Francis Ford Coppola: Apocalypse Now

“The horror, the horror”

The case for an auteur director is a tough one, for at what point do we consider a director to be an auteur? I’d argue that Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 film, “Apocalypse Now” is not only one of the best films of all time (let alone war films made), but also a prime example of Coppola’s masterful filmmaking and his very own signature auteur style. Apocalypse now is a hellish descent into to absurd and chaotic world that was the Vietnam war. After watching the film, it leaves you with a visceral feeling of trauma and confusion that makes you think, “what did I just watch?” however, much like a Stanley Kubrick film, it stays with you long after you the credits roll.

Coppola’s auteur style is very distinctive. His first major hit film was, “The Godfather” and there are many tropes and filmmaking techniques which Coppola carries over into his other films. That’s not to say he’s a lazy filmmaker who reuses old things he’s done instead of trying to tread new ground. Instead, It reinforces Coppola’s signature style within his films and always serves to strengthen the narrative of the film. Apocalypse Now incorporates many of his auteur filmmaking techniques such as chiaroscuro lighting, method acting, reuse of cast from previous films and cinematography that uses expansive wide shots as well as long continuous takes.

The chiaroscuro lighting, is most noticeably seen within the opening of the Godfather where we see very contrasted light and shadows which evokes a dramatic and striking look on a scene. In Apocalypse Now, a main scene where this is used are the scenes featuring Marlon Brando’s character of Colonel Kurtz. Due to Brando turning up to set heavily overweight, Coppola had to improvise and used the chiaroscuro lighting to his advantage to hide much of Brando in the shadows. What this ended up doing however, is further solidifying the character of Kurtz as a godlike figure. We hear him before we see him and are never able to get a full look at him which all comes together to give his character a enigmatic yet forbidding presence.

Another thing Coppola does in this film which could be considered as part of his auteur signature style, is his use of continuous shots. The scene where we meet the character of Killgore is a principal example of this. The whole scene from the beginning where the tanks come onto land until the end where the cow is being lifted into the air is shot as one continuous shot. This helps to immerse the viewer and give the scene a sense of believability and reality despite the absurdity of what his going on. It reminds me of a quote from Coppola which was, “My film isn’t about Vietnam, my film is Vietnam”. He also does this in The Godfather during the opening wedding scene. This proves to be a highly effective technique in immersing the audience and making them feel that they are present alongside the characters in the scene.

Overall it’s clear to see how some of Coppola’s distinctive auteur styles can be scene within the film “Apocalypse Now” and have helped to make the narrative what it is. The film is a very real yet visually memorable spectacle, which is very much due to the auteur techniques such as chiaroscuro lighting and long continuous takes which Coppola employs. These combine to give the film an authentic and visually memorable experience which lingers vividly on your mind long after you finish watching the film. Apocalypse now is truly a film making marvel and I implore anyone to watch it if they have not yet.

The sci-fi genre typically contains theoretical, science based themes within its narrative. It typically sets itself in the future and therefor uses the governing powers, futuristic elements and future technologies to explore current social, economic, philosophical and political issues. The story is usually set on earth, out in space, on another planet or all of them at different points such as in the Star Wars franchise. Iconography can also heavily feature within the films such as the symbols in the film Arrival and the icons for the empire and rebels in Star Wars. The use of icons and symbols help to gives a visual representation of ideas.

Iconography is an important feature of many sci-fi films as it gives a visual aesthetic for hypothetical organisations, objects and more. Examples of common iconography in sci-fi include, high-tech gadgets, holograms, weapons of mass destruction, spaceships, teleportation, time travel, robots and visually striking locations, costumes and characters.

 

A large amount of sci-fi films follow similar narrative themes, characters and plots. It will typically feature a hero and a villain where the hero has to overcome obstacles to complete the quest in an unfamiliar location (new planet or spaceship). This is most obviously seen in a film like Star Wars which has its protagonist (Luke) have to complete a quest (destroy the death star) which causes him to visit unfamiliar locations. Characters can range from future humans, aliens, robots, androids, humanoids, artificial intelligence, and sidekicks.

The narratives of sci-fi films often try to ground themselves within scientific principals and ideologies. They also often address issues such as the destruction of the earth, alien invasion and the development of a new technology the resulting consequences of it.

Sci-Fi films can also take these genre tropes and use it to subvert the audiences expectation. An example of this being done is in the film Moon. In the film, the character of Gerty is featured frequently throughout. Voiced by Kevin Spacey, Gerty is a robotic A.I who’s supposed to help Sam. Although his purpose is to serve Sam, we as the audience don’t trust him and are suspicious of him from the very start. His voice is similar to that of H.A.L from 2001 A Space Odyssey which causes us to automatically make links to his character and in turn; deviant A.I. We don’t trust Gerty but our negative judgement of Gerty is challenged when he later helps Sam to escape. By pulling from previous Sci-Fi films and its conventions, Duncan Jones is able to subvert the audiences expectation of the narrative. This is an example of post-modernism within modern sci-fi whereby the film plays with our expectations and is self-reflexive.

 

Overall, the sci-fi genre is full of widely recognisable iconography, narrative themes and characters which repeatedly feature in many of the films. This makes the sci-fi genre one of the most easily recognisable genres out there and it has a clear visual aesthetic.

For this task I drew inspiration from Martin Arnold, Peter Tscherkassky or Christian Marclay who’s work utilised existing film footage and used editing to mess with and distort the viewers perception of the footage. I began by sourcing clips from films that contained symmetry. Inside premiere pro, I used the rotation tool and key-framed it so that the footage would rotate throughout. I then nested the sequence and duplicated it with different rotation keyframes. The purpose of the video, was to expand on the existing footage and turn it into an abstract piece which uses the existing symmetry with the rotation to give the video a hypnotic and transfixing aesthetic. I liked how the work I looked at experimented with things like, frame-rate and reverse playback wanted to incorporate it within my film.