Clint Eastwood - Contextual Research

Clint Eastwood

When choosing my directors i knew i wanted to write about the all mighty Clint Eastwood. I have chosen Clint Eastwood as my main focus for the project, Clint's key works and his fantastic directorial styles are one of my inspirations for my own work. One of the most interesting things that Clint Eastwood does it that he always chooses his first/second take, and that is something i really want to do within my work and really understand why Clint Eastwood chooses his first/seconds takes rather than his 10th or 20th. 

Clint was born in California on May 31st 1930, he is an Actor, Producer and most importantly an amazing Director. Clint rose to international fame with his role as the Man with No Name in Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy of westerns during the 1960s. 

Clint's work in the western film 'Unforgiven' (1992) and the sports drama 'Million Dollar Baby' (2004) he won Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture, as well as receiving nominations for Best Actor. One of his best works was on Unforgiven, Eastwood's career is defined by how often he starred in or directed films that reflected American culture and history. Westerns were an American film genre that were very popular throughout the world in the 50's and 60's, the time period that Eastwood had this breakout as an actor. Eastwood loved telling the American western culture through Unforgiven and he really truly did, it wont absolutely almost every award for the film.

Clint Eastwood's Directorial Styles

Clint always says that every film is a different and has different obstacles to overcome and that's what makes it more interesting. Clint always remains open to new ideas and developing your own philosophies as you go, it's a very enjoyable process for Clint and that is what i aspire to be. Clint has a reputation for always going with the first or second take, of course he doesn't always get the right shot in one or two takes. He always likes to keep the crew and the production team going at a business- like pace so they all get the feeling that they are part of something thats actually moving forward. Clint teaches me to always have a great crew wether it is actors or producers everyone has to get along and feel like the production is going well. The cast and crew feel like they are going somewhere when they go to work each day and feel like they are accomplishing something and not just doing it for the same scene each and every day. Clint likes to do the entire sequences in one day so everyone has the feeling that all of the parts are there and it also helps the post-production process. It is also very important to Clint that the atmosphere that everyone is working in is comfortable, that is the best way to get the best out of the crew. 

I always knew that keeping the team and crew happy helps within a hard production, i have researched how Clint works with his team and is absolutely fantastic because knowing you get along with your team and crew well that is the best way to get the final product.

When Clint was working on 'Unforgiven' he bought the script in 1980 and put it in a drawer where he said to himself that he would look at it one day. He took it out 10 years later and started to rewrite some of the script with the permission of the writer. He then realised after re-writing it he was just making it worse, he realised that he was a terrible screenwriter but that did not stop him creating Unforgiven. This really inspired me as i am not great at screenwriting or coming up with brilliant ideas for a film, but Clint Eastwood wasn't good either and this really made me think even if my idea is terrible through the lens i can create something magnificent.  The execution of a script isn't always terrific or right or it might not suit the actors that you are hiring, but this is where you adapt it and add things to it to fit your actors or crew. Sometimes you might need to change things here and there and sometimes you'll need to rework it entirely from the start, and that's not a problem. Sometimes while writing screenplays it just the base of your project, after you hire your actors and get your locations you start to think that some bits from your script will need to change and this absolutely makes it better.

Another key feature film that Clint Easwood worked hard for was 'Million Dollar Baby' starring himself. This film has also won many awards, one of them being another win for Clint Eastwood for 'Best Director' as also winning 'Best picture'. This amazing feature film won 4 academy awards, and Clint Eastwood couldn't be prouder. 'Million Dollar Baby' is the story of a thirty-one year old waitress names Maggie Fitzgerald who dreams of being the female heavyweight champion. This movie deals greatly with the theme of lost opportunities, which a lot of people can relate too. Clint always focuses on cinematography and mise-en-scene and also creating the perfect atmosphere for the audience. The tone of his films are characterised by the tempo and the editing, He chooses to add elements like rapid cutting of action sequences that dominates his actors and makes it more interesting to watch, he really used these techniques in 'Million Dollar Baby'.

This is one of the best scenes from the movie 'Unforgiven' that Clint Eastwood worked really hard on. A lot of people say that this scene is absolutely brilliant. Where we see a beautiful colour palette used in this scene that is mostly Blue, Green and brown colours, this gives us a safe feeling because we are given a location where we are surrounded by a bright and warm coloured atmosphere and the entire scene is shot with long shots and extreme close ups, Clint Eastwood loves to express his actors/characters feelings with extreme close ups this way the audience can really tell what the character is feeling and what exactly they are planning. The long shot also expresses the location that we are put in as an audience. It is empty and lonely with the sounds of birds chirping, the lonely tree really adds that loneliness feeling into the scene, it shows that the characters have nowhere to go but feel safe here at the spot. We as an audience feel like nothing can disturb them here at this moment. Everything is focused on the location and the feelings of the 2 characters.

As in this scene it is a complete contrast to the warmth and the safe feeling we got while watching the other scene, in this scene we are welcomed instantly by Red and Dark colour contrasts, this immediately gives us a warning that something dangerous is about to occur. Clint always knew how to use his lighting and colour pallets, and it is almost the most important thing within a production of a movie. What i've also noticed in both scenes is the use of sound, Clint really makes sure that the use of sound is used to increase the feeling of the atmosphere that we are in, as we can tell in this scene the use of rain and gun shots is very loud because Clint want's us to know that the rain/storm shows us the isolation of the characters meaning that are stuck inside this western bar. All the characters are equipped with guns and it would be stupid of Clint not to use those in favour of 'Unforgiven'. Clint Eastwood really makes sure that these sound-effects are loud and clear for audiences to hear so we know exactly what is happening around us. 

Clint is one of my favourite directors of all time, his directorial ways are absolutely brilliant and if it wasn't for his struggle at the beginning of his famous work he would have never worked so hard and got to where he is now, that is what i really aspire to be. Clint taught me that even if script writing or directing isn't working at first, when you develop those skills and keep trying you could really create something brilliant. Unforgiven is one of those projects Clint Eastwood struggled on but now it is almost the most famous western film in history, it has won tonnes of awards and this just shows how much of a struggle Clint had with it but he never gave up it became something magnificent. He also inspires me to keep trying to work on my screenwriting which i have done this project and it is 10x better than my first ever original script for my first project. I also love the way that Clint uses lighting in all his projects it really shows that is one of his most important styles to use in a film. Without the correct lighting tones and corrects it will not create the atmosphere that the story is supposed to be set in and this will not interest the audience. Whatever the mood is wether it is sad or happy it should always have the correct lighting tones to really express the characters emotions, as well as close ups and long shots to show emotion and the location. With these tips Clint Eastwood really helped me with this project because i took all of these styles and added them into my own project and finally i am absolutely proud of my Directions piece.