A look at three different directors part 1: Quentin Tarantino

I am going to take a look at three different directors, with three different styles and what influence they have over the intro that I am currently planning.

Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino burst into the indie movie scene in the early nineties with his own brand of fast-talking, pop-culture influenced crime films, starting with his heist-gone-wrong film "reservoir dogs", although critically panned in the states, with a limited release, the film went on to be something of a success in Britain.

Now recognised as a classic, the film is non-chronological in structure (so as to influence and play with the audience's sympathies) and never actually shows the heist itself (although it play a very brief audio clip), by doing this the audience is kept in the dark about the heist, this keeps them questioning the motives of the characters, especially since the plot of the film concerns the inclusion of an undercover cop in the heist.

Although, it was with the Palme d'Or winning "Pulp Fiction" that cemented his style of film, with it's thick vein of dark humour and pop culture versed characters, the film was released to wide spread critical acclaim along with making $213,928,762 at the box office and influenced just about every other crime film made in the 90s.

His work can be divided up in to his '90s work, which consists of extremely well written crime films (this is for both films he has made and ones based upon his screenplays), and his post-2000 shift in to going back to the films he grew up on: exploitation films. His first real effort was 2004's "Kill Bill:Vol 1", the first of a two-part series based on the kung fu revenge films that populated the grindhouses in the '70s, although part 2 resembled a spaghetti western in feel and provided a contrast to the out-and-out Tokyo bloodfest of the first. (Interesting fact: the typography of "Kill Bill" at the end of part 2 is the same used for the American trailer for "They Call Her One Eye" (AKA: "Thriller: A Cruel Picture") the infamous Swedish rape-revenger whom Tarantino has called the "the roughest revenge movie ever made"- also Daryl Hannah's character is based on Christina Lindberg's character in the aforementioned film).

He then went in to full on grindhouse mode (after guest directing "Sin City" with Robert Rodriguez) with 2007's"Grindhouse" an attempt at recreating a double-bill exploitation experience for the modern cinemagoer; the end product was a double-dose of exploitation maddness with an impressive cast (for a faux-sploitation film) and purposfully imposed grain, the two films were "Planet Terror", Robert Rodriguez's zombie movie- notable for it's protagonist's machine-gun leg in the final reel and it's John Carpenter-esque score, and Tarantino's "slasher-movie-on-wheels" "Death Proof". They then added some faux-trailers, to the already risky idea (directed by Eli Roth, Rob Zombie and Edgar Wright), this led to "Grindhouse" being cherished by those how saw it at the cinema and the critics, however it was a flop- leading to the films being hacked apart when it was released in the UK (to get some money back). Although, many cite it as the start of the exploitation ressurgence which lead to the creation of the faux-sploitation genre (modern movies that try to emulate exploitation films of the 1970s), such as: "Black Dynamite", "Machete", "Hobo With A Shotgun" and "Father's Day".

His next film, "Inglourious Basterds", started what he terms himself an "alternate history trilogy" that encompasses "Django Unchained", each featuring, you guessed it, an alternate take on history in the style of a well known sub-genre. They both feature cartoonish violence, almost bordering on the excessive with "Django", although many deemed his treatment of such a difficult period of American history which brought him under fire for from critics and other directors, one of the most vocal - Spike Lee- stated via twitter "American Slavery Was Not A Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It Was A Holocaust. My Ancestors Are Slaves. Stolen From Africa. I Will Honor Them.".

However "Django" itself was well recieved by many critics, and after having a taste of directing a western it seems he has been bitten by the bug, and as of this point in time will be directing another entitled "The Hateful Eight".

Filmography:
-My Best Friend's Birthday (1987) (lost film-never released)
-Reservoir Dogs (1992)
-Pulp Fiction (1994)
-Jackie Brown (1997)
-Kill Bill Volume 1&2 (2003 and 2004)
-Grindhouse/Death Proof (2007)
-Inglourious Basterds (2009)
-Django Unchained (2012)