Basic ideas for things to research

Auteurs

• Quentin Tarantino - somewhat considered as a 'hit-and-miss' director, known for bringing a range of strong reference and homage of older, more violent, less mainstream films. Best works include Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), and the Kill Bill series (2003-04).
• Stanley Kubrick - well known for the slightly more pressing or controversial classics, such as A Clockwork Orange (1971) and The Shining (1980).
• Wes Anderson - it is said that Anderson's films can be watched either muted, with no sound, and be a visual masterpiece to behold, or listened to, with no picture, and still be an extremely entertaining series of quirky, thought-provoking dialogue. Films include Rushmore (1998) and The Darjeeling Limited (2007). This also relates to stars, as he is well known for frequently working with the same actors, such as Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman.
• Tim Burton - one of my longest-running heroes of film, with a range of classics under his dark, sinister belt, including Ed Wood (1994), and Edward Scissorhands (1990). Also known for his work with animation of a similar style, such as The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Genre

• Horror - specifically British Horror, although I would like to compare with the more typical or formulaic US 'slashers' and such, as this was something which wasn't explored very widely in the first year of the course.
• Musical - throughout Hollywood's Golden Age and even beyond, a plethora of classics emerged which seemed to define the 'proper' format for a good film, perhaps the most prominent of all being Singin' In The Rain (Wilder, 1952). However, could it be said that the Musical genre has decline somewhat in both quality of film-making, and in performance? The evidence, such as the success of Mamma Mia (Lloyd, 2008) would say no, but it does seem to be increasingly difficult for this genre to reach audiences nowadays.
• Romantic Comedy - underestimated, formulaic, often considered cheesy and repetitive. Despite the natural desire to disprove all this, it does seem clear that there is a certain lack of depth to these films; for example, it has often been commented upon that No Strings Attached (Reitman, 2011) and Friends With Benefits (Gluck, 2011) were so similar in plot that neither should've been able to make any money. So how do these films keep raking it in?
• Superhero films - though not technically considered a genre, it has to be said that the recent surge of film adaptations of comic book characters is well worth exploring; here we are, over a decade into the 'Superhero era', and three of the year's biggest films will be Superhero epics - Avengers Assemble (Whedon), The Dark Knight Rises (Nolan), and The Amazing Spider-Man (Webb).

Technology

• 3D - the gimmick that just wouldn't quit, in my opinion. I'm fully in agreement with Christopher Nolan's comments on the technology and believe it to be something with seems to take something away from the film itself, perhaps its integrity, perhaps its visual beauty, or perhaps just the money we spend on it.
• Online streaming - though I myself, as a student, receive a great deal from the world of online viewing, it has to be said that there is something a little 'off' about using the internet for film-watching, and it could be worth exploring.

These are just a few short ideas which come to mind, and I'm sure at least one of them will be viable for a successful project.