Nolan & Neo noir

Still from Memento (2000) 

  Alright so I most certainly know how I want the film to look, cinematically, but I feel like, as genres go, it's a little hard to define exactly what I want to do. Currently, I am being heavily inspired by director Christopher Nolan and the influence the crime, neo-noir genre has had on his work, specifically his first two films, Memento and Following.

Still from Following (1998) 

  Although the two films have release dates that are only a mere two years apart, they differ drastically. Memento is most definitely the more acclaimed, but there is something striking about watching a director's first film. What initially drew me to Following, besides the fact that it was Nolan's debut feature, was this Vice interview where Nolan discussed the problems that he ran into while creating the low budget film. It was incredibly interesting to hear such a big time director breaking down his filmmaking process. In the interview, there is a point where he addresses his fascination with the genre and how it extends further into melodrama and the idea of heightened reality which interested me the most. I want to incorporate these themes into my final piece; mystery, drama, and the idea of a heightened or exaggerated perception of reality.

Resources: Dark Roots: Christopher Nolan and Noir Jason Ney 2013
http://filmnoirfoundation.org/noircitymag/Dark-Roots.pdf