What is Martin Scorsese's Style? (Video Essay)
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- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- Hey Flick fanatics, here is a new video essay on the films of legendary director Martin Scorsese and an exploration into his unique approach for each of his films,
Enjoy! 
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When you listen to him talking about his influences you get the sense that he has absorbed every effective technique he has ever seen used in a film. Then he makes those techniques his own by so completely understanding WHY they work that he transforms them or takes them to more effective place than his influences did. A lot of very successful directors have gotten by with the same 8 crayons in every film they make. Scorsese is the kid who showed up with 64 Crayolas and a built-in sharpener and he still hasn't used them all.
Brilliant analogy!
Many good artists are capable replay buttons, some are diverse but hit or miss or mid, some are consistently genius / auteurs
I like to think of Scorsese as a contemporary Howard Hawkes. For both of them, their style is that they look at each story for what it is, determine what is the best way to tell the story, then put of of their vast cinematic knowledge and skill in telling the story as well as they can, rather than molding the story to fit their style. Story first - ego last.
Agreed!
Many directors change up their styles for different projects. It's just a question of which style becomes more associated w/ them. Sam Raimi is a very distinctive filmmaker, but you wouldn't have guessed that he directed A Simple Plan (1998) if it weren't for the credits. I say the most popular thing about Scorsese is actor improvisation (ex: "Funny how?"). He's like a conductor of character interactions & behavior. Very different from how controlled the lines are in films written by Quentin Tarantino, Aaron Sorkin, & David Mamet.
This video convinced me to binge some of your other videos. Really good content, man. Keep it up.
Thank you so much!
A great video breaking down one of the most (if not the most) versatile american filmmaker of all time. Age of Innocence is in my top ten films of all time!
His use of slow motion is his most distinctive feature.
@Om Patel Haven't seen Silence. His post Goodfellas films aren't that interesting. I think Scorsese in his prime did have an overall style. His camera movements in conveying violence are quite expressive... like Van Gogh's brush strokes. Kurosawa was spot on in casting him in said role and literally tipping his hat to him. Scorsese is to film what Van Gogh was to painting, and no less of an auteur imo. He will go down as one of the all time greats!
Personally, I just think he likes to challenge himself. He's known for gangster movies like Goodfellas and Casino, but he hasn't really made many movies like that even now that the Irishman is out. I think he's attracted to story and challenges himself to tell it in the best way possible
Even with the gangster films, he’s making progressions with them and refining it.
Think about it. Mean Streets is about the new kids on the block and how they’re essentially expendable by the middle management.
Goodfellas is about that same middle management being expendable to the top dogs.
Casino and The Irishman is about the top dogs being expendable to time and old age.
Gangs of New York, The Departed, and Wolf of Wall Street (it may not necessarily be a gangster film, but it evolves on the same ideas) explore the cost of indulgence and corruption and revenge.
And ALL of those movies continue to expand and refine on the idea that crime not only doesn’t pay, it hurts. It hurts everybody involved. The victims and the perpetrators of crimes. Innocent people and criminals and cops all die in the crossfire. And even if they don’t, they’ll be haunted, always looking over their shoulder just waiting and wondering when their day will come.
Scorsese is very versatile. He even challenge himself to do 3D because he's a fan of it in Hugo. That movie also have him step out of his comfort zone and do a low key steampunk family movie with a 3D aspect to it. And for the most part it works.
Scorsese does not have a specific style. He adapts to the specific film.
Absolutely right!
Totally agree. Just look at Wolf of Wall Street, Silence, and Shutter Island. Each has such a distinctive style, but it’s all Martin Scorsese
Agree, I watched Hugo, The Aviator, Goodfellas, The Wolf of Wall Street, sometimes I can't believe that these 4 different movies are directed by the same guy
“Marty! Kundun...I loved it!” - Christopher Moltisanti
This will sound mildly crazy, but there is one genre Scorsese has not yet tackled: The War Movie. One of the things that is consistent in Scorsese's body of work, is his ability to portray complex social worlds: New York Gilded Age High Society, The Mafia, an insane Asylum, Paris in the twenties., Tibet, first century Palestine, even a diner.. There is a mildly famous, sadly under-rated novel that describes such a world.; An Army Air Force Base in Florida at the height of World War 2. It tells of three days of crisis , in which the officers and enlisted men-and women- of the base are tested to their limits. It has almost eighty fully realized characters and offers a powerful tale of racism and sexism. Their are almost perfect roles in the book for DeNiro, De Caprio, and Daniel day-Lewis. The book -which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1950, is Guard Of Honor, by James Gould Cozzens. Somebody really ought to give a copy to Marty. It would make a superlative three and a half hour Netflix film-or even a miniseries.
He has a style, and the style is: straight up genius.
There is just something watching masters doing their work
Thank you for sharing,
Scorsese's one of the greatest directors still live
You got the answer on the background of your video. Scorsese does Jazz with cinema.
I’d say Scorsese’s defining characteristic in his films is the importance of character rather than the story. Some obvious ones come to mind: Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Bringing Out the Dead, Shutter Island, Last Temptation of Christ etc. Sure there may be some odd ones out like Mean Streets, which is more a neo-realist portrayal of local gangsters in his hometown, but even in that movie it’s the characters that drive the story.
I like how, in The Departed, Leo's character was doing dips with the books like De Niro's character in Cape fear. Good self-reference.
