Three Major Filmmakers Who Are Bringing Back Old School Techniques

These three directors are responsible for some of the most old-school, artistically-fueled blockbuster movies in recent history.

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Complex Original

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With multiplexes dominated by superhero movies and modern technologies like CGI, the most rebellious and innovative thing a filmmaker can do these days is look to the past. Today, the film ecosystem is polarized, with billion dollar blockbusters on one end and indies cobbled together with a couple million bucks and duct tape on the other. Hovering in the space in-between? A film that allows for both money and artistry has become a no-man’s land in recent years, with few exceptions.

Three directors responsible for some of those exceptions are Steven Soderbergh, Wes Anderson, and Christopher Nolan. Despite increasingly difficult conditions, these three filmmakers have managed to carve out sustained careers and distinct artistic niches. Their films play alongside Marvel’s newest superhero vehicle and this week’s hot Young Adult adaptation across the country, yet remain uniquely their own.

What is the secret behind their success? For each of these filmmakers, this is a complicated question that deserves a nuanced answer. Despite their differences, all three of them have one thing in common: They look to the filmmaking techniques of the past in the face of an uncertain cinematic future.

1.

Though he has directed several blockbusters, Christopher Nolan is, in many ways, the definition of old school. His throwback tendencies come out of his early days as a DIY filmmaker. He recently told the DGA, “I’m interested in every different bit of filmmaking because I had to do every bit of it myself—from sound recording and ADR to editing and music.” 

The discipline Nolan learned from his early work has led to a preference for single camera shooting. “Shooting single-camera means I've already seen every frame as it’s gone through the gate because my attention isn't divided,” he has said. Nolan is also a firm believer in shooting film and is quick to point out, “It's cheaper to work on film, it's far better looking, it’s the technology that's been known and understood for a hundred years.” He also doesn’t have much time for needless CGI. “However sophisticated your computer-generated imagery is, if it’s been created from no physical elements and you haven’t shot anything, it’s going to feel like animation,” he said.

Despite his insistence on technical discipline, Nolan is still an incredibly efficient and productive filmmaker. On Momento, he reported covering 53 setups in a day. To provide some context, an average film may not clear two dozen. Like the rest of his approach, his work ethic is also old school.

2.

It may seem impossible to have more control over your films than Nolan, but Steven Soderbergh may achieve just that. Soderbergh is known for his one-man-band approach behind the camera. He is capable of stepping into a shoot (credited as Peter Andrew), editing (credited as Mary Ann Bernard), or lighting his projects as he sees fit.

Soderbergh has a technical understanding that can rival that of any filmmaker. He spent a good chunk of his recent talk with Collider extolling the virtues of RED cameras. (Best lines: “I just stripped everything off the body and stuck the camera behind the gas pedal. Normally you’d have to saw a hole in the car to get that shot. That’s the s*** I want.”) Soderbergh’s editing prowess is such that he recuts other people’s films as a hobby. He has recut Heaven’s Gate and 2001: A Space Odyssey; he released a mash-up edit of Hitchcock's version of Psycho and Gus Van Sant’s remake entitled Psychos.

We might identify Soderbergh’s DIY attitude and willingness to direct across genres and forms as part of a “rebellious” or “indie” sensibility, but in many ways, the man is a throwback, an homage to a time where pluck mattered more. In an age when big movies list hundreds of technicians in the credits, Soderbergh has made a career of getting it done, even if that means doing it himself. Soderbergh’s career is reminiscent of those enjoyed by directors in the early days of film. Just as studio system directors could crank out films across genres and tones, Soderbergh can direct projects as disparate as The Knick and Magic Mike.

If Soderbergh is the “anti-auteur,” then Wes Anderson is the embodiment of the director-as-author. His films are packed with his personal quirks and eccentricities, creating a style that is revered and parodied with equal zeal, down to the luggage that appears in his films. The design of an Anderson flick isn’t simply a superficial gesture; there is a meticulous method to this twee madness. 

3.

Anderson’s style is essential to the worlds that he creates. A recent piece in Architect’s Journal pointed out: “Virtually all [Anderson] films revolve around a single, hermetic, highly detailed, often custom-built location.” Why does he do this? Control. In confining his films to a particular space, Anderson finds throwback directorial precision. His tracking shots, symmetrical misé en scene, refined color palette, and elaborate production design all result in a carefully controlled, perfectly manicured product. When he can’t control his world to his liking through conventional filmmaking, he uses models. When asked about his use of models in The Grand Budapest Hotel, he said, “The particular brand of artificiality that I like to use is an old-fashioned one.” 

Old-fashioned artificiality wasn’t about creating thunderous effects for an audience—it was about world building. It is no wonder that he modeled The Grand Budapest Hotel on 1930s films "set in Eastern Europe but made in Burbank." The fantastic settings and technical precision of these films share far more with Anderson’s aesthetic than films pre-occupied with gritty realism and floating cameras that we so often see today.

As we can see from these three filmmakers, learning from the techniques and artistry of the past doesn’t necessarily lead to a bland, stale aesthetic. If you want to create art that stands out from the pack, there is no better way to inform your work than to look at what has come before. Despite their differences, these directors have each allowed the technical and creative lessons of the past to inform and improve their filmmaking.

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