Wednesday, 18 December 2013

SSRP: Catalogue of Items

A2 Film Studies - Small-Scale Research Project Sources Catalogue
Films: (4 Items)

Item 1: Tarantino, Quentin, 2012. Django Unchained, Columbia Pictures. (Focus Film)
Django Unchained is the film that I have decided to use as the focus film of my SSRP. This is because I feel like it includes the most to talk about when discussing Tarantino’s directing style and auteur features. Firstly near the end of the film Tarantino has a cameo role as one of the mining employees.
Item 2: Tarantino, Quentin, 1994. Pulp Fiction, Miramax Films. (Supporting Film)
Pulp Fiction is a Tarantino classic and a film that is known by many. In my opinion Pulp Fiction is a film that is very good at showing Taratino’s themes such as blood, violence, profanity and sex and nudity.
Item 3: Tarantino, Quentin, 1992. Reservoir Dogs, Dog Eat Dog Productions Inc. (Supporting Film)
Reservoir Dogs is a Tarantino film that I have chosen as a supporting film primarily because of the clear themes in the films. The film clearly shows Tarantino's use of the themes Crime, Profanity and Blood & Violence.
Tarantino also plays a bigger cameo role as Mr.Brown. In this role he is seen in the film from the very first scene.
Item 4: Tarantino, Quentin, 2003. Kill Bill, Miramax Films. (Supporting Film)
Kill Bill was the fourth film that Tarantino had made and is in my opinion an excellent way of showing Tarantino’s directing style and themes in his films. For example, anyone who has seen Kill Bill will know about the amount of blood within the film. Therefore it is a good film choice for showing Tarnation’s use of blood within films. This will most likely be the strongest film out of my choices for showing this theme.

Books: (3 Items)
Item 5: "Tarantino", Smith Jim, Virgin Film Books 2005
I have found a book on the director Quentin Tarantino that I think I will be using for one of my items in my catalogue. This book is called 'Tarantino' and was written by Jim Smith and was published by Virgin Film Books in 2005.I am considering using this because the book discusses several Tarantino films that I will be talking about in my SSRP and I believe that it would be a useful source when researching. For example, the books talks about Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs which at two of my selected films.
Item 6: "Quentin Tarantino - The Man And His Movies" (Jami Bernard, Harper Collins Publishers) - 1995.
Using for information on Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. In reference to Pulp Fiction, Tarantino says that he loves going through scripts aloud which he did with Uma Thurman when he first met her. Therefore this source could be used as an example of how Tarantino is a good director through his planning of films and his auteur style. Later in the book Uma says "you know, Quentin always says that all of his characters come from somebody he knows, or somebody he's met or something that he's seen. And he's always been led by that in casting and designing it. And my character was one of the few that came purely from his imagination. He didn't have a preconceived notion; he just knew he'd know her when he saw her". This quote is excellent for when I look at frequently used actors and Taratino’s individual auteur style.
Item 7: Reservoir Dogs - Quentin Taratino
Features an interview with Tarantino in which he discusses how he uses genre conventions. Tarantino talks about how after a year and a half after writing Natural Born Killers he was no further in then in the beginning. "It was out of this frustration that I wrote Reservoir Dogs. I was going to go really guerrilla style with it, like the way Nick Gomez did Laws of Gravity. I'd lost faith in anyone giving me money - and then that's when I got the money". In this quote Tarantino tells us about how when he started writing from his heart and what he himself wanted he started to become successful. This in itself shows that when Tarantino started this what he called 'guerrilla style' of writing must have been successful which could be an aspect of his individual auteur style.


Magazines: (1 Item)
Item 8: Sight and Sound Magazine Issue - October 2003: Quentin Tarantino, Kill Bill Interview.
I thought that this interview in Sight and Sound would be a useful source to use I'm my SSRP because it is directly from Tarantino himself and therefore he is likely to explain his reasoning for doing certain things within the film Kill Bill. Specifically I'm reference to the theme of violence. This is because Tarantino says "there's never a moment when I'm telling you this is happening in the real world, when you're not aware you're watching a movie. Nobody is getting killed, this isn't real blood and if you don't like it you mustn't like the colour red because you know it's not real. It couldn't more obviously be a movie". This quote from Tarantino is almost used to justify his use of blood and violence however it is not an excuse and I totally see where he is coming from. This also shows how Tarantino is a no-nonsense director who does what he wants to do in creating his films. Again pushing the idea of his own auteur style.


