Cruise/ Wagner Productions.
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