Kiera Bridges
Presentation Script
Martin Scorsese - An Investigation into his Film Making Style Outside of the Italian
American Gangster Genre
PROJECTOR: The first slide is revealed proclaiming the tittle of the topic at hand; Martin
Scorsese and his work outside of the Italian American gangster genre.
RUN AUDIO: Raging Bull's theme music, Intermezzo from the opera Cavalleria Rusticana
is the played at a low volume.
PROJECTOR: The next slide, a picture of Martin Scorsese is then shown for 20 seconds,
at the end of this time the music will then fade to a close and the next slide will then be
shown displaying a quick explanation into the investigation.
PRESENTER: MARTIN SCORSESE, is one of the most influential and inspirational
directors of this century, he is described by many as an auteur, however his most
recognizable body of work resides within the Italian American Gangster genre, my
investigation looks into his film making style outside of this genre to really determine
weather his style is consistent through-out all of his films.
This investigation is loosely in reference to all of Martin Scorsese films, but with a detailed
and precise look into three films: Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1983) and
Shutter Island (2010).
PROJECTOR: The nest slide with the heading Hallmarks is shown with bullet points
noting different trademarks used by the director.
PRESENTER: A brilliant way to note the style of any director would be to acknowledge or
identify his or her use of hallmarks, Martin Scorsese has a lot of defining hallmarks in his
films that really epitomize his work.
(see slide for bullet pointed list of hallmarks)
One of the most common and recurrent hallmarks that Scorsese uses is the realistic way
in which he explores his narrative and the truthfulness to his characters, within his films a
character's back story is always prominent and it's usually a key feature in identifying why
the characters do certain things within the film.
Shutter Island (2010) in particular is a prime example of Scorsese's detailed look into the
back story of a character and how this is very important to the film, as the the backstory for
the lead character, Teddy Daniels, actually leads to explaining the events of the entire film.
Another important hallmark that is immediately connected with any Martin Scorsese film
are his use of colour, in particular the colour red.
"One of your hallmarks is certainly the colour palette that you choose, it was evident very
early in Mean Streets; the bar scene's are all in red." - James Lipton
(Item 5)
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The use of the colour red is extremely prominent within The King of Comedy (1983) with
Robert DeNiro's character in particular wearing subtle red tones such as his red tie or bow
tie during the film and then ultimately at the end the complete red suit that he wore on
stage. (Item 7)
The films Raging Bull (1980) and Shutter Island (2010) also use red tones but more
specifically within the text especially for Raging Bull which was a black and white films that
only used the colour red within the text.
The most notable hallmark belonging to Matin Scorsese, that can also be considered his
most distinguishable aspects within his films, is his use of music.
Scorsese uses rock and roll music to depict everyday life, Scorsese himself has said that
his use music has even gone so far as to inspire specific scenes within his films.
"The song were all pretty much planned before hand, for example when Keitel wakes up
from the nightmare at the beginning he wakes up and goes to look in the mirror and he
goes back to bed and there are three shots close ups of his pillow and these three shots
are the first three beats of "Be My Baby" by the Ronette's." - Martin Scorsese (Item 5)
Scorsese's hallmarks distinguish him from any other director and these hallmarks are used
in every single Martin Scorsese film without fail, patterning a true and identifiable style
through-out his films.
PROJECTOR: The next slide is then shown, the heading reads Collaborate with Actors
and Crew and the slide displays a table of information about actors and crew that have
worked with Scorsese a number of times.
PRESENTER: Martin Scorsese's repeated collaboration with actors and crew is an
element that is heavily recognized by audiences and certain actor's and crew are
associated with Scorsese's work as well as Scorsese's work being identified by the actors
and crew that he works with.
Scorsese's direction and the freedom he gives actors to develop their characters and
contribute their ideas to the narrative, is something that actors love and a lot of actors want
to continue working with Scorsese.
In particular his continued work with editor Thelma Schoonmaker, writer Paul Schrader,
cinematographer Robert Richardson and production designer Dante Ferretti allow his films
to take on a imagery that is consistent through-out his films.
