Martin Scorsese
Famous Films
 Wolf of Wall Street
 Goodfellas
 The Aviator
 Taxidriver
 Shutter Island
Mis en scene
 Lighting
 Costume
 Colour
 Space
 Camera Position
 Action & Performance
 Framing Décor
 Music
Character – descend into an obsession or disintegrate
Director trademarks
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Frequent use of slow motion, e.g. Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967),
Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas
(1990), and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).[115] Also known for using freeze
frame, such as the opening credits of The King of Comedy (1983), and
throughout Goodfellas (1990). Such a shot is also used in Casino (1995) and
The Departed (2006).
His blonde leading ladies are usually seen through the eyes of the protagonist as
angelic and ethereal; they wear white in their first scene and are
photographed in slow motion (Cybill Shepherd in Taxi Driver; Cathy Moriarty's
white bikini in Raging Bull; Sharon Stone's white minidress in Casino).[116]
This may possibly be a nod to director Alfred Hitchcock.[117]
Often uses long tracking shots.[118] Example: Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Casino,
Gangs of New York, Hugo.
Use of MOS sequences set to popular music or voice-over, often involving
aggressive camera movement and/or rapid editing.[119]
Often has a quick cameo in his films (Who's That Knocking at My Door, Mean
Streets, Taxi Driver, The King of Comedy, After Hours, The Last Temptation
of Christ (albeit hidden under a hood), The Age of Innocence, Gangs of New
York, Hugo). Also, often contributes his voice to a film without showing his
face on screen. He provides the opening voice-over narration in Mean Streets
and The Color of Money; plays the off-screen dressing room attendant in the
final scene of Raging Bull; provides the voice of the unseen ambulance
dispatcher in Bringing Out the Dead.[120]
Sometimes highlights characters in a scene with an iris, an homage to 1920s silent
film cinema (as scenes at the time sometimes used this transition). This effect
can be seen in Casino (it is used on Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci), Life
Lessons, The Departed (on Matt Damon), and Hugo.
Some of his films include references/allusions to westerns, particularly Rio Bravo,
The Great Train Robbery, Shane, The Searchers, and The Oklahoma Kid.
More recently, his films have featured corrupt authority figures, such as policemen
in The Departed[121] and politicians in Gangs of New York[122] and The
Aviator.[123]
Guilt is a prominent theme in many of his films, as is the role of Catholicism in
creating and dealing with guilt (Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Bringing Out the
Dead, Mean Streets, Who's That Knocking at My Door, The Departed,
Shutter Island).
• Slow motion flashbulbs and accented camera/flash/shutter sounds.
The song "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones is heard in several of Scorsese’s
films: Goodfellas, Casino, and The Departed.
 Main character talk into the camera
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