QUENTIN TARANTINO DIRECTOR RESEARCH

Background 

Film director Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA on March 27th, 1963. His career started off as simply being a video store clerk in California. Using that job as an opportunity to strengthen his knowledge of the film industry and genre cinematics that later on ended up becoming his own distinct voice within the industry. Entering the industry in the 1990s, Tarantino managed to reshape the cinematic world through a group of talented independent filmmakers. 

Notable Works

Pulp Fiction (1994), a comedic crime film that redefined all of independent cinema. This was Tarantino's second film to come out and a personal favorite. The film premiered and then went onto being a ‘Palme d’Or’ winner at Cannes Film Festival in that same year 1994. Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2 (2003-2004) combined global cultures, martial arts, distinct style and an epic revenge plot all into 2 movies. Kill Bill Vol. 1 led to Uma Thurman receiving the “Best Female Performance’ at the 2004 MTV Movie Awards. In 2019, Quentin Tarantino had released his last film ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’, a film being the entirety of 1960s Hollywood retold and the entire narrative of what life was at that time was changed. 

Styles & Techniques

Tarantino utilizes multiple elements of intertextuality and narrative experiments. He utilises nonlinear storytelling in films such as Pulp Fiction (1994) and Reservoir Dogs (1992), the aspect of nonlinear storytelling uses disrupted chronological order of events. Another technique that Tarantino uses is making dialogue a main focus. He is actually known for his lengthy character dialogues; he also makes use of conversation between characters to illustrate connections between characters. Finally, he uses a lot of violence in his films as a part of the aesthetics. The violence within his films are all exaggerated and choreographed; he had taken inspiration from Spaghetti Western films which makes violence a cinematic deception instead of depicting the films realism. 

Recurring Themes 

Every Tarantino film follows a certain collection of themes. In films like ‘Kill Bill’and ‘Inglourious Bastards’, the central theme is Revenge.  The characters within these films challenge different injustices within their lives. Another recurring theme within his films is the ‘Americana’ and the implementation of Pop Culture. His films have references to old TV shows, retro cars, diners and music from the eras of the 50s to 60s. Pulp fiction is the film that perfectly captures 20th century pop culture and cinematic Americana. 

Influence on the Industry

Tarantino had the biggest influence on the cinematic wave within the 90s; he brought in the aspect of ‘neo-noir’ crime films, ‘Kill Bill’ being one of the main examples of this genre. He also inspired an entire group, guys like Robert Rodriguez adopted Tarantino’s postmodernism techniques of using violence, exaggeration, irony and intertextuality. He also brought back an aspect of film that was obsolete. Tarantino was inspired by Spaghetti Western films and then brought back this genre through his own films. Tarantino's films are so widely recognized, “Kill Bill’ and ‘Diango Unchained’ made Quentin Tarantino a two-time Academy Award winner for the title of Best Original Screenplay. He has won multiple international awards for rejuvenating classic cinema in the industry. 

Conclusion

Quentin Tarantino's work follows a formula of Pop culture, historical cinema and purposeful storytelling. Through the use of nonlinear narratives and exaggerated violence, he reshaped an entire element of cinema on a global scale. 

Tarantino and my own work

I want to utilize Tarantino’s exaggerated techniques and his implementation of pop culture and music. I also might want to experiment within the genres of morality, using a character whose ethics are being challenged.