Wes Craven was born in 1939 in Cleveland, Ohio. He went to college at Wheaton College and Johns Hopkins University, earning his master's degree. Craven worked as a professor but found his calling in filmmaking, directing controversial and influential horror films such as Last House on the Left, Hills Have Eyes, and the iconic Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Craven was heavily influenced by Ingmar Bergman's intimate camera techniques and exploration of human psychology and existentialism, which could be seen in Craven's own films like Scream.

2. Background
– Born on August 2, 1939, in Cleveland, Ohio, Wes Craven went on to direct horror films like Last
House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes and Swamp Thing before helming the infamous Nightmare on
Elm Street. He scored another major hit with Scream, which spawned three sequels as of 2011.
Craven also directed the school drama Music of the Heart and thriller Red Eye, along with a number
of TV projects.
– Wes Craven grew up Cleveland, Ohio and was raised in a strict Baptist household, Craven saw few
movies as a child because of his parents' religious beliefs. He later explained on his website that he
was "allowed to see Disney films." Craven especially liked Fantasia.
– After high school, Craven went to Wheaton College in Illinois. He had to take a break in his studies
after the first year due to illness. Craven returned to college and continued to explore his interest in
writing, contributing to one of the college's literary magazines. He also served as literary magazine
editor for a time. Craven went to earn his master's degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1964.
– After finishing his degree, Craven worked as an English professor for a time. He also wrote short
stories and poetry before making his name as a filmmaker.

3. Catalogue of
Work
– Craven made an impressive film debut in 1972's ‘The Last House on the Left’, which
he wrote and directed. The movie mined human cruelty to fuel the horrific tale of
teenage girls abducted by deranged prisoners. The evil that people can inflict on
others provided the central conflict for another now-classic Craven film The Hills
Have Eyes (1977).
– In 1984, Craven gave audiences thrills and chills with A Nightmare on Elm Street.
The movie featured Freddy Krueger, a supernatural killer who attacked his victims in
their dreams and gave a young Johnny Depp one of his first film roles. A Nightmare
on Elm Street launched a hugely successful film franchise, but Craven had little to do
with any of the sequels. He only wrote the screenplay for A Nightmare on Elm Street
3 (1987). In 1994, Craven returned to the character of Freddy Krueger with New
Nightmare. In 1997, Craven directed the horror sensation ‘Scream’.

4. Inspiration &
Directing Style
– Wes craven was heavily influenced by the director Ingmar Bergman. Bergman was notorious for his uncomfortable
close ups of characters and techniques such as ‘tracking’ when it came to intense scenes. This is also shown in
Craven’s Scream, in the opening scene where Casey has extreme close ups following the character around in the
lead up to her death.
– The relentless close-up of the face is a useful formal and thematic key to Bergman’s work. In these frequent,
almost embarrassingly close and radically elongated moments the viewer can see, think and feel existential
sureties in different states of crisis – as we watch subjects reduced to pure flesh, bones, mouth, nose, hair and
eyes.
– The detail of this fine-focus dissection forces us to confront both the inscrutable materiality of the face, and its
role as the communicative nerve centre of the individual subject’s investments. The camera moves in
uncomfortably, almost seeking to go inside – until a giant abstracted face fills the frame, stopping the zoom dead.
The viewer is confronted with a close yet also alienating proximity to such a large expanse of human exterior,
while we watch our enormous diegetic companion ask of itself ‘what’ it is, as it faces a very personal void.
– Bergman's early work consisted if mature adult films, this is very similar to the numerous of x- rated films Craven
directed before directing horror. Craven had the idea of remaking Bergman’s 1960 film Virgin Spring as The Last
House on the Left in 1972.