Chart+it!

For this assignment, we'll look at the various techniques and iconic choices your director has made, and examine how to emulate these qualities in your film. **PLEASE READ ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY.**


 * NEW: In the example below, I describe how I would chart out some techniques that David Lynch might use to direct a film based on my memory of a parrot balloon:**

//When I was 13, many of my friends where having 'themed' bar mitzvah parties. After one such party with a Jungle theme, I came home with a foil balloon in the shape of a parrot. Kind of like this://

//As the helium slowly left the balloon, it would tend to float in mid-air, just at about the height of my parents' heads. Then we noticed that it would seem to just float from room to room. Then it seemed to follow my mother around the house. In fact, there was one time when I was watching TV and the balloon floated into the room, seemed to look for my mother, and then turn and go when it didn't find her there. I followed it down the hall, watched it float in and out of bedrooms, until it found my mother in the den where she was reading a book. The balloon stopped moving around and floated by her as she read. This was the weirdest memory I have.//

//...except for the time that I brought home an elephant balloon...//

//**NOW:**//
 * Step 3: Add a column on your chart that explores how you can emulate your director's work in your memory. I've added examples to the chart below for my David Lynch film - SCROLL DOWN NOW.**

You do not need to have one for every category, and you may double up categories (for example, David Lynch is known for using extreme close ups to reveal hidden meanings **and** he uses long takes with little movement to draw out suspense- both would fall under cinematography). You **must** however, include a response to the 'themes' column.
 * OLDER**
 * 1. Copy the chart below and paste it on a new page linked from your Director's Project page for this assignment.**
 * 2. In the first column, list any techniques, styles, and Iconic examples your director would be known for.**

Spencer Browne- @Martin Scorsese Chart It Sherman lo - David Fincher Chart It Titus Hartmann - John Hughes Chart It Noah Browne - Coen Brothers Chart It that your director would be known for || Example || Film ||  ||
 * Andy Lu** - Zhang Yimou Chart It
 * Helen Wong** - Stephen Chow Chart It
 * Alain Hwang** - Sergio Leone Chart It
 * Todd Hansen** - Spike Jonze Chart it
 * || Techniques & Iconic Examples
 * Cinematography ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Editing ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Lighting ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Sound ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Mise-en-scene ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Performance ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Themes ||  ||   ||   ||   ||


 * EXAMPLE: David Lynch**

//Twin Peaks.//
 * Example: For David Lynch's version of the film of my memory //Parrot Balloon.//**
 * || **Techniques, Styles, & Iconic Examples**
 * that your director would be known for** || **Examples** || Films || **How can you emulate this in your film?** ||
 * **Cinematography** || Close ups that reveal secrets || •The motorcycle reflected in the crow's eye in

//•//The show push underground that reveals bugs beneath the serene landscape of Lumberton in //Blue Velvet.// || //Twin Peaks// //Blue Velvet// || The final shot will be a closeup on the eye of the bird as an homage to //Twin// //Peaks -// the shot will also suggest that there is more to the bird than what is on the surface. || characters and their alter egos meeting as they cross each other's loop.
 * **Editing** || Nonlinear stories || •//Lost Highway// seems to exist as a loop, with

//•//The Black Lodge seems to exist outside of time

in //Twin Peaks.// || //Lost Highway// //Twin Peaks// || Towards the end of the film, scenes of the mother reading fantasy stories with the balloon in her room will be intercut with scenes of her as a little girl playing with her father. || low key flickering lighting during scenes of violence. || •Laura Palmer's death in //Twin Peaks// //•//The opening dream sequence of //The Elephant// //Man.// || //Twin Peaks// //Elephant Man// ||  ||
 * **Editing** || Quick Violent Cuts accompanied by
 * **Lighting** || Flickering lights || •In //Twin Peaks// when the dead body

of Laura Palmer is being examined, the broken fluorescent light foreshadows the violent editing and flashing lights that occur onscreen during the flashback to her death. || //Twin Peaks// || Whenever the balloon begins to move, the lights will flicker a bit - but just barely noticeably. || orchestral scores from Lynch's go to composer. ||  || •//Blue Velvet// //•Twin Peaks// //•Elephant Man// || I'll find some appropriate Badalamenti music to fit the scene. || communicate a dysfunctional and degraded society. ||  || //•Eraserhead// •//Blue Velvet// //•Twin Peaks// || To set the stage of my film, I'll shoot some on location images around the factories and broken down parts near me in Shanghai. || of Bob's victims in //Twin Peaks.// || //•Twin Peaks// ||  ||
 * **Sound** || Music by Angelo Badalamenti;
 * **Mise-en-scene** || Setting: Industrial backdrops that
 * **Mise-en-scene** || Props || Iconic prop: cut out letters under the fingernails
 * **Performance** || A Strange Song & Dance || •In //Twin Peaks// the 'man from another place'

dances in the Black Lodge to illustrate the surreal nature of the place. This is accompanied both by Lynch's strange use of sound (it is recorded backwards and played forwards) and lighting, which flickers.

• In //Eraserhead// the woman in the radiator sings a sad song and dances as Henry contemplates his fate.

//•//The singer in //Mulholland Drive// seems to trigger a response in Betty and Rita that transform them into two entirely different people.

//Other examples://

FBI Agent Flo dances to communicate about a supernatural disturbance in //Fire Walk with Me.// || //•Twin Peaks// //•Eraserhead// //•Mulholland Dr.// || I once had a dream that when you opened the oven in my house, that it would lead to the play area in the kindergarten I attended as a kid. In my dream I would go through this 'shortcut' a lot, but this time was stopped by a tiny version of my father who looked like a baked and slightly burnt gingerbread man cookie.

I'm going to connect this to my film with a sequence in which the protagonist gets a cryptic message from the small man in the oven about the parrot being a doppleganger (see below) for the ghost of his grandfather. He communicates this by singing backwards in a sad dance - this character will be a doppleganger for the father. || films tend to have evil alter-egos, or simply other versions of themselves that contrast their outward personalities. || •Laura's secret life literally contrasts her mainstream 'prom queen' personality in //Twin// //Peaks//. •Bob in //Twin Peaks// seems to represent a doppleganger of whoever he chooses to inhabit. • Every actor in //Mulholland Drive// plays two versions of their character with different personalities. •Bob turns into someone entirely different in //Lost// //Highway//. || //•Twin Peaks// //•Eraserhead// //•Mulholland Dr.// //•Inland Empire// //•Lost Highway// || See above. ||
 * **Theme** || Dopplegangers: Characters in many