My Chosen Director- Richard Curtis

What Does Richard Curtis' Work Mean To Me?

Richard Curtis first inspired me when I was around twelve years old; I watched 'Love Actually' (2003) for the very first time and was captivated by the concept of having multiple narratives colliding to reach one end goal, love. Therefore when researching directors he definitely came to my mind but I discovered so much more about his work than I thought I already knew. For example he has a belief that "it's important to be there to feel the atmosphere of the location". and states how he rarely uses green screens because they take away the emotion. For example in Love Actually (video below) there is a scene set outside in London on a cold night, it would ave been easy to use a green screen however using the location does add a sense of rawness to the moment. The scene is extremely simple but even the shot types communicate to the audience the strong feelings in the scene by starting wide on each character and then slowly moving in until reaching tight close ups and then going back to wide shots. I like this technique and it's something I will use in my own work as it builds up emotion to help the audience develop connections with moments.

Scene from 'Love Actually' (2003)

Curtis is famous for his RomComs, and as well as being a director he is also a writer and producer. He is most famous for writing films such as 'Bridget Jones Diary' (2001), 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' (1994) and 'Notting Hill' (1999). However he has directed five films; the most recognised ones being 'Love Actually' (2003), 'The Boat that Rocked' (2009) and 'About Time' (2013). I rewatched all of these three films and he definitely has some clear trade marks that make his work stand out as a 'Richard Curtis' directed film. 

These are:

-Having scenes where there is a moment of unease shot handheld.

In the shot above from 'About Time' Curtis has the whole thing shot handheld as it is a moment of twist in the story where protagonist Tim learns something that will change his life.

-Focussing the action and having other areas of the frame blurred.

-Frequently having the colour red in most scenes; 

This happens in most of Curtis' films and it symbolises love and danger, themes commonly present in Curtis' films. This is definitely something I will use in my own work.

-Shots being filmed in 'real locations'.

-Not using many close ups to convey emotion, instead using very slow zooms with a soft audio track played with it. In this example from Love Actually character Karen has just found out her husband Harry is having an affair yet she is surrounded by their memories, this creates more sympathy from an audience. 

I have chosen to recreate a few scenes from 'Love Actually' when character Karen finds out her husband Harry is cheating on her. The first scene is from before she knows and it portrays their everyday traditional husband and wife relationship that they have. The second moment is when Karen thinks her husband has bought her a beautiful necklace and she is overjoyed. Finally we see her find out Harry is having an affair, yet she does not react in a dramatic way, she simply walks into their bedroom and cries as she looks at photos and thinks about what she has lost. I am definitely going to take inspiration from Curtis by filming some parts hand held to create unease for the audience, and by having the colour red shown throughout the moments. Curtis will definitely impact my work but I also want to try to breach away from him a bit to discover my own directing style. 

Love Actually (2003)

My presentation on him: