director study - david yates

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David Yates By Laura Mayall

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Page 1: Director Study - David Yates

David YatesBy Laura Mayall

Page 2: Director Study - David Yates

Early Life – A Passion for Film

He used this to shoot short films and videos in which he got his family and friends to feature in. One of his videos, named The Ghost Ship, was shot on board the vessel where his uncle worked as a cook.

David Yates was born in Lancashire, England on 30 November 1963. He was inspired to pursue a career in filmmaking after watching Steven Spielberg’s 1975 movie Jaws. Before her death, Yates' mother bought him a Super 8mm camera to assist in his passion for film.

Page 3: Director Study - David Yates

Career - Background InformationDavid Yates came into the public eye from 1988 onwards when he directed a number of short films, such as; When I was a girl, Good looks and Oranges and Lemons. In more recent years he has directed more popular and well known films, such as Harry Potter – his greatest project to date.

In 1994 and 1995 he directed 5 episodes of well known TV drama, The Bill.

The six-part thriller State of Play in 2003, was Yates’ biggest achievement until the Harry Potter films. It was recognised by various award ceremonies and Hollywood film bosses.

Page 4: Director Study - David Yates

Yates is said to be a perfectionist and shoots numerous takes to get the best performances from his cast. Emma Watson, one of the leading three actors in all of the Harry Potter films, said that Yates insists on pushing the cast and crew to physical and emotional extremes.

His style of work includes political themes, realism, thought provoking dramas, character-driven narratives and social themes.

Yates studied sociology, politics and literature in college which is what sparked his interest in these subjects and the reason he portrayed some of these views and ideas in his work.

Directorial Style

Page 5: Director Study - David Yates

Scenes from the last 4 Harry Potter films, showing the deeper storylines that Yate’s has directed.

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Harry Potter 2006-2011

David Yates directed the last 4 Harry Potter films from the years 2006-2011. He has been the longest standing director in the film series.

Yates’ films all became consecutively the highest grossing entries in the series. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the first film on the series that Yates’ directed, became the highest grossing Harry Potter film since the first instalment (Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone). This has made Yates’ the most commercially successful British director in recent years.The first scene Yates shot featured a giant interacting with the young actors. This scene was Yates’ very first high-scale visual effects piece.

Page 7: Director Study - David Yates

InspirationYates’ main inspiration from an early age, was Steven Spielberg. He was inspired and fascinated with the work of Spielberg – in particular Jaws (1975).

From an early age Yates’ tried to understand the production and story elements of motion pictures, he focused on the observation of characters, timing and the reaction of the audience. He began casting short films at a young age for fun, using the camera his mother had bought him.

Yates has also been influenced over the years, by well known and respected directors such as Martin Scorsese, David Lean and Ken Loach.

Page 8: Director Study - David Yates

Harry Potter and the Order of the PhoenixIn 2005 he was chosen by Warner Bros. Pictures to direct the fifth Harry Potter film. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth film in the series, continuing on the storyline from the films before.

Harry Potter is a book series written by JK Rowling in the mid to late 1990’s, about an 11 year old orphaned boy who learns he is a wizard and begins a new life in a school for witches and wizards, where he encounters many life changing events. It is the highest grossing film series of all time.

Yates believed that he was approached because the studio saw him fit to handle an "edgy and emotional" film with a "political back-story", which he said he demonstrated in his earlier work State of Play, Sex Traffic and The Girl in the Café.Producer David Heyman agreed with Yates’ political views on the film and stated that "This is a political film, not with a capital P, but it's about teen rebellion and the abuse of power. David has made previous films in the U.K. about politics without being heavy handed”.

Before they started filming, Yates visited Leavesden Studios (where parts of Harry Potter are filmed) and observed filming of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Yates spoke personally to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire director Mike Newell about his first hand experiences and taking on the role as director.

Page 9: Director Study - David Yates

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

•The sixth film adaptation became the second highest grossing film of 2009.Yates worked alongside cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel and digital film colourist Peter Doyle on colour grading the picture and developing the "choice of angles, the extreme close-ups, and the pacing of the scenes." Yates described the style and look of the film as "very layered" and "incredibly rich."

•After Warner Bros. were impressed by Yates work on the Order of the Phoenix, Yates was brought back to work on the 6th film, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. During production of the Half Blood Prince, Warner Bros. announced the Yates once again would direct the next films, which were the final two. In an interview, Yates commented on the producers' decision to appoint him as director for the final films, saying that "they wanted to do a Harry Potter that felt realer, and more grown up.

•It was said that bringing Yates into the direction of Harry Potter was an ambition to try and keep the franchise fresh.

Page 10: Director Study - David Yates

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Famous film magazine Total Film wrote that Yates combines "spectacle and emotion into a thrilling final chapter.” Yates was also praised for the "sharply directed" film and was acknowledged for his "genuine visual sense", with author J. K. Rowling remarking that "everyone who watches Deathly Hallows – Part 2 is going to see that he's steered us home magnificently. It's incredible."Half of the Harry Potter franchise has been directed by Yates, who has helmed four out of the eight entries since 2006. Daniel Radcliffe commented that Yates brought his own sense of realism to the film which wasn’t there before.

