masterful direction

Flicker Pictures

Flicker Pictures

Just watched The Ghost Writer. Wow. Tremendous filmmaking. I didn't need to be reminded of how amazing Polanski is as a director, because he's one of the living legends (a lot like Herzog IMO) but there's something so economical and simplistic about his style that cuts right to the essence of pure cinema and no frills storytelling. All the camera work is motivated by the action of the blocking or location. He doesn't just throw in fancy-pants camera moves for the hell of it. In fact, much of the time the camera is static, just taking in the actors, the setting, allowing the story to be told without all the bells and whistles. So awesome. And from a screenwriting perspective (I know he co-wrote the script with the book's author) in many respects Polanski is a writer's director. Every furtive glance, every nuance, every bit of subtext was evident in every shot, in every performance. And the ending shot was just brilliant.
 
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So I watched this and am rewatching without sound. I bought this on itunes so I can watch it while taking biobreaks at work.. lol ... So far I noticed a few things..

Deep focus is used a lot, which sorta feels Hickcock'esque to my uneducated eye.

1/4 through my second viewing and I THINK that for every NEW character the comes on screen there is a little camera move.. I could be wrong on that.

I think the some of the ferry deck scenes are bluescreen, as well as the view out the office window towards the beach. The ocean from the boats is decidely CGI looking, in a very surrealistic way.

This movie is almost black and white. Very little color, post grading.

I do love the limited camera movement, and there are some fairly long takes, for example when the ghost is having the long talk with his agent after being mugged, the shot is very static.

Using deep focus on the OTS and reverses is quite old school looking, again seems like an old movie..

but what do I know...
 
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Been meaning to check out 'Ghost' for ages, how much is it worth paying for to buy. I've also been meaning to get other Polanski films, the only one I have being Chinatown.
 
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Deep focus is used a lot, which sorta feels Hickcock'esque to my uneducated eye.
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Hell yeah. Just about the entire movie is deep focus, which is pretty much how Polanski shoots his films. A reminder (to me) that the super shallow DoF craze can only take you so far when it comes to telling a story and serving the story's needs. Many times you WANT to see the whole location in focus, not just the face of someone against a blurry background.

I think the some of the ferry deck scenes are bluescreen, as well as the view out the office window towards the beach. The ocean from the boats is decidely CGI looking, in a very surrealistic way.
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If you check out the DVD extras, they built the entire interior of the house and every window was green screened. Amazing.

This just popped up on NY Times
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/01/17/movies/1248069570133/critics-picks-rosemary-s-baby.html

... and, since this is Polanski's thread, the opening to Macbeth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1lHYvxieB8
 
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"Hell yeah. Just about the entire movie is deep focus, which is pretty much how Polanski shoots his films. A reminder (to me) that the super shallow DoF craze can only take you so far when it comes to telling a story and serving the story's needs. Many times you WANT to see the whole location in focus, not just the face of someone against a blurry background."


Yep, like everything it has more impact if it's used for a reason, not all the time.
 
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Polanski is brilliant. And the Ghost Writer was separate but reminiscent of Chinatown and The Ninth Gate. I loved the last shot tremendously even though i knew it was coming soon as McGregor walked offscreen.
 
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I think I need to revisit The Ninth Gate. Kinda glossed over that one when it first came out.

Now that I think of it... other than the opening shots, Ewan McGregor was in every scene in The Ghost Writer, yeah? Much like Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby and the Pianist? We see the world of the film through and with the main character.

** I guess I do need to see The Ninth Gate again. Some of these folks have seen it over five times!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0142688/usercomments

Rosemary's baby is a film that influenced me a LOT. The feature I'm working on I am actually saying is "Rosemary's Baby meets Angel heart".
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Two of my faves. :) When you need some feedback, keep me in mind.
 
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