Directions | Contextual Research: Marc Munden (TV Director)

As a lot of my work probably indicates, I am a great admirer of Marc Munden and his distinct style as a director, particularly through his work on Utopia and National Treasure.  Munden's work has a surrealist style to it, and whilst I am aiming for realism, the opening of my film features a dream sequence which would fit a surrealist tone and I also feel I can draw on the differences between realism and surrealism through Munden's work.

Munden began his career making films with his friend John Mathieson - cinematographer on Gladiator - and went on to be assistant for Mike Lee, Derek Jarman and Terence Davies.  He came to the attention of director, Paul Watson, who put Munden forward to make a 'Forty Minutes' documentary for the BBC.  His first full-length film was 'Christmas' for Channel 4 which was released in 1996; he then went on to direct a variety of other TV and film productions.

Munden's more recent productions tend to focus on controversial subject matters: Utopia explores ideas of population control and genocide, and National Treasure focuses on the trial of a TV entertainer suspected of sexual assault which relates to Operation Yewtree. In an interview with Den of Geek, Munden reflects on how he addresses these dark themes in Utopia by using bright and vibrant colour palettes to make the darkness and violence more palatable (though this was not his intention).  I feel this also adds to the absurd and surreal nature of the ideas presented in the series - I could adapt this for my piece to highlight the absurdity of a post-apocalyptic world through Rick's eyes.

As the interviewer in the Den of Geek interview puts it, Munden's 'graphic-novel style' framing is something I feel I could also utilise.  The plot of Utopia is kick-started by the murders of several people in a comic book store as two assassins track down a manuscript, and so the graphic-novel styling of the cinematography reflects the subject manner of the show.  Since The Walking Dead is based on a comic book, this is something I could incorporate into my own work, though it may contradict the realism I am looking for.


Bibliography:


Scott, L. (2010) Marc Munden, film director. Available at: https://theglobalherald.com/marc-munden-film-director/6868/ (Accessed: 1 February 2017).
Den of Geek. (2017). Utopia series 2: director Marc Munden Q&A. [online] Available at: http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/utopia/31294/utopia-series-2-director-marc-munden-qa [Accessed 1 Feb. 2017].