Nicholas Winding Refn - Director Research

Nicholas Winding Refn is a Danish screenwriter and director, who has recently gained a lot of critical and commercial success internationally with films like Bronson, Drive and Only God Forgives.

Refn has a very unique visual style, with frequent use of bold contrasting colours. He has a common tendency to add either a dash of red, or to just make the entire film red, as we see in Only God Forgives. I take huge influence from Refn's visuals. I find them awe inspiring at times, my eyes are left to wander the frame and to gander at all the vibrant colours which inhabit it. Refn is a very unique modern filmmaker in the sense that he does not make films for his audience, he detaches himself completely. He makes his films about what he wants them to be about. They are very personal to him and that I can admire. Amidst all of the conglomerate driven blockbusters come some small, bold independent films which are so challenging they can quite literally divide audiences in two. As much as I admire this aspect of Refn as a director, I still see the importance of the audiences involvement with a film, and I always will. 

This shot below is from Drive, Refn's biggest critical and commercial success to date. For me, Drive is the perfect balance of style and substance. I have taken a huge amount of inspiration from Drive. How the film is shot and framed, the characters and even the ambience of the superb soundtrack. I have taken a great amount of inspiration from the soundtrack, and how the relationship between the sounds and the imagery create a mood. I have found that within Refns films, and within all good films in general, a mood is core to creating anything. The characters, the world around them and everything in between is all there to serve the mood, the core. In discussion with the musician Liam Connor, who is producing the soundtrack for the film, I have requested that he makes samples of the soundtrack which are reminiscent of the ambience found in both Drive and Only God Forgives. Hopefully we can craft something which serves the story well. 

Below is a link to a scene in Drive which I find to be perfect on so many levels. The cinematography, the acting and the soundtrack all come together to create something so exquisite that it needs to dialogue, only the slowing of time for us to fully appreciate it. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsI8UES59TM

Below is a shot from Only God Forgives, another Refn film I consider to be one of the most visually stunning films of all time. Every frame is so rich with colour, which in turn sets a devilish atmosphere, deviating each and every character in frame. That being said, Refn like any great director can use any small glimmer of light in a mirror passing over a characters face to quickly change the tone. This image below shows a slumped Ryan Gosling, showered in red lighting. Above him we see the reflection of a prostitute or stripper lit in a very light blue. These contrasting colours say a lot about the two different characters, without dialogue and without forced emphasis. When I was fleshing out the concept for Alice and writing the script, I found my appreciation for silence. Whether the silence is between two characters, at a moment in time, during a situation, I find that the daringness of silence is extremely powerful if used well. I find that sometimes characters shouldn't have to converse with one another. If two people are meeting out a mutual agreement for something that is for example against the law, what reason would those two people have to speak to one another? They each know that the other is doing something wrong, and they both know why they are there. Realistically words do not come into the situation. The entire complexity of human nature is sometimes above words, no matter how well something can be scripted. This is again how Refn has influenced me. He is a master of the use of ambience and silence. 

Another of Refns recent films which have found inspired me and Alice in particular, is The Neon Demon. Released in 2016, I had the pleasure of catching it in cinema. It was what turned out to be one of my greatest cinematic experiences. The Neon Demon finds Refn playing on his established formula of super artificial, bold and colourful imagery combined with a booming score from his frequent collaborator, Cliff Martinez. 

Wong Kar-Wai Director Research

Wong Kar-Wai is a Chinese director born in Hong Kong (1956) and is known for As Tears Go By, Chungking Express, In The Mood For Love, 2046 and The Grandmaster. Wong Kar-Wai is highly regarded as an auteur for his visually unique stylistic flair, and emotionally resonant work. A lot of his films are considered period pieces, set in 1960s Hong Kong. 

The Visual style and subject matter/content of Wong Kar-Wai's films is massively influential for me. He is a rare director who is concerned with the fundamentals of human behaviour and emotion. In both 'In the Mood for Love' and '2046' (often considered separate films, yet the same film) the narrative is slow burning, allowing us insight into the lives of the characters. Not only this but we feel for the characters, sometimes we love them, sometimes we loathe them. For me this is very important, and something I often aspire to achieve.

Below is a shot from '2046'. For me this shot speaks such high volumes. It's incredibly framed and so perfectly lit. A frame like this can tell us so much about a particular character, but more importantly their emotion at that point in time. For me this shot suggests a complication between the two characters in the frame. The woman in the foreground, despite being central to the frame, is out of focus. The emphasis upon the male in the background, achieved through focus, would suggest his importance over hers despite their positioning in terms of proximity to the camera. The mirrors also suggest something of utmost importance. There are two of each person in the frame. This has an outstanding effect, leading the audience to question the obvious distrust between the characters or their lack of affection toward one another. Noting the eyeliner of each character is equally significant and contributes to the overall effect of the shot. The female is looking away, looking down to the ground to suggest her vulnerability. The man is upright, strong and looking directly at her to suggest his sophistication and dominance. 

This shot is something I will be looking to replicate in terms of depth of meaning and the genuine strength of the composition. Every inch of the frame is filled, leading the eye of the viewer side to side and to top and bottom. 

This is another shot which shares likeness with the above shot from another Wong Kar-Wai film. In The Mood For Love. This film is often considered the prequel to 2046, but Kar-Wai himself refers to it as the same film, as they share so many similarities and distinct qualities, they are the same body of work. Kar-Wai once again uses the framing of his characters so wisely to depict their mindset and emotion. The shot shares similarities with the previously discussed shot due to the body language and facial expression of each character. As the females eyeliner is drawn away from the male to her left, weakness is heavily implied. On the other hand the strength of the male is reinforced as he looks onward. His strength is rejected at the same time, as he is only a reflection in a mirror. He does not physically exist within the shot, he is a mere reflection of his own physical form.

This is another stunningly captured shot of the main protagonist of Wong Kar-Wais '2046'. This shot for me perfectly portrays the feeling of fatigue. The slumped positioning of the character combined with the rising smoke give us the idea that this character is hard at work. What is more is that he looks tired. We can gather all of this simply through the use of dark lighting, character body positioning and framing, even though we do not see the facial expression of the character at all.