Initial ideas for brief

I have established that I want to make a trailer for my coursework, but I am yet to decide what type of film to make this trailer for. I terms of genre, I think that I would prefer to select one which does not require extravagant props and significant resources. However, thriller is my favourite genre and generally trailers for that genre include action sequences or extravagant props, and this is a dilemma, leading me to think that drama would be the most viable genre to make a trailer for.

Small Scale Research - Director Case Study: Martin Scorsese

Early career and breakthrough

Martin Scorsese is an award winning director born in Queens, New York. He began his filmmaking career while attending the New York University, where he made a number of short films. His first feature film was called 'Who's That Knocking at My Door' which he made with fellow students. He has been nominated 8 times for the Academy Award for Best Director, only winning it once, for The Departed in 2006.

The film that sparked his career and made him well known as a filmmaker was 'Taxi Driver' in 1976, which was nominated for 4 Oscars including Best Picture and 2 Golden Globes.

Style

He became renowned for his style of making many of his films almost like biopics; often he bases his films on real events, and works closely with those involved in the events. This is true of Goodfellas and The Wolf Of Wall Street among others; in both situations the protagonist turned his life around after his crimes and documented their lives in crime, and Scorsese worked with them to maximise realism. He follows a similar structure for many of his films; it entails the protagonist's rise to fame and then downfall, and this is the case with films such as Goodfellas, Casino and the Wolf of Wall Street. All three of those films are narrated by one of the protagonists throughout, and this is a recurring theme in Scorsese's films.

Mediums

Although Scorsese primarily directs films, he has also directed short films and music videos. At New York University he began his filmmaking career by directing a number of shorts such as 'What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?', 'It's Not Just You, Murray!', and most famously 'The Big Shave'. He also directed the music video for Michael Jackson's song 'Bad' in 1987. Furthermore, Scorsese has worked in television; he directed the premiere for the series 'Boardwalk Empire', which he serves as an executive producer. Documentaries are another area in which he has worked; he has directed 12 documentaries, arguably most successfully being 'My Voyage to Italy' in 1999.

Most Successful films

Taxi Driver in 1976 is the film for which Scorsese is perhaps best known. It was nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Picture. It is considered a masterpiece due to, in part, fantastic performances, particularly from the lead actor Robert De Niro, but also the compelling plot and direction.

Goodfellas is another film considered one of Scorsese's most successful. It was nominated for 6 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. Like Taxi Driver, the performances are excellent, and it is generally accepted to be a stylish gangster classic.

In terms of financial success, The Wolf of Wall Street is Scorsese's most successful film; it grossed around $117 million in the US. It was also nominated for 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director.

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Failures

New York New York, Scorsese's follow up to the commercial success Taxi Driver was generally regarded as a flop. It was Scorsese's first big budget film, and was a box office failure.

Shutter Island, in 2010, despite being Scorsese's highest grossing film at the time, did not receive critical acclaim and its reception was poor in comparison with Scorsese's previous work.

Genres

Scorsese has directed a number of films in the crime genre, such as Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Casino and The Departed.

Another genre that Scorsese has favoured throughout his career is the sub genre of black comedy. High profile examples of his work in this sub genre are The King of Comedy, After Hours, and the Wolf of Wall Street

The genre in which Scorsese has perhaps specialised in the most is that of drama. He has made various drama films, notably Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, New York New York, Raging Bull, The Color of Money, The Last Temptation of Christ, The Age of Innocence, Bringing Out The Dead, Gangs of New York, The Aviator and Hugo

Collaborations

Scorsese has a number of actors who he has worked with on several occasions, often playing similar roles in each of his films while some have been cast in very different roles.

Robert De Niro is the actor that Scorsese has worked with on the most occasions: 8 times; Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, New York New York, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, Goodfellas, Cape Fear and Casino. In the earlier films in which they worked together, De Niro tended to play the lead role in the films, such as in Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, while later on he was more often cast in a supporting role such as in Goodfellas.

In recent years, Leonardo Di Caprio has become Scorsese's muse; he has appeared in 5 of Scorsese's 6 films since 2002. He has played the lead role in all of these 5 films and has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in one of them, his and Scorsese's second collaboration, The Aviator.

Coursework Brief

A promotion package for a new film, to include a trailer, together with two of the following three options: 

1. A website homepage for the film 

2. A film magazine front cover, featuring the film

3. A poster for the film