Tarantino has been a world renowned director since 1987 when he co-wrote and directed My Best Friend's Birthday. In the time between then and now he has developed his own conventions and film style. This post will be highlighting these conventions and how they will affect my short film.
Nonlinear storyline
This is where a narrative does not chronologically follow the story, it shows chunks of film that wont be in order and leaves it to the audience to figure out the order for themselves. The most common form of this technique is showing the ending of a film at the beginning of the film. An example of this is on the 2010 spoof movie Vampires Suck. However film makers have utilised this technique in very creative ways. For example Memento is filmed almost backwards.
Tarantio uses this technique in Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs to create a sense of ambiguity so the audience can be engaged in the film more because they are forever questioning the plot. This would make the audience more likely to enjoy the film as they would become immersed in the constant questions that the nonlinear plot generates. Also, in Reservoir Dogs the nonlinear storyline gives the film a sense of mystery because the characters don't know whats happened to the rest of their team and neither do the audience until the 'flash back' scenes fill in the blanks. Due to this i am going to use a Nonlinear storyline for my Short film.
I have chosen to use a nonlinear storyline in my short film to convey the same sense of ambiguity. It will also be a reference point of the fact that i am inspired by Tarantino as this is a very distinctive technique that he utilises.
Nonlinear storyline
This is where a narrative does not chronologically follow the story, it shows chunks of film that wont be in order and leaves it to the audience to figure out the order for themselves. The most common form of this technique is showing the ending of a film at the beginning of the film. An example of this is on the 2010 spoof movie Vampires Suck. However film makers have utilised this technique in very creative ways. For example Memento is filmed almost backwards.
Tarantio uses this technique in Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs to create a sense of ambiguity so the audience can be engaged in the film more because they are forever questioning the plot. This would make the audience more likely to enjoy the film as they would become immersed in the constant questions that the nonlinear plot generates. Also, in Reservoir Dogs the nonlinear storyline gives the film a sense of mystery because the characters don't know whats happened to the rest of their team and neither do the audience until the 'flash back' scenes fill in the blanks. Due to this i am going to use a Nonlinear storyline for my Short film.
I have chosen to use a nonlinear storyline in my short film to convey the same sense of ambiguity. It will also be a reference point of the fact that i am inspired by Tarantino as this is a very distinctive technique that he utilises.
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| For example this scene happens at the beginning and the end of Pulp Fiction... |
Snappy Dialogue
Dialogue is extremely important in Tarantino films. They all utilise the snappy, clever dialogue of the characters to move the plot forward even if there isn't much going on, on screen. This was probably first used because early Tarantino movies didn't have an exceptionally big budget (Reservoir Dogs was originally planned to be shot with a budget of $30,000 but Harvey Keitel joining the cast as Mr.White boosted the budget to $1.5 million) so in order to make the film interesting without relying on expensive special effects Tarantino had to use interesting dialogue.
I will be utilising this technique for the same reasons and as a homage to Tarantino films.
Refusal to use product placement
Tarantino explicitly all known brands from his movies. For example the only cigarette brand seen in Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs is Red Apple which doesn't exists. He also uses cereals from the 70's which are now in public demand to avoid this as well.
He will be doing this to avoid having to pay royalties to these companies as his movies at this point were pretty low budget so conserving money was imperative.
He may also be doing this to show that he is above the money making ideologies of most Hollywood directors.
However he does explicitly mention McDonald's in the conversation at the beginning of the film. This could reinforce the fact that he is doing this for budget reasons as he doesn't mind mentioning brands but to use their image he would have to play royalties.
I will be using this method in my own short film because i am aware that i will need to utilise as many conventions as i can to give off the same impression that Tarantino movies give off.
In conclusion i will be choosing to use these conventions to make my film more interesting and inventive. This is because both Tarantino films and my short film will be shot low budget and fairly quick. Therefore to ensure my short film is a success i will need to put something in there to make it worth watching as i cannot rely on special effects. My film will also be a homage to Tarantino and by imitating his conventions this will be achieved.
Dialogue is extremely important in Tarantino films. They all utilise the snappy, clever dialogue of the characters to move the plot forward even if there isn't much going on, on screen. This was probably first used because early Tarantino movies didn't have an exceptionally big budget (Reservoir Dogs was originally planned to be shot with a budget of $30,000 but Harvey Keitel joining the cast as Mr.White boosted the budget to $1.5 million) so in order to make the film interesting without relying on expensive special effects Tarantino had to use interesting dialogue.
I will be utilising this technique for the same reasons and as a homage to Tarantino films.
Refusal to use product placement
Tarantino explicitly all known brands from his movies. For example the only cigarette brand seen in Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs is Red Apple which doesn't exists. He also uses cereals from the 70's which are now in public demand to avoid this as well.
He will be doing this to avoid having to pay royalties to these companies as his movies at this point were pretty low budget so conserving money was imperative.
He may also be doing this to show that he is above the money making ideologies of most Hollywood directors.
However he does explicitly mention McDonald's in the conversation at the beginning of the film. This could reinforce the fact that he is doing this for budget reasons as he doesn't mind mentioning brands but to use their image he would have to play royalties.
I will be using this method in my own short film because i am aware that i will need to utilise as many conventions as i can to give off the same impression that Tarantino movies give off.
In conclusion i will be choosing to use these conventions to make my film more interesting and inventive. This is because both Tarantino films and my short film will be shot low budget and fairly quick. Therefore to ensure my short film is a success i will need to put something in there to make it worth watching as i cannot rely on special effects. My film will also be a homage to Tarantino and by imitating his conventions this will be achieved.
Clearly identified and analysed conventions. You've used media language fluently to argue your points, and your ideas are compelling.
ReplyDeleteThough short, this analysis displays an excellent grasp of film technique.
What will be really interesting is to see how the dialogue, very American in the Tarantino films, can be given a distinctly British edge.