Recommend a movie?

HBlack

HBlack

Underage Member
I'm making a zombie movie, and I need some inspiration. Looking for something dark and gritty, maybe a crime movie. I like the style of the outdoor scenes in the 2004 dawn of the dead, but the visual style of the rest of it doesn't suit what I'm going for.
Preferably something relatively low budget, with simple or even handheld camera work. I was thinking of Taxi Driver, as I've never seen it.
 
Just watched taxi driver. Although I really enjoyed it, it struck me that some of the camerawork was sub-par. The vast majority of it was excellent, but there was some shaky pans and awkward camera movements scattered throughout that bothered me. Any insight on these?

Few questions about the lighting. Any idea how they lit the night time car scenes? It seemed quite natural. Also, I noticed what's outside the windows is never blown out. Is this due to the latitude of film, bright lighting on the inside and stopping down, or a combination of both?
 
Maybe Se7en, Road To Perdition, Batman and Batman Returns, DarkMan, Blade Runner, Alien/Aliens... These are cross genre movies (ok, not Se7en) with great, "noirish" cinematography. Well worth a look.
 
HBlack said:
I'm making a zombie movie, and I need some inspiration. Looking for something dark and gritty, maybe a crime movie. I like the style of the outdoor scenes in the 2004 dawn of the dead, but the visual style of the rest of it doesn't suit what I'm going for.
Preferably something relatively low budget, with simple or even handheld camera work. I was thinking of Taxi Driver, as I've never seen it.
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Study the films John Carpenter did with Dean Cundey (Halloween, The Fog, Escape From New York, The Thing). They were mostly shot low budget and have a dark visual atmosphere, especially Escape From New York and The Thing. Halloween is kind of crude, but was shot for nothing.
 
dark gritty crime low budget?
Detour (shot in 6 days and BEAUTIFUL).

or any of the noirs from the B-side of 40s/50s hollywood

or there are lots of great french new wave films that meet the criteria:
Bob Le Flambeur
Breathless
Shoot The Piano Player
 
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Man Bites Dog (B&W French gritfulness)

Kontrol (subterranean Hungarian gritfulness)

The Good Thief (high-gloss noir remake of Bob Le Flambeur)
 
Yes. More inspired by it than directly based, but the two show more than a few similarities. In fact, it was originally credited on the film's IMDB page. Due to PT's recent surge of popularity, I guess it must have been removed.
 
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