Stanley Kubrick's creative secrets

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Stanley Kubrick is one of the greatest directors of the 20th century. In this article, you will learn some of the features of his creative worldview. Tips will come in handy not only for novice filmmakers, but also for all life hackers.

You can become as great filmmakers as I am, if you just resist every attempt to interfere with your work with all your might and remain yourself.

Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick is one of the best directors of the twentieth century. He died on March 7, 1999. But after his death, his name appeared in the credits of at least 17 films. How is this possible? It's just that Kubrick's cinematic talent enjoyed such reverence that many wanted to express their respect in documentary films.

During his creative life, Kubrick directed such masterpieces as Trails of Glory, Doctor Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Atomic Bomb (this film won an Oscar), Barry Lyndon, Full Metal Jacket, 2001: A Space Odyssey "(also" Oscar ")," Eyes Wide Shut "and others.

According to his contemporaries, he was able to create successful commercial products without sacrificing meaning and artistic form. Below are some of the creative secrets of the great Stanley Kubrick.

Watch as many movies as possible

I try to watch all the films that come out. I have a movie projector: pictures, copies of which I can get, I watch at home, if not, I go to the cinema. But in any case, I try to watch everything.

Many directors complain: they have such a tight schedule that there is simply no time to watch someone else's movies. As a result, a paradoxical situation arises: they move away from the art that they are obsessed with.

You need to keep up with what others are doing. Analyze the work of competitors, be part of the community and strive for excellence. Although, of course, one should not forget that the main task of the director is still to shoot, not watch a movie.

Face your fear

When accepting the D. W. Griffith Award, Kubrick quoted Steven Spielberg in his acceptance speech, stating that the hardest part of his profession is "getting out of the car." This means that in order to make a film, you must first decide on it. It's difficult. You need to leave your comfort zone - "get out of the car."

After Kubrick said:

Anyone who has ever had the honor to direct a film knows that sometimes it is comparable to trying to write "War and Peace", sitting on a spinning carousel, but with pleasure from the result, few things in this life can match.

You can remove everything

If it can be written, it can be filmed.

There are no boundaries between different types of art. Most of Stanley Kubrick's films are based on literary works. At the same time, the director noted that all great books are united by one feature - it is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to transfer them to film.

This is obvious, but it can be forgotten in the process of work: there are no restrictions in the cinema. Do you want to take pictures of a flying man or a bear kneeling curiously in front of a man? Everything is possible.

Just three things

When I made my first film, what helped me the most was that in the early 1950s people thought it was incredible. They thought it was impossible to just go and make a movie. But everything is terribly simple. All you need to shoot a movie is a camera, film and a little imagination.

When Stanley was 13, his father bought him a Graflex camera - the young man was passionate about photography. He became an official school photographer, and in 1946 began moonlighting at Look magazine, selling them his photographs.

It may sound ridiculous, but the best young filmmakers have to do is grab a camera, film, and make a film, whatever it may be.

So, in order to create, you need only three things - a camera, film (in the 21st century, of course, we are talking more about a digital camera) and fantasy.

Make sense

The meaninglessness of life forces a person to create their own meanings. Children begin life with an unsullied sense of wonder, with the ability to experience joy; but as they grow older, the awareness of death and decay begins to encroach on their consciousness and weaken their cheerfulness, idealism and the concept of immortality.

When a child grows up, he sees death and pain in the world, begins to lose faith in goodness. But if he is intelligent, strong and successful, then he can come out of this twilight of the soul. Despite his awareness of the meaninglessness of life, he will be able to find fresh meaning, and with it - determination and confidence. He will not be able to regain that pure sense of surprise with which he was born, but he will be able to form something much stronger.

The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile, but that it is indifferent.

If we can come to an agreement with the Universe, accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death, then the existence of a human being as a species can have genuine meaning. However, the all-consuming darkness must be opposed by its own light.

Summary

Stanley Kubrick is a complex artist with a fairly simple philosophy. He has directed 13 feature films, each with an idea. He was bewildering and at the same time inspiring directors, actors and other workers in the film industry.

These tips are specific to cinematography, but they can also be applied to life. Absorb as much information as possible, surf the creativity and say "Motor!", Even if you are scared.