what are film styles ? I dont get it or how a film falls under one

People say what style is it? well i dont know. when you look up directors you cant even find their style.
Tarantino's heavy dialogue isnt a film style. What are these film styles.? I'm starting to believe its bollocks

Film style broadly refers to the set of conventions that a given film/filmmaker uses. Some categories of styles are conscious decisions by filmmakers to adhere to some philosophic ideal of what filmmaking is, like Expressionism, while others, like Film Noir, are named after the fact because a large group of films used similar lighting, cuts, narratives, etc. It's pretty easy to differentiate between some of the more unique film styles. Sin City's color palette is a style. Gravity's long takes are part of a style. Some directors have recognizable styles that they use across multiple films, like Tarantino's dialogue and violence, or Wes Anderson's... everything. Of course, style is often a general categorization of where a film falls among the myriad of ways to film something, so it's not like you can just sort every film into a dozen styles and call it a day.

davidevans10 said:

Tarantino's heavy dialogue isnt a film style. What are these film styles.? I'm starting to believe its bollocks

Click to expand...

Actually, I think Tarantino's heavy dialogue definitely a style, and also the way he borrows from many genre films.

Every distinctive director (or 'auteur') has his/her own style. Some are more obvious than others. For example, Yasujiro Ozu's style of low camera placement, disregard for 180 degree rule, lack of camera movement, and the use of transitional shots that aren't causally related to the narrative are evident in most of his films and it really stands out if you compare his films with other filmmakers (even in Japan). Andrei Tarkovsky and Bela Tarr are known for their extremely long takes. Max Ophuls and Kenji Mizoguchi are known for their amazing use of the moving camera. And I think some of it can even be thematic such as the Frank Capra style of inspiring stories starring the good everyman.

There are also styles between or within national cinemas, 'filmmaking modes' (traditional narrative, 'art' film, or experimental film), genres, and film periods.

For example, the classic Hong Kong cinema can be seen as distinctive for its use of episodic narrative structure, use of Cantopop songs, mix of genres, using staging as a more dominant element to enhance entertainment value, and a kinetic style of cinematography/editing. If you look at many Hong Kong films you can see how this fits with martial arts films, their broad comedies, and their dramas/romances. Once you understand this style you can see how other filmmakers twist or deviate from this style (such as Wong Kar-Wai, Peter Chan, Patrick Tam, and Stanley Kwan).

I think it's important to distinguish film styles because it can help increase your cinematic palette as a cinephile and it can show you as a filmmaker how the use of different formal elements can turn into a cohesive style that can consistently entertain your audience, or you can recognize your own style to intentionally break away from it and experiment with it. There are many many many general styles, national styles, movement/school styles, and individual filmmaker styles so there is always a lot to learn!