Great Britain Filmmakers:
Ken Russell:
Began as BBC TV director of docs about famous artists; attn through series of flamboyant fictionalized BBC-TV bios of composers, dancers, and poets. Intl fame
with
- Oscar winner Women in Love (1969) from D.H. Lawrence novel
WATCH: clip- The Music Lovers (1970) “a love story between a homosexual and a nymphomaniac”
WATCH: clip–Tommy (1975)
He attracted criticism for being obsessed with sexuality and the church accused of being “sensationalistic/self-indulgent, then vulgar, pretentious, appalling, hysterical, and shrill. Film critic Mark Kermode, speaking in 2006, called Russell, “somebody who proved that British cinema didn’t have to be about kitchen-sink realism—it could be every bit as flamboyant as Fellini. Later in his life he turned to making low-budget experimental films such as Lion’s Mouth and Revenge of the Elephant Man, and they are as edgy and ‘out there’ as ever”.
- pop film MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (1975)
WATCH: ‘Nasty Taunting’
WATCH: Killer Bunny
Ridley Scott
Former set designer and TV commercial director who came to prominence with Alien (1979) and neo-noir dystopian Blade Runner (1982), crime drama (Best Director Nominee Thelma & Louise (1991), historical drama and Best Picture Oscar winner Gladiator (2000), war film (Best Dir nom) Black Hawk Down(2001), crime thriller Hannibal (2001), biographical film American Gangster (2007), and science fiction films Prometheus (2012) and The Martian (2015).
- known for his atmospheric, highly concentrated visual style due to emphasis on prod design/lighting.
WATCH: Blade Runner (“Tears in the Rain”)
WATCH: Blade Runner (‘she’s a replicant’)
Although Scott is often known for his painterly directorial style, other techniques and elements include:
extreme levels of lighting in his films. Blade Runner is, for the most part, dark and dingy, whereas Thelma & Louise, for the most part, is bright, sunny and happy.
uses slow pacing until the action sequences.
use of sound or music to build tension, as heard in Alien, with hissing steam, beeping computers and the noise of the machinery in the spaceship.
Scott has developed a method for filming intricate shots as swiftly as possible: “I like working, always, with a minimum of three cameras. […] So those 50 set-ups [a day] might only be 25 set-ups — whilst it may take 45 minutes to set up – then when you’re ready you say ‘Action!’, and you do three takes, two takes and is everybody happy? You say, ‘Yeah, that’s it.’ So you move on.”
Artificial intelligence is a unifying theme throughout Scott’s career as a director, particularly in Blade Runner, Alien, and Prometheus. — measures and tests of intelligence must also assess actions and moral behavior in androids to effectively address the themes which Scott explores in these films.
Strong female characters.
Some of his films feature strong conflicts between father and son that usually end with the latter killing the former (Blade Runner, Gladiator) There is a similar sequence in Blade Runner. In Prometheus, the character David says, “Doesn’t everyone want their parents dead?”
WATCH: Gladiator
Scott uses cityscapes as an emphasis to his storytelling (e.g., a futuristic Los Angeles in Blade Runner, Osaka in Black Rain, Jerusalem in Kingdom of Heaven).
Storyboarding his films extensively. These illustrations, when made by himself, have been referred to as “Ridleygrams” in DVD releases.
Extensive use of smoke and other atmospheres (in Alien, Blade Runner and Black Rain), plus fans and fan-like objects (Blade Runner, Black Rain and the large Boeing jet engines in the “1984” TV advertisement). Fans are also used in Hannibal, for symbolic purposes.
In his recent films, he often shoots at fast shutter speeds for a “staccato” look during action scenes (Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven, Robin Hood).
Nicolas Roeg
cinematographer turned director with Walkabout (1971), Don’t Look Now (1973). Often experimental in form, Roeg’s beautiful and enigmatic films go far beyond narrative to immerse the viewer in a fluent stream of audiovisual images whose most legit meaning is its psychological affect.
WATCH: opening Don’t Look Now