When discussing film authorship, usually one would think to use a director that has made many movies and has been around a long time. But David Slade, a new director with only 3 movies under his belt (Do Geese See God? 2004, Hard Candy 2005, and 30 Days of Night 2006), has a totally unique shooting and directing style which is totally different from anything I've ever seen before.
The book gives several different meanings of an auteur but in part part it describes it as the director being able to create a well-made film and also someone who has a distinguishable personality. David Slade creates an entire new world in his films filled with suspense and creativity. The film Hard Candy is a chilling film that circles around a cast of four. Ellen Paige plays a 14-year-old girl who wants to catch an internet pedophile. She does horrible things to him without definitely knowing that he is a pedophile. Throughout the whole film the lines are blurred of who is wrong and who is right and even at the end the audience is left wondering who was right in the situation.
While watching the film I was immediately surprised by the shooting style. Most of the close-ups in the film are extremely tight framing and at times the audience doesn't even know what they are looking at. The shooting technique at first distracted me because I had never seen anything like it before. Close-ups yes, but that extreme of a close-up used over and over, no. The shots were beautiful however and had to be well thought out and positioned in order to come across as they should be. This is why I would consider David Slade an auteur. His shooting style is so recognizable and unique.
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1 comment:
Great assessment. Does this signature shooting style extend to his other films?
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