Raging Bull (1980) and The King of Comedy (1983) marked Scorsese's 4th and 5th
collaboration with actor Robert DeNiro who worked with Scorsese a number of eight times,
DeNiro and Scorsese are often linked to each other it had been said that DeNiro was
Scorsese's way of representing masculinity.
(Item 3)
Shutter Island (2010) marks Scorsese's 4th collaboration with actor Leonardo DiCaprio
who is steadily becoming Scorsese's leading man, his use of DiCaprio marks a change in
the representation of masculinity in a contemporary society, compared to a handsome
DeNiro, a beautiful DiCaprio indicated a shift in the representation of men.
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(Items 3 and 6)
Overall, Scorsese's collaborations really emphasis the overall the look and feel of his films
and his working relationships are admiral.
PROJECTOR: The next slide is then shown, the tittle reads Themes and Statements
which displays a bullet pointed list of the common themes and statements featured within
Martin Scorsese films.
PRESENTER: As young boy growing up in the New York borough of Queens, Scorsese
life experiences and the issues that he was expose to or even went through within this
environment became crucial elements within his films, you could even say that his films
pay homage to his life and his culture.
(Item 1)
The themes and statements that Scorsese works into his films are very similar or
sometimes even the same for every film, Scorsese explores these themes in different
ways by using different and unique characters or by exploring different regional identities.
The most reconcilable theme within a Scorsese film, that he is most know for, are themes
of Italian American Identity, Raging Bull (1980) represents the lifestyle of Italian American
boxer Jake La Motta, in this film we are shown the ways in which Italian Americans
incorporate Italian traditions into an American lifestyle, and we can clearly see Scorsese's
first hand knowledge of this particular lifestyle and his eagerness to share his culture; it is
almost like self expression.
Scorsese's films also feature themes of ostracization, the lead character is often an
outcast who seeks acceptance from society, I believe that every leading character in a
Scorsese films deals with this theme and it is very evident, within The King of Comedy
(1983) the lead character Robert Pupkin is a man who no one can really remember the
name of and he has no accepted role within society, this character ultimately does
anything within his power to become accepted by the comedy society.
In Raging Bull (1980) the lead character Jake La Motta is shunned by the boxing society
and he spent his whole career awaiting recognition for his talent, yet another example of a
Scorsese character wanting acceptance within society.
I feel that this particular theme is very closely related to Scorsese himself who I feel has
longed to be accepted as a film maker within the film society.
(Items 10)
Scorsese's films also feature themes of crime and violence, I believe that these are the
themes that most people identify with a Scorsese film.
Quite a few of Scorsese's films feature a narrative based upon crime and they feature
elements of violence although his film deals with themes within and outside of the Italian
American genre and some films such as Shutter Island (2010) that is shown from the
perspective of the police, I believe that it is the realism with which Matin Scorsese uses to
explore these themes has a big impact on his audience and really packs a punch behind
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his work; this could also be the reason why people mostly recognize Scorsese's films that
deal with crime and violence.
PROJECTOR: The next slide is the shown, the tittle reads Summary and it has a short
paragraph concluding the main points of the powerpoint.
PRESENTER: My investigation into Martin Scorsese's film making style has lead me to
believe that Scorsese's style is consistent through-out all of his films and he is a true
auteur who unlike some directors such as Tim Burton or Quentin Tarantino, he doesn't use
the same imagery or a specific genre to ensure that his films are recognized by others.
I believe that the reason some people feel that Scorsese is not an auteur is that his work
isn't easily recognized by others, I feel that this is due to the fact that to understand why
Scorsese is an auteur and to see it for yourself, you would have to know about his films
and his style.
Scorsese is arguably the best director in the business and many critics are of the same the
opinion, however although Scorsese is a successful director who is often praised for his
direction, he was continually shunned at the Oscars year after year until he finally won in
2007 for The Departed (2006), I personally feel that Scorsese isn't as celebrated a director
as he should be, I believe that he is a director who is not in the limelight and so a lot
people aren't familiar with his work.
In conclusion, Martin Scorsese is an auteur within all genres that he has explored and his
style is unique onto himself and you can see his own personality within each film.