Directions Unit - Director Research - Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino is a screenwriter, director and actor known for a number of films such as Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Django Unchained and Kill Bill as well as the TV series From Dusk Till Dawn.

Tarantino started his career writing screenplays for Video Archives such as Natural Born Killers and True Romance. He then left Video Archives for a production company called Cinetel. Tarantino was able to submit one of his first screenplays through a producer he knew. The screenplay was True Romance. Director Tony Scott was so impressed he decided to buy the rights off of Tarantino.

It wasn't until 1992 where Quentin Tarantino made his directorial debut with the film Reservoir Dogs. Despite the small budget, Reservoir Dogs was a hugely popular film globally and received high critical acclaim, making Tarantino one of the most talked about directors in Hollywood at the time. Tarantino also wrote the screenplay for this film and even starred as one of the characters. Tarantino's most successful and most highly acclaimed film to date, Pulp Fiction, was released just two years after his first film Reservoir Dogs. The film went on to win an Academy Award for Best Writing in 1995 and won the prestigious Palme d'Or a year earlier. His most recent film, The Hateful Eight, has received mixed reviews, some praising the outstanding dialogue and storyline while others criticise the excessive bloody violence and the use of racist remarks throughout the film.

Though Tarantino considers himself more of a screenwriter than a director, he brings his own directorial stamp into his films that separates him from the rest. For example Tarantino uses a wide range of camera techniques including crash-zooms, low angle shots and long takes. Another trademark of Tarantino's is his use of music, he has stated that he does not like to hide slow cinematic moments but should only be used to enhance the action. Though Tarantino's films are considered very violent, a lot of the action that goes on in his films tend to happen off camera. This is called implied violence. Below is a video showing a recurring shot in Tarantino's films, the trunk shot.

It is Tarantino's camera techniques that interested me most and is certainly something I can look at more closely in hope that I am able to replicate some of these techniques in ways that are relevant to my Drama Film. I also hope to add my own little twist to some of these techniques by perhaps blending two of these techniques together or perhaps pairing one with a more uncommon technique.