Narrative Choices

"the criticism of films or, better yet, their analysi is an enterprise of utmost importance: it is the film-makers who create the art of the cinema; it is through reflection on those individual filmswe have liked (or those we have disliked) that we have gained in-sights into the art of the film in general."

-Christian Metz 
from the book Film Language: A Semiotics of Cinema

Christian Metz was a French Film theorist who applied both Sigmund Freud's psychology and Jacques Lacan's mirror theory to the cinema, proposing that the reason film is popular as an art form lies in its ability to be both an imperfect reflection of reality and a method to delve into the unconscious dream state.

Movie directors are all story tellers. And all of them choose how to tell their stories. This are some of my favorite directors and the choices they´ve made to create their visual narrative.


Alfred Hitchcock has a cameo appearance in all his films and liked blondes as his leading ladies. 

Stanley Kubrick –

 made his characters do "The Stare" .
He enjoyed bad stuff happening In bathrooms.

 Was obsessed with "symmetry". 

Terrence Malick

Loves shooting on Nature Cinematography
Has multiple narrators,often unclear who exactly is narrating.


Alfonso Cuarón 

Has a penchant for Long takes (i.e. continuous, uninterrupted shot of film that's typically larger than a minute or so) and uses it to tremendous effect in his movies.

Darren Aronofsky 

 Chooses to show you the back of his characters by tracking shots

M. Night Shyamalan

Really Likes Using Car Accidents As A Plot Device and appears in every film he directs.

 Quentin Tarantino 

Has Dance Scenes, Black and White Suits, women feet and theTRUNK ( point of view) Shot

Sam Raimi – 

"The Car" Sam Raimi is obviously proud of his first car, a 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88, and so it’s the automobile that makes the cameo instead.



Sam Mendes

(Sam Mendes + Water )= Death

 Sam Mendes has always stated that one of his favourite films is the original Jaws, and it has clearly affected him. The presence of water in one of his films is almost always a precursor for impending death.


John Landis – 

‘See You Next Wednesday’

In many of Landis’ films he sneaks in the phrase ‘See You Next Wednesday’ in the background. The original phrase was coined in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Frank Poole’s father during the videocall.


David Lynch

In most of his films are filled with Dreams and Split Personality. Two people play one person.


Martin Scorsese

In all his films the ones who tell the tale are characters, not the plot. Of course, Scorsese's films never have a plot. It's the characters that get to run the show. Characters narrating their stories.
Usually, we'll see a character, a Catholic, loathsome idler as the protagonist.
New York City as the main setting in his films

Michael Bay

He may be the most hated director, but is famous for his trademark shots. Many people say that all of his films are alike. They all have explosions in it.  And the american flag. 

Christopher Nolan

Is Obsessed With Dead Women Nonlinear story telling. Two or more parallel scenes at the end.Name of the movie is again displayed at the end

Jean Pierre Jeunet 

His sets are intricately designed using a lot of different patterns and exaggerated colors. Has an eye for details. 

Wes Anderson 

 What sets him apart as one of contemporary cinema’s most talked about auteurs is the mood he creates in his movies – the theatrical set designs, the brilliant score, the sepia tone that tinges all the frames, and the quirkiness with which the various plot elements come together. Besides, he frequently teams up with Bill Murray. 

However, there is another trademark visual obsession of his that came to my attention a few months ago – Anderson loves to compose shots that have perfect symmetry.

Paul Thomas Anderson 

Resorts to using fluid long takes to can his shots. Blessed with great visual artistry, Anderson's use of camera is often flawless. A continuously moving camera, that is.

Every narrative is, there-fore, a discourse (the converse is not true; many discourses are notnarratives
— the lyric poem, the educational film, etc.).'

What distinguishes a discourse from the rest of the world, and bythe same token contrasts it with the "real" world, is the fact that adiscourse must necessarily be made by someone (for discourse is notlanguage), whereas one of the characteristics of the world is that itis uttered by no one."on one level, all films are fiction films. All cinematic experience is based by definition on illusion."

-Christian Metz