Choosing a style.

What is directing style?
Without digging to deep, I can say, that...
... Terrence Malick style is a lot of nature shots with voice over.
... Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam and Kubrick likes wide angle close ups.
... David Lynch likes weird looking characters doing weird things.
... Quentin Tarantino does to much off-topic talks and main character gives everyone a lesson.
... Woody Allen even more off-topic talks and main character gives himself a lesson.
... Tarkovski is slooow in pacing and choses themes bigger then character life.
... Charlie Chaplin with a mustache and hat.
... Michael Bay moves camera in every shot.
... Spielberg too mainstream, I can't recognize his films without his name in titles.
 
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"I don't think a signature style is so much something you choose as it is something that chooses you"

Yep, it rises organically out of your personal taste and skills. The moment you start trying to hard to manufacture it you've already lost.
 
With the recent rerelease of "Titanic"(1997) in glorious naked Kate Winslet 3-D, here's a trailer indicating how other directors may have approached the project.

 
Here's a little snippet of dialogue from the movie "Enter the Dragon".Just replace the word "technique" with "style" and "opponent" with "film".

-What is the highest technique you hope to achieve ?
-To have no technique.
-Very good. What are your thoughts when facing an opponent ?
-There is no opponent.
-And why is that ?
-Because the word "I" does not exist.
 
There's also another nugget of wisdom in the movie regarding style:

-What's your style?
-My style? You can call it the art of fighting without fighting.

Just replace "fighting" with "shooting a movie".
 
As much as I love Bruce Lee and his philosophy on martial arts, filmmaking seems to be a bit more complicated. Would you mind elaborating on how you think that philosophy relates to making movies?
 
j1clark@ucsd.edu said:
here's a trailer indicating how other directors may have approached the project.
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There are rumours around they will re-shoot it in a Dogma version starring chef Smoerrbroed as Kate Winslet AND Celine Dion (!) and Lars van Trier as the iceberg (on vodka). In b&w 8mm. Extremely stylish, I'd say.
 
jghenderson said:
As much as I love Bruce Lee and his philosophy on martial arts, filmmaking seems to be a bit more complicated. Would you mind elaborating on how you think that philosophy relates to making movies?
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Bruce Lee was in favour of simplicity and the idea of not being bound to a certain style or set of techniques.Why does making movies has to be so complicated after all?

Using no way as a way, using no limitations as a limitation.

Absorb what is useful, Discard what is not, Add what is uniquely your own.

It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.
 
I feel like if you consentrate on preparation on all fronts, and you know weeks before you begin to shoot that every aspect of your film has been considered, pondered, chewed, weighed and decided upon; then the style is something more for viewers and reviewers to deconstruct that it is something for you to be concerned about in terms of your career.

If you really do a great job everytime, people are going to be less concerned by the lack of similarity between your "great jobs" than they are going to be impressed by the unique and successful approach to each of them.

I suppose I am saying be meticulous about every aspect of your film. Make sure every little thing which is important to your film (ie every little thing) is done as well as you and your team possibly can. As importantly make sure that every little thing you do is done for a reason; that it serves some purpose. Construct your lighting and colour within each scene so that it represents what is actually happening within each scene - not because it reflects or hints at some "style" you are developing. Make sure your script is devoid of all superfluous dialogue (the ultimate killer of short narrative films). Make sure you have rehearsed with your actors adequately in a fashion which suits your shooting methodology and the structure and psychological dynamic of the script. Make sure you have test shot all your locations and worked on your post especially as it relates to colour.

I could go on...

If you make kick ass films, you won't need a style. If it naturally and spontaneously occurs that one develops out of the way you work, and it works; then leave that for the critics of the future to contemplate.
 
We're talking about style, and yet no one has mentioned Wes Anderon yet. I can't believe it...

I agree with style finding you. Make films, worry about that stuff later. I generally don't think anyone should worry about finding their style. After you've made a whole lot of films you can look back and start to recognize common themes and characteristics. That would be your style, which you can then start working with. Don't force it - it'll feel false, unnatural. Go with your creative instinct.

It's very much about natural progression. The reason I like Wes is because you can very easily see his style progress across his films - probably because it's so distinct (not just visually). Jim Jarmusch is another nice example.

