Context video script

1. Context and Inspirations Video Script
Context and Inspirations are a very important part in my filmmaking process. Without being
inspired by other directors, I wouldn’t have any ideas for what to make. Different
filmmakers have inspired me in different ways, as you will see in this.
I started with Guillermo del Toro. I’ve seen a lot of his films over time, my favourites being
Pan’s Labyrinth and The Devil’s Backbone. I have taken two specific aspects of his films that
have inspired me and I want to use for myself. The first is his use of symbolism. This may be
less common in his English films, however in his Spanish film’s symbolism plays a big part in
telling the story. As seen in my PowerPoint, this scene uses symbolism to show emotion.
Jaime is drowning in his own guilt portrayed by a pool of water where he left the body of a
child, the ghost of the child both metaphorically and literally dragging him down.
Five years later he made Pan’s Labyrinth. The symbolism in this filmwas a lot more
frequent, but for the most part, less obvious. A lot of the symbolism tells its own story of
Ofelia growing up, and this is shown through shapes and colour. A few examples of this
include the headboard on her mother’s bed, the shape of the tree, the faun’s head, and the
book filling with blood as a certain shape. These shapes loosely resemble the female
reproductive system, as well as the use of blood representing the start of puberty, hence
the story of Ofelia growing up.
The second aspect of his films that have inspired me is del Toro’s use of transitions and cuts.
He’s very creative with the way he goes from one scene to another, often using objects in
the foreground to change scene and sometimes indicate the passage of time. When
watching a film like Pan’s Labyrinth I think these are very noticeable, although doing it well
will be very difficult for me to pull off, if I can it can look amazing. This is the reason I think
talking about inspirations is important, as del Toro is making me want to try new difficult
techniques, and hopefully becoming a better filmmaker in the process.
Next I chose Wes Anderson. The way he uses composition and mise en scene is one of a
kind, and you can tell when a film was made by him because of this. His use of perfect
symmetry in his films is interesting as it can tell you so much. I see perfect symmetry as
showing when a character feels stable and happy, then when the camera is off centre or a
bit wonky, it shows us darker, possibly even unstable emotions. This is an interesting
element I want to include in my final project because showing emotion in more ways than
just through the actor is very important, and makes people think about the filmrather than
just watching it.