Contextual Research

1. Contextual Research
Harry Morton

2. Roger Deakins
Roger Deakins is a cinematographer who has won
many awards because of his films and his most
know for 1917, The Shawshank Redemption, No
Country for Old Men, Blade Runner 2049 and
Skyfall. I have chosen to research Roger Deakins
because he is one of the best cinematographers of
all time. Roger Deakins loves playing with contrast
in his films and using different lighting to create
contrast so that his shots look 3 dimensional and to
make his films have depth he also like to move the
camera past object to the focus to create depth, he
also likes to have something happening in the
foreground or background of his shots. He also like
to shoot wide angle shots so that he can have more
in frame and he uses both digital and film cameras.

3. No Country for No Old Men From Novel to Film Book
The book No Country for No Men From Novel
to Film has a segment where they interview
Roger Deakins on how he filmed No Country
for Old Men. The book goes into detail on his
career and his Oscar nominations and how he
likes to work with the Coen brothers, and
then it gets to the interview where ask him
about how he uses storyboards and Roger
Deakins replies that he normally shoots less
shots than what is in the story board because
he uses the same angle to do multiple
shoots. I will try and use this in my short film,
I will try uses the same shot to show more
and trying not to over complicate a scene
with lots of angles.

4. Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino is a director who makes great films
like Django Unchained, Once Upon A Time In
Hollywood and Pulp Fiction. Quentin Tarantino likes to
make his own spin on a poplar genre like Django
Unchained which is a western, but Quentin add his
style to it. He likes to have dark humour in his films
and likes to build tension in scene with dialogue which
normally ends with extreme violence, Quentin
Tarantino gets his dialogue and inspersion form
pasted experiences which make his movies more
realistic. He also films his own movies, but the shots
he uses reflect what genre he is doing like in Django
Unchained he uses wide shots to show the character
environment they are in. He also likes to add music to
his films that set the scene or relate to what's happen
in the scene. He like to make non-linear films because
he like starting from the middle of stories

5. Quentin Tarantino The Iconic Filmmaker and his Work
The book starts off with how Quentin Tarantino used to work
at a video store and then started to work in the film industry
as a writer and then made his own feature film Reservoir
dogs which made him instantly famous and then with his
second film made him even more recognizable with pulp
fiction. In the they write about Tarantino's childhood and
how his mother took Quentin to all the films she wanted to
see which included Aliens, Die Hard and The God Father
films. Quentin also started writing a young age, he made his
first screenplay at the age of 14, the combination of these 2
things made Quentin Tarantino want to make his own films
and is what inspired him.

6. Chad Stahelski
Chad Stahelski is a stunt coordinator
and director, and he directed the John Wick trilogy.
I have chosen to research Chad Stahelski because
he is very good at choreographing action scenes
which will be useful to learn when making
my action film. Chad likes uses Gun fu in his films
which is close quarters gun fighting that
resembles martial arts. This technique makes the
action more enjoyable. Chad Stahelski likes to
make film with different styles of his favorite
directors, so the John Wick is like a smash up of all
different types of action films which makes the
action genre interesting and better.

7. Edgar Wright
Edgar Wright is a director who has made films like
Baby Driver, Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead. He
likes dark humour in his films like Tarantino. Edgar
Wright is also famous for editing or making the
character to action to a beat of a song because he
loves putting music and visuals together, sometimes
he doesn’t write the scene until he has found the
right song for the scene which makes the scene
more enjoyable or satisfying to watch. Edgar Wright
likes to do quick editing as well with sound effects
which is a unique style and is good to get one scene
to another. To makes his films he uses a lot of
storyboards and animates them to together so that
he knows what the film would look like before
filming.

8. Film Theory
Film Theory is a bunch of different theories to
analysis films. Film theory started in 1920s
and is still used today. The book goes in on
detail about all the different theory like
structuralism which is about "analyzing the
deep structuring logic of cultural products and
practice" which means finding out the hidden
meaning within the product or practice, this
theory inspired the semiotics of cinema which
is about have the meaning and messages of
cinema can be compare to the written and
spoken languages does.

9. Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan is director who has made the films
Inception, The Dark Trilogy and Tenet. Christopher Nolan
likes he films to have an eye-catching trick like in Mento
the films starts at the end and moves its way back to the
start or in Tenet there is a machine that lets you move
backwards in time and in the film, you have scene where
people are moving backwards and forwards at the same
time. Christopher Nolan also like to do multiple stories in
his film that come together at the end like in Dunkirk, he
also intercuts his scenes to build up tension and make
the payoff better. Christopher Nolan also doesn’t like to
use zoom lenses so that he is forced to move the camera
a different angle to get what he wants in the picture. He
also doesn’t like to use green screen and like to shoot
everything on camera so that the actors know what they
are doing and makes the film more realistic.

10. Contextual Statement
The people I have research will influence my final product like for example Roger Deakins will influence
my work because I like his cinematograph and how he does his lighting with lots of contrast and how he
does his wide-angle shots and tries to have something going on in the background and foreground
which I will try to add in my product. Another example is Chad Stahelski, I like his action scene and his
take on Gun Fu Which I would like to recreate in my product. I like Edgar Wrights use of music and how
he uses it in his films and times the music beat to what's happening in the film which makes the scene
more exciting and more enjoyable to watch which I would love to recreate in my project. The books I
look at gave me more detail on the people and theory I was researching which help to understand
especially the theory which was a bit confusing at first. I am making this film because in the future I
want to be a cinematographer so making this film will give me new experience in film making so that I
can become a cinematographer, I want to make an action film because it is my favorite film genre and I
think I will give me experience in special effects which I haven't done before, I have made a short horror
film before, but this will be my second short film that I have made so I will have some experience going
into to it. Covid 19 could affect my work if we are still in lockdown when I begin production because I
would have to make the project a lot smaller and would have to use my family as the cast which I have
done before because my first film was film during the 2020 lockdown so if production begins when we
are still in lockdown, I have had some experience filming in lockdown so I will be prepare if it comes to
that.

11. Bibliography
• Ian Nathan (2019). Quentin Tarantino The Iconic Filmmaker and His Work. London: White
Lion Publishing.
• James M. Welsh, Jim Welsh, Lynnea Chapman King, Rick Wallach (2009). No Country for
Old Men From Novel to Film. Washington: Scarecrow Press.
• Richard Rushton, Gary Bettinson (2010). What is Film Theory?. New York City: McGraw-
Hill Education.
• StudioBinder. (2019). How Christopher Nolan Writes and Directs a Movie | The Director's
Chair. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZJi_78XUVg. Last accessed
07/01/2021.
• StudioBinder. (2019). Quentin Tarantino Explains How to Write & Direct Movies | The
Director’s Chair. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V1Sm0WCtHU&t=549s.
Last accessed 07/01/2021.
• StudioBinder. (2020). Edgar Wright on How He Writes and Directs His Movies | The
Director's Chair. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa_lP82gAZY&t=648s.
Last accessed 07/01/2021.