How to get across a directing 'style'?

Semiazas

Semiazas

I'm wondering how people get across a 'style' of directing.
I mean, I guess I want my style to be slightly arthousey and experimental, I wanna experiment a lot with abstracts, symbolism and a fair bit of dream sequencey stuff.
Just wondering how to establish that kinda thing in a short or a feature.
 
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When you try to force a "style" it will come across as, well, forced. Your style will come from your choices, everything from lighting to casting to camera angles to set design to sound to locations to music... Your style will develop as you continue to write, shoot and edit; and one day others will recognize your style, which you will just consider "the way I work".
 
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I agree with all of the above. Any "style" that comes out of your work should just happen organically. The greater "style" should only be a result of all the smaller decisions you make, not the other way around.
 
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Alcove Audio said:
When you try to force a "style" it will come across as, well, forced.
Click to expand...

So true. Look at the difference between "Eraserhead" and
"Lost Highway" One was David Lynch making a movie. the
other was David Lynch making a David Lynch movie.

Your style will be your style. You do not get it across, you
simply direct and your style will be there. Only YOU will be
able to direct YOUR way. Like all directors with a distinct
style, others try to copy them: "Lynchian", "Tarintionesque",
"Hitchcockian".

Make five short films in YOUR way. That's how you will
demonstrate your directing style. Then make a feature
film your way. That will be your directing style.
 
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You are right.

David Lynch did not set out to get is directing style across
when he made "Eraserhead". He made a film. That film
was his style. Then he made another and another. That's
how we all understood his style. We can say that about any
director we like and even directors we don't like. they have
a style. We see that style by watching their movies.

When you have finished five movies you will have gotten
your style across. Just do your thing. Don't push.
 
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I like how you're using Lynch as an example, he's one of my favourite directors ;)
I actually have one that I have a cast for and a plot and everything :) just need to get it done. I also had a lot of ideas for different shorts, but they all seem to have... gone from wherever on my computer I saved them >.<
I'll be sure to post my stuff on here ;D
However, one short I'm doing needs to imitate a style (in the case of this particular film, a Hitchcockian one) because it's for school to go with an essay question so don't tear me apart about that imitating a director hahaha
 
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That is more like a composer learning different styles of composition; you learn all the conventions of the classical period, for example, and then try to imitate a particular composer. This calls for a lot of analysis; knowing the periodic conventions, picking the specific period of the composers life you are emulating, isolating the elements that make the composers style for that period unique and then having to come up with your own unique but period corrects themes and then arranging and orchestrating in the style of another composer.

So you have to decide which period of Hitch you would like to emulate - B&W or color, UK or Hollywood, Selznik or "indie", thriller or suspense... Time to pull out the yellow pad and get to work.
 
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one principle of aesthetics is the balance of form and content that's why most of the directors who have a very distinctive style write the script themselves.
compare Eraserhead to The Elephant Man, whereas the first is most obviously a Lynch film, his "presence" is less striking in The Elephant Man.
so write the script as "honestly" as you can and think about how the film will look and tadaa there is your style.
don't imitate your idols (even if you're probably going to do that anyway :) ), those are professionals so there's no way your film can equal theirs in any aspect, no offense intended. you're into surrealism, dreams, etc? then write a script in which these things matter and aren't there for their own sake.
 
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When you say style I think it can differ. Some one once told me that when I edited it the film, or shot it, it reflected my current feelings. I wrote a script in which everyone is either killed or commits suicide. Some one pointed out that I wrote it the day after I broke up with my girlfriend. Style in this sense means feeling.
 
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That's interesting that you put it that way because what you just mentioned is something film theorists consider when evaluating a particular film. What was going on during the creation of this film? Before it? During it? What was happening to the director when he was first exposed to it? When he signed on? Etc. etc. All those factors play a part in the creation of the film. Very interesting.
 
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Fascinating topic! Love it. Lots of great points here.

I find it interesting to consider a director's body of work to find the thread which may be (or may not be) woven through all of their films, their celluloid fingerprint if you will. What are they trying to explore in their films and what are the recurring motifs and themes that show up again and again? Why do they do what they do?

Peter Weir is an interesting director because his films run the spectrum of topics and don't necessarily have a singular note that resonates through all his films. Although, now that I think of it, many of his films are about the triumph of the human spirit, very epic, sweeping stories about (mostly) men who take on monumental obstacles or confront personal challenges or defy the odds stacked up against them. As for Weir's style, I'm not certain about that. Does "Dead Poet's Society" have the same fingerprint as "Mosquito Coast"? I wonder. I'd have to revisit them, or his film, to make a call on that.

I think style is sorta like a fingerprint, it is unique to that director. It's what makes a Wes Anderson film a Wes Anderson film and not a Jane Campion film. It's a voice. We know who is in the other room if we only hear their voice and don't see them at first. And we, as cineasts, grow to expect certain things from certain directors just as we would with our favorite musicians, bands, artists, etc. Mick Jagger never set out to make a style for himself, he simply WAS (and still is!) Mick Jagger and I don't think Scorsese set out to find the "Scorsese" style, either.

I came across this and thought it worth sharing
http://www.lettertojane.com/2010/jim-jarmusch’s-golden-rules

OK, tired now. Time for sleep. Good stuff!
 
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