What the Oscar Nominees Teach You About Film Directing (Scorsese, Nolan, Glazer, Lanthimos, Triet)

Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Yorgos Lanthimos, Justine Triet and Jonathan Glazer are vying for the Academy Awards for Best Achievement in Directing. We all know it's Christopher's year. Interestingly for us, these five directors and their films are all extremely different in terms of visual style. We'll check how by analyzing their films here.

We'll go through the distinct ways these directors frame their shots, move their cameras, block their actors and plenty more. And when analyzing film direction, remember to always stick uniquely to what is presented on-screen.

This video is a defense of the analysis of film style. An achievement in directing shouldn't be judged by personal interpretation, cultural context, making-of stories, worldview or the simple fact of whether the film is good or bad. This video is a defense of the act of analyzing a director's job uniquely for their visual style. Some wise men once said:

"Criticism of film, despite the form’s visual nature, has tended to be derived primarily from literature and not from painting or, as might be more reasonable, a combination of the traditions of literature, painting, theater, and the unique forms of film itself".
– Stuart M. Kaminsky (International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Vol. 2 - Directors)

"Yet most film scholars don't analyze style, particularly visual style. Ironically, as films have become more available for close analysis than ever, interest in stylistics has waned. Why? Partly because film studies has for some time attracted scholars of a literary turn of mind, more comfortable with hermeneutics than stylistics (which remains a minor discipline in literary studies). In addition, even scholars have difficulty attending to the minutiae of technique. As we watch a film, we absorb its images but seldom notice how they're lit or composed. So critics and scholars find it more natural to talk about characters' psychological development, about how the plot resolves its conflicts and problems, or about the film's philosophical or cultural or political significance".
– David Bordwell (Figures Traced in Light)

00:00 Intro
01:23 Martin Scorsese for "Killers of the Flower Moon"
06:23 Christopher Nolan for "Oppenheimer"
13:43 Justine Triet for "Anatomy of a Fall"
17:06 Yorgos Lanthimos for "Poor Things"
20:20 Jonathan Glazer for "The Zone of Interest"
25:45 Outro

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"Rivette foams at the mouth": this is a reference to Jacques Rivette's famous Cahiers du Cinéma text "On Abjection".
Parametric storytelling: this one's too complicated. Check David Bordwell's "Narration in the Fiction Film", chapter 12.

#oscars #christophernolan #oppenheimer #martinscorsese #killersoftheflowermoon #yorgoslanthimos #poorthings #thezoneofinterest #anatomyofafall #academyawards #bestdirector #filmdirector #direction #cinematography #filmmaking


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