Also, no one says you have to have a "style". Many directors that don't produce their own scripts are very diverse - they can make any genre and type of film great without carrying a certain style across in all of their films.
 
If you have a number of styles to choose from, none of them are yours. How can anyone be impressed with forgery except in the forger's ability to forge?
 
tipota said:
There are rumours around they will re-shoot it in a Dogma version starring chef Smoerrbroed as Kate Winslet AND Celine Dion (!) and Lars van Trier as the iceberg (on vodka). In b&w 8mm. Extremely stylish, I'd say.
Click to expand...

I think I'd volunteer for the dogma version of the 'life drawing scene'... and the 'backseat of the car'... and the pole dance sequence doing an irish jig up fine... and if there happened to be film in the camera, well, all the better...

Back in the olden days of illegal porn movies, the 'artist and the nude' was a popular trope... and automobiles were great ways to get out from under repressive moral codes... I think it's time for a come back... or something like that...

And perhaps with a modern twist I can work in an explosion at some 'opportune' time...
 
I definitely understand the standpoint of not thinking about it too much or intentionally trying a style.

Probably the most stylish film i've ever seen is Chungking Express. The way Kar-Wai uses step printing was a revelation to me and I think it still remains perhaps the coolest film ever. I always figured that Kar-Wai was just a pure genius who thought of using this technique to create such a romantic atmosphere. Well I remember reading somewhere (not sure of validity) that in fact he used the step printing technique merely because they were going to be shooting in locations where they could only use the available light. Also the film was shot entirely handheld so that they could shoot it fast and without permits. So here we have the most visually distinct movie I can think of, and it was shot that way for nothing but practical reasons.

You would think that story would make me relieved and let go, but it kind of depresses me in a way. It makes me feel like genius is something you have to just stumble upon.
 
jghenderson said:
I also have a friend in L.A. that is on the cusp of being a big-time music video director (he's already done one video for a well known band). He told me that one of the most important things for a young director getting into the industry is that you have a style and you stick with it. Reason being that if a client is thinking of hiring you and your work is varied in style, they don't really "know" what they're getting. If you have a cohesive style, however, they can trust that what they end up getting will look like this certain thing that they like.
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I can imagine how it would benefit a commercial music video director to have a distinct style. That makes sense.

But narrative directing is not even slightly the same thing. Just make the best damn movie you can make, using whatever "style" you can imagine. It's not rocket surgery. Don't limit yourself with the constraints of a cold, calculated "style".

You don't want to be McG, do you?
 
jghenderson said:
My favorite films tend to come from Directors who have a very distinct "style" to their work. The kind of films that when you see it, you immediately know it comes from a certain Director.

I also have a friend in L.A. that is on the cusp of being a big-time music video director (he's already done one video for a well known band). He told me that one of the most important things for a young director getting into the industry is that you have a style and you stick with it. Reason being that if a client is thinking of hiring you and your work is varied in style, they don't really "know" what they're getting. If you have a cohesive style, however, they can trust that what they end up getting will look like this certain thing that they like.


Now here's my issue. I have a short film i'm shooting in a few months. It's going to be my first "big" short film in the sense of having a full crew of mostly professionals. It's really important to me to get this right, as the finished product is going to be shown to some people in L.A. that can have a big effect on my career. This fact coupled with the advice from my friend has me really feeling like I need to decide on a distinct "style" with this film that I can keep for the future.

Problem is, I just really can't make up my mind. I've gone so far as to analyze a list of my favorite films, trying to see if there was a correlation between a certain style and films I like. In the end it just made me even more confused. Styles seemed to have nothing to do with how great I thought a film was. I'm like this in all areas of my life. For instance in music, I love almost all styles of music. While this is great as a listener, if I was to ever try to make music, I wouldn't have the first clue of what type of music to make.


Basically: When no style seems to stand out to you as the one you like the most, how do you pick one? Just arbitrarily? Am I worrying too much about it? Even trying to decide whether to shoot this film handheld or on rails is driving me insane. I love both styles, and I don't see how I can pick.
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Style is a bit like voice - you develop it as you go along.

Choosing is a matter of deciding over inputs - which are you good/great at, which earns more, which inspires you etc.
 
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