Nolan's films are established in philosophical, sociological and ethical concepts, exploring human morality, the construction of time, and the malleable nature of memory and personal identity. These are normally associated with the thriller genre as it focuses on the deeper meaning behind the story and leaving a lasting effect on the audience.
The most influencing piece of work produced by Christopher Nolan is The Dark Knight trilogy. Not only did this series have a large impact on the Thriller genre and the film industry as a whole, but The Dark Knight trilogy has also inspired a variety of different directors such as Skyfall’s Sam Mendes. Although Christopher Nolan and his work is seen as inspiration to many, he too looks to other peoples work for inspiration. One film that Nolan looks towards for inspiration is the 1978 Superman movie by Richard Donner.
Christopher Nolan is most commonly regarded as an auteur and postmodern filmmaker. Nolan's visual style focuses on emphasizing urban settings, men in suits, muted colors, dialogue scenes framed in wide close-up with a shallow depth of field and modern locations and architecture. Nolan revealed that all of his films are heavily influenced by film noir.
The majority of Nolan’s films follow a similar pattern being that the protagonists are usually psychologically damaged, obsessively seeking vengeance for the death of a loved one. They are often driven by philosophical beliefs, and their fate is ambiguous. Another common theme in many of his films is that the protagonist and antagonist are mirror images of each other, a point that is made to the protagonist by the antagonist; an example of this would be Batman and the Joker in “The Dark Knight”
Research into Iconic Thriller Directors Case Studies
Jordan Cassell
Christopher Nolan
Christopher Jonathan James Nolan is an English-American film director, screenwriter, and producer. His nine films have grossed over US$4.2 billion worldwide and garnered a total of 26 Oscar nominations and seven awards. These nine films being:
. Interstellar (2014)
. Man of steel (2013)
. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
. Inception (2010)
. The Dark Knight (2008)
. Film Noir: Bringing Darkness Into Light (2006)
. The Prestige (2006)
. Batman Begins (2005)
. Insomnia (2002)
Christopher Nolan produced a number of films before this as independent films, making his directorial debut with Following (1998); Nolan gained considerable attention for his second feature, Memento (2000). After these films were recognized Christopher Nolan began to get noticed for his work and was provided with the necessary budget to produce Insomnia (2002) and The Prestige (2006), which was then followed by his more popular films being the batman trilogy, Inception and Interstellar.
Quentin Jerome Tarantino
Angela Kibia
Tarantino was a film fan and worked at Video Archives, a video rental store while training to act. His career began in the late 1980s, when he wrote and directed My Best Friend's Birthday, the screenplay of which formed the basis for True Romance.
In January of 1992, writer-director Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992) appeared at the Sundance Film Festival. The film garnered critical acclaim and the director became a legend immediately. Two years later, he followed up Dogs success with Pulp Fiction (1994) which premiered at the Cannes film festival, winning the coveted Palme D'Or Award.
His films are characterized by non-linear storylines, satirical subject matter, and an excessive of violence, as well as features of neo-noir film.
List of filmography:
2012 Django Unchained
2009 Inglourious Basterds
2007 Death Proof
2004 Kill Bill: Vol. 2
2003 Kill Bill: Vol. 1
1997 Jackie Brown
1995 ER
1994 Pulp Fiction
1992 Reservoir Dogs
1987 My Best Friend's Birthday
1983 Love Birds in Bondage
Zahra Lesforis
Sir Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Hitchcock, film-maker and director, had a huge influence on Thriller, even impacting the genre today with his iconic films. He was known as the ‘Master of Suspense’, developing films with the themes that included psychotic murders, perplexing climaxes and false accusations. His work included The Lodger (1926), Rebecca (1940) and Psycho (1960). Hitchcock was gifted with the talent of editing and camerawork that no one had seen before, making his fan base progress as he got more popular in both Britain and the USA. His films tended to have themes that were frowned upon at the time, examples being sexuality, murders and obsessions. These were depicted in the films Psycho and Vertigo.
After seeing an ad in Islington about a famous American director building a studio, Hitchcock brought it upon himself to present the idea of their first motion picture. Although being rejected the first time, on his second go, he was able to catch their attention and by the age of 20, he was given a full time job.
Hitchcock made his first thriller film in 1926, The Lodger which was about a landlady who suspects that her new lodger is a serial killer. This was the film that kick started Hitchcock’s career, with it going on to have 4 adaptations. From then on, all of Hitchcock’s films were of the thriller genre.
"The silent pictures were the purest form of cinema.” – Alfred Hitchcock
One of Hitchcock’s styles were silent movies, with nine of his first films in silence including The Ring(1927). He was one of many directors who believed that using sound weakened the quality of films. However, this style of Hitchcock’s is never really acknowlegdged due to his further styles of film such as murderers which is what made him stand out compared to other directors.
Psycho was another one of Hitchcock’s major film, containing film history’s most famous murder scene with Janet Leigh as Marion Crane. It is said to have ‘changed cinema forever’, with it paving the way for on-screen violence.
Joel Coen
Ethan Edwards
Joel Coen was born on November 29, 1954 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA as Joel Daniel Coen. He is a producer and writer, known for No country for old men (2007) Fargo (1996) and The Big Lebowiski (1998). The Coen Brothers, are American Film directors, screen writers, producers and editors. They have directed over 15 films together that are often characterized as being "genre-bending", having covered many genres, including comedy, crime, the western, horror, thriller, gangster, drama, romance, adventure and features of neo-noir. Their films include Blood Simple (1984), Raising Arizona (1987), Miller's Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991), Fargo (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), No Country for Old Men (2007), Burn After Reading (2008), A Serious Man (2009), True Grit (2010), and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013).
The brothers write, direct, and produce their films jointly, although until The Ladykillers (2004), Joel received sole credit for directing and Ethan for producing. They often alternate top billing for their screenplays while sharing film credits for editor under the alias Roderick Jaynes. They have been nominated for twelve Academy Awards together, plus one individual nomination for each, winning Best Original Screenplay for Fargo and Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for No Country for Old Men. They have written a number of films neither of the brothers directed. These films include the biographical war drama Unbroken(2014), and the historical drama thriller Bridge of Spies (2015), as well as more obscure and unsuccessful comedy films such as Crimewave (1985), The Naked Man (1998), and Gambit (2012).
The Coen brothers' own film production company, Mike Zoss Productions located in New York City, has been credited on their films from O Brother, Where Art Thou? onwards. It was named after Mike Zoss Drugs, the brothers' beloved hangout when they were growing up in the Twin Cities. The name was also used for the pharmacy in No Country for Old Men.
We produced research on directors in thriller to learn more about their work and the special techniques that they added to the genre that are still used today. This helped us grow knowledge of where to find inspiration so that we can improve our two minute opening.