Directions: True Detective

True Detective

Directed by  Cary Joji Fukunaga

True Detective Season 1 is an 8 episode, dark crime drama that aired on HBO in 2014. It received a worldwide applause for its superb cinematography, directing and execution of the characters by Woody Harrelson and Mathew McConaughey. It has received a variety of awards and nominations, ranging from BAFTAS to Emmys and even internationally renowned awards. In my opinion, I truly believe the show deserved all the recognition it received because it was a truly amazing show. For me, there was something wonderful about the way in which Fukunaga was able to capture the true essence of the surroundings . It heightened the believability of the entire programme and it seemed somewhat authentic with the use of props (i.e the wooden ritualistic items). The fact that Fukunaga had the ability to make something like a trailer park seem so cinematic and "beautiful" in a way was quite astonishing to me and I am glad that it did not go unnoticed. 

In an interview for The Guardian 2014, Cary Fukunaga gave an insight into his vision and how he wanted to direct the show. He claimed; "One of the images I first saw in my head when I read the screenplay was a plain landscape towards dusk," he then elaborated; "There was a still, Magritte-like light hanging in the sky and these two cold, hard characters at the front, staring at a burned-out church. I loved the starkness of that, the openness of everything being exposed to the air. There's a lot of two-hander dialogue in True Detective, and I needed to place those guys in locations where there were other levels of visual storytelling. It didn't necessarily have to move the plot forward, but it had to add tone or add to the overall feeling." So, it is obvious that he had a clear idea of the style and tone he wanted and I find it interesting that he did not just focus on one element of a scene, i.e the surroundings or just the dialogue. He incorporated it all and put it hand it hand so it all intertwined, creating believable visual story telling. 

In true detective, I noticed that there are a lot of smooth tracking shots, even when it s an action packed scene where characters are running, the camera is fluid and orchestrated in a way that takes you on an objective journey with the camera rather than handheld shots that are usually used to heighten the unsteadiness of a scene and sometimes to personify the camera, mimicking the vision of a human as if you were there with them. I think Fukunaga uses this strategically and this is what creates a "beautiful" look to the show. Even for shots where two people are just talking, the way the camera is placed and the way in which the actors are speaking, you cannot help but sit there and listen to what they are saying. I am a person who personally doesn't like shows that stay too long on a character's speech as I can get bored quite easily. But there is something about this show and it's use of character execution, along with the location that really had me entailed. For example; 

In this scene, Detective Rust is talking to some officers about previous cases but it is the way in which the character is telling the story which makes you want to sit and watch. Rust ends up drinking around 4 beers and whilst he talks, you see him fiddling around with the empty cans and bending them. Already that made me want to see what he was doing because his actions were still being withheld from the viewer. It is later revealed that Rust has created little miniature characters to prove a point with his story, thus heightening the character's depth but also giving the audience a deeper understanding of the story. So this is another element of story telling which I picked up on. Fukunaga could've easily just had the character sit there and talk towards the two officers but the use of the actions made it much more interesting to watch. It is subtlety like this that I hope to incorporate within my productions because it is about what you show. 

The main thing that I have learnt from True Detective and Fukunaga is that you must take everything into consideration. You have to have a vision and you need to know what you will need in order to execute that vision. I will make sure that I plan my shoots properly because I too want to create a scenic look whilst rick is on his own, travelling home.