Director Case Study

John Hughes

http://tinyurl.com/hqlc52o - Voki

John Hughes was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter that died at the age of 59. He was born February 18th, 1950 and died on August 6th, 2009. Hughes was know for his work on teen films and helped numerous actors to launch their career. He has directed and/or scripted some of the most successful comedy films of the 1980s and early 1990s, including; Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), Trains, Planes and Automobiles (1987), Uncle Buck (1989), Home alone (1990) and its sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992).

He moved around a quite lot when he was little, and when his family moved to Northbrook, Illinois, his father found work selling roof materials. There, He attended Glenbrook North High School, which gave him inspiration for the films that made his reputation in later years. He began his active career from 1970-2009, but he retired from the public eye and moved back to the Chicago area in 1994. He was considerably shaken by John Candy's sudden death of a heart attack that same year. his friend, Vince Vaughn says, "He talked all about how much he loved Candy-if Candy had lived longer, I think John would have made more films as a director."

Since his films are about teenagers at school times, in his opening sequence, typically, he always shows a school and how life at school would look like - with a pinch of comedy in it. Also, there are lots of dialogue between the parents and their children (student) on the opening scene. And the way he take a shot of a building, it is always in the same angle; from the distance, and not centred - always at an angle from the left. He re-use actors on a couple of his last film. Like, John Candy, he's in his film twice, and also little Macaulay Culkin starred 3 of his films.


What I have learnt

Through this task, I have been able to recognise how a producer do their film professionally in their own style, and how other producers has got their own style as well. I now also know how to add a little bit of comedy in an opening sequence to make it more interesting to watch. John Hughes has a great sense of humor, in my opinion, and I think I'm going to use that idea for my opening sequence, so it won't look so boring to watch. Although, I might not use a lot of dialogue straight away on my opening sequence, cause it's way easier to do without, but I'll try it anyways to see the difference so then I can compare.