Research of Action Directors and Their Filming Styles

In looking at research before our film I have looked at some of the top credited action directors, and the kind of films they film and how they film them.

Quentin Tarantino
Quentin tarantino is known for directing only a few films but almost all of those films being big successes, such as Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction and more recently Django Unchained, throughout these films he is known for his over the top action style scenes, usually having massive amount of blood and violence, he is known that he likes to shock the audience with gruesome and sudden deaths of major characters.

Unlike other directors he is not afraid to show blood spurts and generally uses real life things to show effects rather than CGI like other directors. Almost all of his films are controversial due to having excessive violence or racist themes, such as in Django and Inglorious Bastards.

James Cameron 
James Cameron is known for being ambitious rather than unique and like to try things other directors might be afraid of trying, he is also known as a director that, unlike Tarantino, like to use special effects whenever possible, films such as Avatar show this as he likes to show that he could make almost an entire film with green screen and special effects, because of this many of his films take place in the future and have a sci-fi theme to them, he originally became a director due to his sprawling imagination when thinking of movie ideas, and this still shows today.

Along with using many different special effects techniques he was also one of the first major directors using 3D filming in his film, while before it was very rarely used, James Cameron brought 3D back into the filming industry, he started of the 3D craze with Avatar, one the first films that could use 3D effectively and amaze audiences, now a days all most all films use 3D.

Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson is most famously known for the Lord Of The Rings series, and more recently the Hobbit movies, his style of action movies generally focus on a strong narrative rather than lots of action scenes, when filming action scenes he, like James Cameron, likes to blend a use of CGI while also using live action, he generally directs in the fantasy genre, but while they are fantasy they are also action.

His Lord Of The Rings movies are critically acclaimed, and as a directer he likes to tell a in depth storyline rather than overflow the movie with action scenes that don't bring anything to the movie, therefore you can learn from him that sometimes the story behind the action is more important than the action itself, if you use this in an introduction it means rather than actually showing action you just give the audience an idea of the genre to set up the action after the introduction.

-Quinn Nolan

Research of action films production companies

 To assist with our film production, conducting research on production companies who have produced action films will enhance our knowledge on the genre, and will also display that we can produce relevant research, which meets the criteria of AO4, which is marked on ability to produce appropriate research.


Lionsgate is a good example of a production company who produce action films. first major box office success was American Psycho in 2000, which began a trend of producing and distributing films too controversial for the major American studios including Lolita. Other notable films included Affliction, Gods and Monsters, Dogma, Saw, and the Michael Moore documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 which had been the studio's highest grossing film until the release of The Hunger Games in 2012. The hunger games films have been a huge success for the company, with the recent 'Catching Fire' instalment receiving rave reviews from audiences worldwide. In its first weekend, The Hunger Games grossed $152.5 million, making it Lionsgate's highest grossing film after just three days. This success underlined the companies glowing reputation which was further enhanced from the huge success of The Hunger Games.



Working Title are another example of a production company which have produced action films. Co-founded in 1983 by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe, Working Title have gone on to produce films such as the 2013 film 'Rush' which relives the intense rivalry between Formula 1 legends Niki Lauda and James Hunt. As of November 2013, the film has grossed $26,903,709, underlining the success the company has had in producing the film.



20th Century Fox is without a doubt the most well known company. Films such as Avatar, written and directed by James Cameron, has grossed a staggering $760,505,847 as of 12th November 2010. The success of this film underlines the huge status of the company, and secures its status as a giant in the industry.



With all these companies producing extremely successful action films, hopefully we can replicate some of the skills used, and use this research to our advantage, as we look to improve our film in any way we can.



- Jak