Who Influences Me?: Martin Scorsese+ Quantin Tarantino+Judd Appatow = Me

I picture everything as a movie. If one of my friends tells me a story I mentally project a shot by shot film in my head of the events. I can not control it. It’s like I have a tiny projectionist running around in my head, loading film real after film real and projecting the images in the inside of my skull, like a private theatre. I constantly get ideas that pop up in the old head of mine. I write every idea down no matter how small or stupid they seem. My life experiences, films and music are my biggest influences in my creativity. I watch movies all the time, especially from some of my favorite directors Martin Scorsese, Quantin Tarantino and Judd Appatow. Every time I watch a film by one of these directors I learn something new. I love each one of their directing styles as well. Martin Scorsese is by far the most influential director to me. I have seen nearly every Scorsese film multiple times. One of my favorite films is The Departed. The scene above is one favorite scene from the Departed. Scorsese has an amazing way of creating the best bar brawls. The text of the scene is that Leonardo DiCaprio is not drinking alcohol at the bar... but cranberry juice. Diactively implying that he is weak, DiCaprio says nothing to the man that insults him but smashes a class over his head in furry. The viewer actively has to search for subtext of this fight. Leo's character is not to be messed with or underestimated.  Scorsese also has a wonderful way of making this scene very dynamic using tension and release. The scene is Leo ordering a cranberry juice and the guy next to him making an off hand comment. SMASH! The tension explodes and DiCaprio hits him with a glass and the fight is simply broken up by a tougher character Mr. French. He is stern with Leo but does not hit him, Leo calms down and Mr. French offers him a drink. Once again DiCaprio orders a cranberry juice, and Mr. French says the same comment to him as the other man did creating the tension to rise once again. This time Leo looks unhappy but understands not to mess with Mr. French thus releasing the tension.

 Scorsese and Quantin Tarantino have very different styles in directing. The reason I love Quantin Tarantino so much is because he is extremely passionate. He is obsessive about filmmaking. I see myself in him because he was a small town nobody working at a movie store and he used scenes from movies that he admired to create his films. I am from Ohio and I am trying to make it in Hollywood as well. I want to borrow from films that I love, to create masterpieces of my own. I watched the behind the scenes of making Inglorious Basterds and Tarantino’s passion stands out in the first10 seconds of this clip.

I recently saw Gus Van Sant's 1989 film Drugstore Cowboy and I literally fell in love with this film. It is an independent film that was created for about $2.5 million. The opening of the film is a great way to set up the rest of the movie. I love Van Sant's directing approach. It is not like Tarantino's which is loud, and it is even more dry then Scorsese's. He is very monotone but understands exactly what he wants. In this scene the team of junkies set up an elaborate plan to steal pharmaceutical drugs. After they make the steal they drive away and Matt Dillion's wife in the movie says, "God Damnit Bob, why do you gotta get your fix in the car? Can't you wait till we get home like the rest of us?" The first thing that is said about Matt Dillion's character is diactively stating that he is so far into drug addiction he could not wait until he got home to inject their new drugs. Dillion's response is simple but actively shows he does not care about much in life besides being high.
I look up to all of these directors. I want to make movies that give people charges of emotion like they have. Whether it is a bromance like Judd Apatow, gangster film like Martin Scorsese or a witty gory western like Tarantino, I want to direct motion pictures and tell stories that are powerful just like these directors.