Dan Gilroy’s ‘Nightcrawler’ is a film that I feel particularly relies on visuals to depict its story. This isn’t to say that there isn’t a lot of dialogue in the film, I just feel as though as the audience we gain a greater understanding of what is happening in the film through the visuals and actions of the characters rather than through what is being said. I believe that ‘Nightcrawler’ is a film that has quite a distinct visual style and therefore interests me as having my own distinct visual style within my scenes is something I would like to achieve in the near future.

An article on ‘The Examiner’ suggests that the film has a surreal look, it is both dark and voyeuristic. The article explores the idea that the film has a strong visual palette which is mainly developed through Jake Gyllenhaal’s (Lou Bloom) use of the camera throughout the film. Apparently Gyllenhaal used the camera a lot off set, he practiced with it, used it as a research tool (Dan Gilroy talks, 2014). This is much what I aim to do-use the camera as a research tool-try and shoot as much as I can in order to create a successful scene.

A particular aspect from the film that I found interesting was the way in which the action was shown through the viewfinder of the character’s (Lou Bloom) camera. Gilroy said that this technique was used in order to keep ‘the action close in the chase to the characters’. I thought this was an effective and distinct way of depicting the story through visuals within the film.

Dan Gilroy talks the slick, surreal, subversive look of Nightcrawler, The Examiner, 17 November 2014. Available from <www.examiner.com/article/dan-gilroy-talks-the-slick-surreal-subversive-look-of-nightcrawler>. [4 April 2015].