Screen Media

Who is your hero?

Image sourced by https://www.themoviedb.org/person/45400-greta-gerwig

Describe their practice. What is the ‘shape’ of this practice?

She is an American Actress, Writer, and director. She is best known for her role as director in the Oscar-nominated films ‘Ladybird’ and ‘Little Women’.

How are they situated in their field?

Although Greta Gerwig is fairly knew the field of Directing, she started her career as an actor and so developed knowledge and experience within the film industry. She has developed her own unique film style which makes her movies stand out.

Are they influential in this field? How did they become influential?

She has become influential in her field due to her directing style. She has been cited stating that she was originally influenced by individuals’ works such as David Bowie, Mike Leigh, and Woody Allen. Her directing style and a common theme of ‘young woman coming of age’, distinguished Greta Gerwig’s image and direction a part from others in the industry because she uses a truthful almost raw method of portraying the story. She allows a sort of freedom between her actors and their roles which is displayed through the screen creating a comfortable and realistic feel to her projects.

What are their working methods?

It has been pointed out by numerous crew who have worked with her such as Yorick Le Saux, as the cinematographer on Little Women, that Greta tended to work closely with the actors during shooting. This could be due to her knowledge and experience as an actor in the filming industry, and allowed her to help actors create their own characters that link to their own personalities or views on their individual roles. She also works closely with cinematographers as she isn’t as hands on with the filming camera side of the production. It is clear that she gives directions and works with cinematographers to create the overall style that she envisions for her films as there are similarities between her works. Her closeness with her team and crew can be reflected both on the screen and off. As stated in an article by FILMD, Greta’s projects only work if she has a reliable team behind her, and continues to state the reemployment of Soasire Ronan and Timothee Chalamet demonstrates Gerwig found actors she believes understands the way she works and envisions each project.

Do they have any advice?

“So many directors just get an actor on set, and they haven’t talked to them, they haven’t looked at them, and they say, ‘Ok now, do it.’ Your actors are the lifeblood of the movie. It doesn’t matter how good a shot looks, the lifeblood, the thing that people will connect to, is these people.”

What materials do they work with? What are the ideas they work with?

She works alongside her cinematographers in order to use appropriate equipment and styled shots in order to capture the overall essence of the film. Continuing on with the examples of ‘Lady bird’ and ‘Little Women’ you can use their cinematography as a representation of different camera techniques or equipment used to create a different feel to a space.

For instance, in Little Women Le Saux and Greta collaborated on how best to capture a period piece on appropriate film. To create this piece of film and a unique tough to the overall heartfelt period piece they captured the entire film on 35mm film (KODAK VISION3 500T Colour Negative Film 5219 35mm film).

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