For this project, I have chosen to focus on the directorial work of Frank Darabont.
Biography
Darabont was born in a French refugee camp in 1959 after his parents fled from Hungary as a result of the 1959 Hungarian Revolution. He and his family moved to Chicago when he was a child, and then moved again to Los Angeles where he later became inspired to pursue a career in film after seeing George Lucas' 'THX 1138'. One of Darabont's first jobs after leaving school was at the renowned Hollywood Egyptian Theatre as a concession and seat finder - he was allowed to watch films for free. Darabont began his filmmaking career after working as a production assistant on a low budget film, ‘Hell Night’ in 1981. Afterwards, he worked as a set dresser and in set production whilst struggling to establish himself as a writer; his first writing credit was for ‘Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors’. He made his directorial debut in 1990 with the television film, 'Buried Alive'.
Darabont became one of only six filmmakers in history to receive Best Picture nominations for his first two feature films: ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ (1994) and ‘The Green Mile’ (1999). Darabont’s next feature film, ‘The Majestic’ (2001), was not successful, achieving only half of its $72 million budget at the box office. In 2010, Darabont developed and executive-produced the first season of ‘The Walking Dead’, after coming across the comic book (by Robert Kirkman) in a comic book store in 2005 - Kirkman praised Darabont for how he adapted the first season from the source material. Darabont also wrote and directed the pilot, which became the most-watched series premiere episode of any AMC television series. However in 2011, Darabont was fired due to budget cuts and a difficult relationship with AMC’s executives.
Key Works:
Directorial Style
Darabont frequently uses a dolly movement to establish a scene, which physically brings the audience closer to the scene, as if he is pulling us into the action – this is usually a slow dolly in. Both ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ and ‘The Green Mile’ feature a voiceover from the central character (Red, played by Morgan Freeman, and Paul Edgecomb, played by Tom Hanks), which reflects the narrative style of their source material – both are based on novels by Stephen King. Darabont also uses high and low angle shots to establish status amongst characters: in ‘The Shawshank Redemption’, Red is shot from a lower angle which emphasises his status amongst the other inmates, and in ‘The Walking Dead’, when Rick wakes up from his coma, Darabont uses a high angle shot to highlight how he is alone and he is unprepared for what has happened to the world.
Whilst the pacing of ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ and ‘The Walking Dead’ is fairly slow, a lot of time passes in both – Darabont shows this effectively in ‘The Walking Dead’ by a bunch of flowers decaying between shots after Rick wakes up. Crossfade transitions are also used to show the passing of time.
The use of different colour palettes is also a feature of Darabont’s work, which is particularly prevalent in ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ to depict notions of freedom for Andy Dufresne: when he is convicted, there are very cool, bluey tones used, where the rooftop scene uses a much warmer, red palette.
My Chosen Scene
I have chosen to recreate a scene from the first episode of 'The Walking Dead', directed by Darabont. The scene involves the central character, Rick Grimes, waking up from a coma to find himself in an abandoned hospital. We open with a distorted scene of Rick's partner, Shane, leaving flowers for him at his bed. Dazed and confused, Rick wakes up and realises a lot of time has passed since he was admitted and Shane left the flowers for him. He struggles to make his way through the ward and discovers the nightmarish state it is in; occupied by the undead and strewn with corpses. Rick emerges from the hospital, but he steps out into a changed world...
I feel this is the most important scene in establishing the tone and setting of 'The Walking Dead', and with virtually no dialogue, Darabont has been able to effectively portray a lot of detail. This scene would be a practical challenge, but if executed well, I feel I could set the foundations for building the setting, as Darabont has done so effectively. I feel that relying on action and environment to tell the story works much better than through dialogue, and this scene would allow me to explore this as a director.
My initial plan is to work on the pacing of the scene - using faster cuts to build up to more tension - which would distance my directorial style from Darabont's which utilises cuts to create a slow build up. I would also aim to change the colour grading to allude to the passage of time between the first 'flashback' scene to the present day when Rick wakes up. There is little musical accompaniment in the initial scene, however I think I will try to avoid music at all costs; similarly to my story-telling project, I want to create a realistic atmosphere to the scene, and a lack of music to dictate mood will allow for this realism.
Darabont was born in a French refugee camp in 1959 after his parents fled from Hungary as a result of the 1959 Hungarian Revolution. He and his family moved to Chicago when he was a child, and then moved again to Los Angeles where he later became inspired to pursue a career in film after seeing George Lucas' 'THX 1138'. One of Darabont's first jobs after leaving school was at the renowned Hollywood Egyptian Theatre as a concession and seat finder - he was allowed to watch films for free. Darabont began his filmmaking career after working as a production assistant on a low budget film, ‘Hell Night’ in 1981. Afterwards, he worked as a set dresser and in set production whilst struggling to establish himself as a writer; his first writing credit was for ‘Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors’. He made his directorial debut in 1990 with the television film, 'Buried Alive'.
Key Works:
- 'The Shawshank Redemption' (1994)
- 'The Green Mile' (1999)
- 'The Majestic' (2001)
- 'The Mist' (2007)
- 'The Walking Dead' (2010)
Directorial Style
Whilst the pacing of ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ and ‘The Walking Dead’ is fairly slow, a lot of time passes in both – Darabont shows this effectively in ‘The Walking Dead’ by a bunch of flowers decaying between shots after Rick wakes up. Crossfade transitions are also used to show the passing of time. 
The use of different colour palettes is also a feature of Darabont’s work, which is particularly prevalent in ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ to depict notions of freedom for Andy Dufresne: when he is convicted, there are very cool, bluey tones used, where the rooftop scene uses a much warmer, red palette. My Chosen Scene
I have chosen to recreate a scene from the first episode of 'The Walking Dead', directed by Darabont. The scene involves the central character, Rick Grimes, waking up from a coma to find himself in an abandoned hospital. We open with a distorted scene of Rick's partner, Shane, leaving flowers for him at his bed. Dazed and confused, Rick wakes up and realises a lot of time has passed since he was admitted and Shane left the flowers for him. He struggles to make his way through the ward and discovers the nightmarish state it is in; occupied by the undead and strewn with corpses. Rick emerges from the hospital, but he steps out into a changed world...
I feel this is the most important scene in establishing the tone and setting of 'The Walking Dead', and with virtually no dialogue, Darabont has been able to effectively portray a lot of detail. This scene would be a practical challenge, but if executed well, I feel I could set the foundations for building the setting, as Darabont has done so effectively. I feel that relying on action and environment to tell the story works much better than through dialogue, and this scene would allow me to explore this as a director.
My initial plan is to work on the pacing of the scene - using faster cuts to build up to more tension - which would distance my directorial style from Darabont's which utilises cuts to create a slow build up. I would also aim to change the colour grading to allude to the passage of time between the first 'flashback' scene to the present day when Rick wakes up. There is little musical accompaniment in the initial scene, however I think I will try to avoid music at all costs; similarly to my story-telling project, I want to create a realistic atmosphere to the scene, and a lack of music to dictate mood will allow for this realism.
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