Frame By Frame: Ridley Scott

Wheeler Winston Dixon Author

10/10/2012 Added

215 Plays

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UNL Film Studies professor Wheeler Winston Dixon reviews the films of director Ridley Scott.

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[99:59:59.999]1 00:00:13,021 --> 00:00:18,058 Hi. I'm Wheeler Winston Dixon, James Ryan professor of Film Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
[99:59:59.999]2 00:00:18,058 --> 00:00:21,065 and today I'd like to speak about the films of Ridley Scott.
[99:59:59.999]3 00:00:21,065 --> 00:00:26,009 Ridley Scott is one of the most important, commercial film makers working today...
[99:59:59.999]4 00:00:26,009 --> 00:00:33,023 along with people like Christopher Nolan, George Lucas, Steven Speilberg, James Cameron...
[99:59:59.999]5 00:00:33,023 --> 00:00:36,013 But he works at an extremely high level.
[99:59:59.999]6 00:00:41,034 --> 00:00:48,058 His most recent film is "Prometheus," which is prequel of sorts to "Alien," which has not been all that well received.
[99:59:59.999]7 00:00:48,058 --> 00:00:54,045 If you look at Ridley Scott's earlier work, he started with a great film called "The Duelists" in 1977,
[99:59:59.999]8 00:00:54,045 --> 00:01:00,093 and then struck gold in 1979 with "Alien," which is one of the greatest science fiction horror films ever made.
[99:59:59.999]9 00:01:00,093 --> 00:01:06,064 Entirely original... a film which redefines "science fiction" in a distopian fashion...
[99:59:59.999]10 00:01:06,064 --> 00:01:08,066 I have seen the future, and it doesn't work.
[99:59:59.999]11 00:01:08,066 --> 00:01:16,027 This rundown spaceship being sent to a by a corrupt corporation to a hostile planet to bring home a monster to be used as a weapon of war...
[99:59:59.999]12 00:01:16,027 --> 00:01:20,071 It's a brillant film. This was followed by "Blade Runner," which he took through 3 cuts.
[99:59:59.999]13 00:01:20,071 --> 00:01:25,071 The first cut, which he was forced to use a noir voice-over in the film,
[99:59:59.999]14 00:01:25,071 --> 00:01:29,009 and he cut that out in the second version to great effect.
[99:59:59.999]15 00:01:29,009 --> 00:01:33,056 He followed that with "Legend" with Tom Cruise, which was not all that well accepted.
[99:59:59.999]16 00:01:33,056 --> 00:01:38,006 "Black Rain" in 1989, which was also very problematic.
[99:59:59.999]17 00:01:38,006 --> 00:01:41,080 But then "Thelma and Louise" which was a huge feminist box office hit...
[99:59:59.999]18 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:47,085 GUN SHOTS AND EXPLOSION
[99:59:59.999]19 00:01:47,085 --> 00:01:58,018 "G.I. Jane" in 1997, "Gladiator" with Russel Crowe in 2000, which was a surprisingly effective evocation of ancient Rome.
[99:59:59.999]20 00:01:58,018 --> 00:02:01,000 GLADITOR: "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?"
[99:59:59.999]21 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:05,025 "Black Hawk Down," one of the great post-9/11 movies...
[99:59:59.999]22 00:02:05,025 --> 00:02:13,019 "Kingdom of Heaven," "American Gangster" in 2007... in 2010, "Robin Hood," and in 2012, of course, "Prometheus."
[99:59:59.999]23 00:02:13,019 --> 00:02:19,020 He's also directed a series of commercials, the most famous of which was the 1984 Apple commercial...
[99:59:59.999]24 00:02:19,020 --> 00:02:27,014 in which he said this "big brother" version of 1984 will not happen because Apple will make the computer much more accessible.
[99:59:59.999]25 00:02:27,014 --> 00:02:33,055 WOMAN GRUNTS AND EXPLOSION
[99:59:59.999]26 00:02:33,055 --> 00:02:39,049 What's interesting about Ridley Scott is that he does not like to use CGI... computer generated imagery.
[99:59:59.999]27 00:02:39,049 --> 00:02:42,006 He likes to use large, physical sets.
[99:59:59.999]28 00:02:42,006 --> 00:02:48,060 He also likes to use 2 or 3 cameras at once for coverage that covers the whole scene in one go.
[99:59:59.999]29 00:02:48,060 --> 00:02:50,083 And then he can just move on to the next set-up.
[99:59:59.999]30 00:02:50,083 --> 00:02:53,077 As he said, it may take 45-minutes to set up the cameras,
[99:59:59.999]31 00:02:53,077 --> 00:02:59,037 but once I've done that, I can get all the footage I need in one take and move right along.
[99:59:59.999]32 00:02:59,037 --> 00:03:06,020 He works very intensively with actors, and he is really a very good visual stylist at his best.
[99:59:59.999]33 00:03:06,020 --> 00:03:10,017 He's an interesting director because he's a personal director, but he's also a commercial director...
[99:59:59.999]34 00:03:10,017 --> 00:03:14,006 whose films are aimed at an audience, but also express a personal vision,
[99:59:59.999]35 00:03:14,006 --> 00:03:22,023 which is one which is a world of non-stop action... one in which people are constantly in peril,and have to make hard choices.
[99:59:59.999]36 00:03:22,023 --> 00:03:28,047 Ridley Scott is film maker whose films you should see, and particularly films like "Alien," "Black Hawk Down,"
[99:59:59.999]37 00:03:28,047 --> 00:03:34,001 "G.I. Jane" and "Thelma and Louise." These are films that will definitely last.
[99:59:59.999]38 00:03:34,001 --> 00:03:37,095 I'm Wheeler Winston Dixon, and this is Frame By Frame.

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