The filming of the two part final, was filmed over two years from 2009 to 2011. Yates stated that he filmed the two parts of the final motion picture differently, with Part 1 in a "road movie" style, while Part 2 was "much more operatic, colourful and fantasy orientated”.

Yates’ work was complimented by critics that said his “fluid, fast-paced direction sends up the crackling tension of a thriller”. Another review claimed that Yates had shown a knack for capturing and demonstrating thorough sympathy of the characters, in particular the central three characters; Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter himself.

Page 11: Director Study - David Yates

Luna LovegoodCharacter Profile Luna Lovegood, was a character from the final four Harry Potter films. She was introduced in the 5th film, The Order of the Phoenix, which happened to be the first film in which Yates’ directed. Luna had very set beliefs and was different to everyone around her, she also had very specific political views which suited Yates directorial style.

Luna’s entrance to the Harry Potter films, coincided with Yates’ which is thought to be significant as Yates had strong ideas about politics and wanted to bring a political side into the film series, and Luna ‘s personality and character fitted this.

Page 12: Director Study - David Yates

The film poster for Philosophers stone (the first film, directed by Chris Columbus) uses fairly bright colours in comparison to the later films, to target a younger audience.

The film poster for the Deathly Hallows (the last film, directed by David Yates) uses very dark colours, targeting the growing audience.

In the final four films the storylines got darker, David Yates was thought to have been picked to direct the final films was because of his ‘edgy and emotional’ approach to directing. This suited the final films as the characters took on deeper storylines involving relationships and death.

The darker colours represent the more challenging and deeper storylines.

Originally, the film was targeted at a young audience – 8-12 and the bright colours in the first poster target them, as they will appreciate it more. Where as the final film was 10 years on and the original audience will have grown up with the characters. So the producers are targeting the original audience, staying loyal to the original fans and their needs, but still attracting a new 12+ audience (the film is rated a 12A).

Through The Times

Page 13: Director Study - David Yates

The colours in this film poster are very dark, which represents a deeper themed Harry Potter apposed to the earlier films which were more child based.

The Harry Potter title, is the same style in each film poster, however on the later posters it goes from yellow to grey and black, this represents the darker nature of the later films.

The clothing worn by the characters is different to in the other films, as they are no longer in school uniform, this represents the characters growing up and changes the scenery from the first six films which were set in Hogwarts School.The red sparks on the poster

is the only bit of bright colour. The sparks represent the use of wands, and the colour red is generally used to represent danger, this links in with the gradual darker storylines as the film series comes to an end.

Film Posters

A film poster from the final Harry Potter films. ‘No where is safe’ Is written on the poster and suggests a darker storyline, but also links up the previous two films (both of which

Yates directed) as they have all touched upon the future of the characters and Hogwarts the wizard school.

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Film Posters

The film posters of the films that David Yates directed have a similar theme, the blue tones in the sky of the posters are all the same shades, and a frequent use of clouds coming over the characters, represents darkness and mystery. The colours in these posters are darker and so is there clothing. However you can tell in the last two posters here, that the characters are not wearing their uniform, representing maturity, and in turn the more mature storylines.

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This front cover story is based on the first part of the final Harry Potter film. The actors on the front cover are the main characters of the film. The leading character – Harry Potter, is the main model on the page, shown through being a central and bigger image. The two other main characters who have also been alongside Harry in all of the Harry Potter films, are on the cover, but slightly smaller, along with the villain character who is also a vital character to the films.

Magazine Cover analysis

The background of the cover is blue, which links to the blue colours used on the film poster and DVD cover.

The title of the magazine is in red which corresponds to the red scar that Harry has on his forehead in all of the films.

The broken glass which is what the faces of the other main characters are layered over, represents the danger that the characters are in, in the upcoming film, and the deeper darker storylines to come.

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DVD covers

The Harry Potter DVD covers are all very similar, in terms of the colours and mise en scene used. They all consist of the same three characters, including the one main character (Harry Potter) at the front. The other two main characters are featured on all of these covers however they are layered slightly behind Harry as he is the most important in all films.On the top of all the covers, is a ‘two disc’ special edition, this promotes the films and encourages a two disc edition buy, these have only been available in the more recent years, due to the advance in technology and the growing profit and budget of the Harry Potter films.

Page 17: Director Study - David Yates

DVD covers and postersThere are a variety of different film posters for each film, however the main

poster – used mostly in cinemas and on billboards, is usually very similar to the DVD cover, in order to keep its identity.

The characters are wearing the same clothing in both the DVD cover and the poster. This links both of the media formats together, and for example in the Order of the Phoenix poster the representations are kept the same as they are all wearing there school uniform, which gives them their identity.

Page 18: Director Study - David Yates

Film Trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

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