Mood Boards

Sam Miles

Directing
The Coen Brothers
The Coen Brothers are two brothers, Joel and Ethan, who have been directing films together since 1984. Since then, they have been directing some of the best dark-comedies known to cinema. The best examples of these darkcomedies are The Big Lebowski, Fargo, and Burn After Reading. With dark-comedy, you have to take elements of real life that may not be considered humorous and then make it funny. And example of this would be in the film Fargo, someone is being killed, but they manage to make it funny by killing them in a wood-chipper, an usual and comedic way to die. My short film will have heavy themes of darkcomedy throughout, and if Im able to add these themes throughout, I think the film will live up to standards of dark-comedy set by the Coen Brothers.

Martin McDonagh
Martin McDonagh is an Irish director and has only made two films within is directing career, In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths. But in those two films, I personally think theyre two of the best dark-comedies and has gathered a cult following between them. The elements of dark-comedy throughout this are shown through the storyline and the dialogue. The directing style is very subtle with the dark-comedy and violence, but at the same time, very graphic and vivid. If I could incorporate a style of directing that McDonagh delivers to my short film, I think I would have achieved the best I could do for my short film.

Directing
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino has directed many films in his time and one of his films Pulp Fiction has been noted as one of the best films of all time. Within his films, he does have elements of darkcomedy, but is not based around it. His films are very violent and within the violence, they add comedy. A notable example of this is in Pulp Fiction when Vincent shoots Marvin in the face. This is funny because he shoots him the face by accident and plays it off like it was a normal thing to do. He makes is seem normal to them with the dialogue, as if this is a normal thing for a hit-man. The dialogue throughout has the hit-men talking about regular day-to-day things like hamburgers and the metric system, which just shows theyre people too and adds realism to the film.
Within my film, I would like to add dialogue like that of Quentin Tarantinos. His directing style is also fantastic for dark-comedy and is done very well.

Luc Besson
Luc Besson is a French director and I am mainly concentration on his films Leon: The Professional and La Femme Nikita. La Femme Nikita is a French film about a girl who is controlled by the government to be an assassin. There has very really been many French films dedicated to action like this, and this is the feeling you get with Leon: The Professional. Leon: The Professional is an American film and also set in America, but you get an overall European feel about the film, which is an element I would like to explore.
Within these elements of European film, there is also mass elements of American Hollywood and action throughout which is a element and a theme that has not been done before. With these two merging together, you get elements of each and they play out to make an action film that is very action pact and interesting, but also elements of realism and down to the point. If I could add this style to my short film, I would be very happy with the end result.

Cinematography
Thierry Arbogast (Leon: The Professional) Andrzej Sekua (Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs) Ole Bratt Birkeland (Utopia)

Location
Farm

Car

Location
Dark room Country side