Terrence Malick - Director Research

Terrence Malick, the elusive mastermind behind films such as; The Thin Red Line, Days of Heaven, Tree of Life, Knight of Cups and The New World. Malick is always someone whom I have greatly admired. Not only because of his fantastic filmography, but because of his lack of self indulgence and ego. Malick is a man who has been nominated for countless oscars, and has not turned up to any of the ceremonies in anticipation of winning an award. Below is an image which is one of the very few images that have ever surfaced of Terrence Malick. Sharing similarities with Stanley Kubrick, both men are widely known as reclusive, and as incredibly talented filmmakers who hold their cards extremely close to their chest.

Malicks style is something which has been viewed by most as enigmatic and unexplainable. One can easily establish that what they're watching is a Malick film, but they cannot say how or why they know that. This fascinates me to no end and I think as a filmmaker it is the ultimately compliment and is a statement awards can't cover. For people to know your work by simply looking, but for them not to know how tells you that Terrence Malicks style is not overly self indulgent, like say Quentin Tarantino. It is very subtle but powerful none the less. It is rare a director can attempt to completely take themselves out of the picture, out of the limelight and all the external attention films get yet still leave a piece of themselves in a picture for all to see. It is a testimony to the genius of Terrence Malick. 

Malicks long time collaborator is three time academy award winning Emmanuel Lubezki. Lubezki and Malick come together to create films of visually beautiful, ethereal nature. Lubezki is a master of the one shot. He is the only cinematographer working today who can pull off the most complicated of master shots. Examples of this can be found in Gravity, Birdman, Tree of Life and The Revenant. I aim to replicate these long shots in Alice which have a profound effect on the viewer, and more importantly enhance the production values of a film significantly. In my experience student films are extremely one dimensional cinematically. There is little movement of the camera, whether that is an artistic decision or whether it is a simple case of not having the equipment or skills to pull it off. I aim to pull it off however, as I think master shots capture so much of what is being shown without distracting the audience with cuts, meaning they stay immersed in what they see subconsciously. Examples of this come frequently in the collaborations between Lubezki and Malick. Below is an image from Knight of Cups.

Within Knight of Cups and the work of Terrence Malick, the camera takes a human form. It places itself amongst the characters, it follows them and moves around them. It has a freedom of its own as if it has human limbs. The speed of the camera movement and tracks is also very important. In crowded scenes within Knight of Cups, the camera dances and moves as part of the drunken horde. In the slower and more emotional scenes, it wanders the landscape and the faces of the characters. Its movement becomes melancholy. 

As I stated in my pitch, I wanted to leave behind the idea that this film is a student film as much as possible. By replicating the long tracking shots found in Malicks films I will be elevating the production values to a level that is rarely seen in student productions. I am aware that this will require a lot of time spent on location prepping with my cinematographer, but if it means this film can be accepted for a short film above student standards I am very happy to do so.