Web-Based Sources: (3 Items)
Item 9: Independent Article on Django Unchained (By Jonathan Romney)
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/jonathan-romney-on-django-unchained-its-good-then-its-bad-well-it-is-tarantino-8458657.html
I have chosen this article as a source for my SSRP as I believe that it would be a useful and reliable source with some valid opinions. This is because it is taken from the Independent which is a well-known and trusted organisation.

Item 10: Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB)
IMDB is a well-known and trusted website for films and tv shows. I thought it would be wise to look up the pages for the films I am investigating to see what I can discover and how they can help me. For example, Taratino’s films include a large amount of profanity and therefore when talking about this as a theme it is difficult to narrow down and use specifics. However on each film page on IMDB there is a section that reads 'Parents guide'. This points out each theme within the film and how they have been used. For example in the film Pulp Fiction, how many times has the word "Fuck" been used. Instead of watching the film and making a tally chart I can just find out the exact number. Therefore I am going to use this as one of my source as I believe it would be extremely useful for discussing themes.


Pulp Fiction Article:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110912/?ref_=nm_knf_t1

Reservoir Dogs Article:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105236/?ref_=nm_knf_t2

Kill Bill: Volume 1 Article:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266697/?ref_=nm_knf_t3

Django Unchained Article:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1853728/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Video Interviews: (4 Items)
Item 11:
This source is alike the Sight and Sound source in a way because it is again from Tarantino himself. However I think that this source will be more reliable as it is a video and therefore we will see a more representive response from Tarantino. This is because in the Sight and Sound article Taratino’s words could have been twisted by the interviewer. 

Item 12: Pulp Fiction ‘’Say What’’ scene (YouTube)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7L6piElF3c
I will be using a scene from Pulp Fiction in my presentation when discussing themes. The scene during the beginning of Pulp Fiction what I am using shows John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson visiting the students apartment and start shouting swearing and shooting them. This scene can also help me when I talk about Tarantino's frequently used actors; this is because Samuel L Jackson stars in Tarantino films such as Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained.

Item 13: Quentin Tarantino video interview - Django Unchained (YouTube)
http://youtu.be/fCPTDQkKe3I
After watching this video on YouTube, straight away I knew that it would be a great thing to use as a source in my SSRP. This is because in the interview, Tarantino himself comments on his use of Violence and profanity within the film Django and explains why he has used them. Therefore I think this source will be extremely useful when it comes to me explaining why Tarantino has done certain things to show his use of themes.

Item 14: Quentin Tarantino video interview - Pulp Fiction (YouTube)
http://youtu.be/qlC1nVUFuck
This YouTube video is excellent in my opinion that is for explaining Taratino’s auteur style and how it has changed over time. This is because Tarantino himself discusses the story of Pulp Fiction and explains what his inspiration for it was. Therefore I think that this video would be great for showing what Taratino’s thinking was for how he made Pulp Fiction.



De-Selected Items: (2 Items)
Item 15: Scott, Tony, (written by Tarantino) 1993. True Romance, Warner Bros. (Supporting Film)
My original idea was to use this film as one of my selected items as it was written by Quentin Tarantino, however I have realised that the film is not directed in the same was as Tarantino film because he did not have a part in the directing aspect of the film. Although it is clear that the film is still written in the style of a Tarantino film, however because the main thing my SSRP is investigating is Tarantino's directing style so I think it would be best to make this film a deselected items as I believe that there are better Tarantino directed films that I could use in my SSRP.

Item 16: Empire Magazine Online, Django Unchained Review (Web-based Source)
At first I thought that it would be a wise idea to find a review of Django online. I wanted to use a source from film magazine ‘Empire’; however it soon came to my attention that it would be difficult to find a copy of Empire that had an article on Django. Also the fact remains that Empire magazine doesn't really use professional language when reviewing films. What I mean by this is that the reviews tend to be more about the films plot and how entertaining it is rather than actually analysing the film. Therefore I have decided not to use this source for my SSRP.


Word Count – 1,488

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