Perhaps Scorsese deliberately choses the cinematographer he thinks is most suited for the subject he is dealing with. Silence ,for example, is closer to "slow film"(Tarkovsky, Malick, Ozu.)
And now we have another epic argument between Jimmy Hoffa and Tony Pro.
Ever movie I’ve watched by Martin has some sort of slow motion shot of water or something landing in water 💦 👀
How did you catch all these techniques and how do you make a video essay? I’d like to make one
I just try to be observant whilst watching and having a good knowledge of the films :)
@@flickfanatics7948 I feel like I miss so much when I watch. There are times when I see a camera move and I mark it down but I have no idea of its significance or what it even means or why they did it. What kind of research do you do for the essays and how much is too much? Is it consider cheating to look up what a camera movement meant in a film instead of figuring it out by yourself?
one thing I like about his style is when a character saying a particular sentence, the camera will zoom in with a stylish movement, and a lot of directors don't use this technique these days.
Agreed, I really like that and also when he refrains from doing it for a particular reason is interesting :)
This is a cop out answer. It assumes that it's just one thing that defines a style or it's the "one big thing". It also assumes that someone uses those particular things in EVERY film but won't make an except. There are plenty of things that make up Scorsese's style. Not just "long" tracking shots, but his consistent use of tracking shots in general has been in almost all of his films. He is also very much an impressionist, using impressionistic film techniques to convey what it means to be in that character's head with a single shot.
I just was reading reviews of Silence on IMBD its funny at the number of people that are salty Scrosese portraying the priests as sympathetic and not shitting on faith.
How to get a good script? Scorsese is a great director and almost all his movies are good. But he is not a screenwriter.
what ever the fuck he wants it to be
In my opinion, it's Scorsese's surrealistic approach to a film, such as 'Slow motion' being one of his trademark techniques.
I don’t think that coming at the ideas of style from the standpoint of whether or not they use technical or narrative ideas consistently through their work is quite the right perspective. I think those consistent elements of style are the outcomes of an artist’s natural tendencies, accumulated through personal experience, and reference to previous technical styles. More simplified to identify and environment, and what other art they like.
Scorsese does not have a Scorsese. He's just Scorsese making a Scorsese.
Scorsese specializes in Religious symbology, Neurosis and often personalities he can sympathize with the darker side of, but not necessarily relate to, Vanity Roles are his thing, History that is close to heart thing’s to him in some way, or vain personalities who continue to fuck up even after they’ve got it all, his style can vary, sometimes it’s consistent and minimal, in Wolf he uses like every technique imaginable.. besides that, he’s an auteur, simply has a signature; and his deep respect for cinema and ability to not be such a clear borrower of style - but his influences come thru a bit.
He deviates but also is so diverse that that word means nothing rly.
He always let his scenes be so clean, with long awkward pauses, fixed and direct angles. Giving the opportunity to the actors to do the heavy lifting and become amazing at what they do.
I think he adapts his style depending on the story and the emotional state of the characters, trying to make us feel what they feel. The one thing which I'd say is common in most of his movies is his constant use of camera motion - there are so many moving shots in his movies. Having said that, he also knows exactly when to use a still shot and slow things down, like the master he is.
Style is a positive fault that u make knowingly or unknowingly..... A deviation from authenticity of .....Martin scorsese luk for authenticity more than anything.. So he doesn't have a style...
Great video. After Hours would have been a great mention for this video. Scorsese's most underrated Masterpiece which is so complex, and so brilliantly crazy. It also has some intriguing conversational scenes as well.
That's pretty much the only one I haven't seen and I keep telling myself to watch it soon. Will definitely do so now :)
Patrick Cerra soooo slept on
@@AlexCCarter What do you mean?
your music is way too loud. I cant really hear what youre saying.
That’s why I love his films
He's the greatest !!
Wes Anderson has well, Wes Anderson!!!
Killer of the flower moon felt little underwhelming. Scorsese should have opted for a minimalistic camera movement approach like he did in The Silence. Sometimes his drastic camera movement doesnt go with the flow when he is making a period piece(Age of innocence) or a non fiction like KotFM
Have you rewatched? Jw
I think Scorsese more of a visual filmmaker.
Do you know where you got the quote from when he talks about his own style?
His masterclass :)
way over my head, some times you amaze me.
Thank you!
starting music name?
such a fantastic video! absolutely loved it
Thank you!
His style is Epic!
I don't know, does a style have to present in every single film to qualify as a signature style?...1:52 - ish...
8:04 now, there I had no idea, never heard that one...right to left is forward...interesting...
Ah...ok...it's from observation...I thought that was an official-thing or something...
Who’s your top 5 favorite directors?
Scorsese
Fincher
Nolan
Kubrick
Wright
Kubrick
Kurusowa
Scorcese
Kubrick
PTA
Nolan
Nolan
Nolan
Scorsese
Tarantino
Wright
Nolan
Nolan
Nolan
Dude, could you change the intstrumentation playing in the video, cause it really distracts from your voice-over, it's super loud and diverts the listener's attention.
Great video but Danny Boyle is the greatest director
Thanks, I also love Boyle's style:)
William Sinisterra ummmmmm no
William Sinisterra he is good tho
Hehehe nice joke
Is he though? Trainspotting is one of the best movies of all time in my book but he's never done anything as good ever since
It's interesting, would you consider Scorsese as an auteur considering most of his films are not written by him?