Presentation script

                                                           
                                                                Presentation Script



Slide 1- Introduction

Robert Rodriguez, director, writer, producer, editor, musician. A one man film making powerhouse,  Rodriguez was born as a creative and was always eager to create and formulate ideas. He was born in San Antonio, Texas, an area with a rich dose of Latin American culture with in it. From Mexican descent, Rodriguez was heavily influenced by the culture particularly the music and the classic cinema (as well as modern American greats such as the work of John Carpenter). Rodriguez was very rarely seen not working on something and was constantly finding new ways to innovate finding inspiration through the people he meet, the projects he work on or grabbing ideas from the past.


Slide 2- Influences

As an illustrator, he was heavily influenced by comic books, particularly Mexican and Texan newspaper comics, depicting bandits and heroes of the west. The dynamic poses that were drawn in each panel would play a major role in how Rodriguez composed each action shot in his films, making sure that everything that was needed was in frame, everything was naturally placed and that the movements and blocking of the characters made the scene look as stylised as possible without being too "cartoony".

Slide 3-  Focus films

The three films that we will be looking at in relation to Rodriguez's influences are El Mariachi, the sequel, Desperado, and Spy Kids. These three films showcase a lot in the way of possible Latin American influence. From the visual aesthetic such as the setting, where El Mariachi and Desperado are both set in Mexico, the stylistic choices seen in the micro elements and, of course, the morals that taught in Spy Kids, you may notice, if you have seen the film prior to this, that the messages and values, and how they are conveyed, are completely different to what you would see in most American or British film, because they are separated by cultural differences.

Slide 4- El Mariachi

Rodriguez's first film, El Mariachi, was made in 1992 and is certain notable for its budget and how Robert Rodriguez overcame the typical issues found with in the production of most films with only $7000. Borrowing techniques used by people like John Carpenter, Rodriguez had to plan each shot in advanced along with the exacts sequence to avoid the risk of losing expensive film on constant mistakes, so he shot certain parts of a sequence from different angle and edited out the mistakes and replaced it with the same action from a different angle in order to save money and not have to re-shoot the scene again.

Slide 5- Desperado

The sequel to El Mariachi, despite having different actors in the main roles, Desperado is a film that was made in 1995 with a considerably higher budget after the success of El Mariachi. However, despite having ability to hire a larger crew to a lot of the creative and technical work under Rodriguez's watch, he still took the one-man crew, also known as the "mariachi" style of film making in which Rodriguez played an incredibly large role in the entirety of the film's creation. This includes directing, writing, editing, composition, storyboarding, conceptualising and producing


Slide 6- Spy Kids

Made in 2002, Spy Kids was the first family friendly film that Rodriguez had been involved in, While on the surface, with its overly colourful set design and very bright, animated aesthetic, the film seems to share no relation to anything Latin American inspired, (apart from the family that plays a lead role in this film being Hispanic) the huge portion of the film that held these aspects of the culture was the messages and themes. Most American family films usually have the same moral understanding when it comes to the theme of family and will convey it through a very conventional way which most North American families will be able to digest easily because they relate to it. However, with Spy Kids, Rodriguez's delivery of the theme of family is told in, what we believe to be, an a very bizarre and unconventional manner, when in reality, its being told from a traditional Latin American angle. The same way that Robert Rodriguez was brought up with when he was a child when his family would tell him tales with snippets of truth and morality, just as we would.

Slide 7- Opening Scene from Desperado

Now, this is the opening scene from the film, Desperado. When you watch this, I want you to keep an eye out for anything that you would personally associate with Latin American or, specifically, Mexican culture. Even if the aspects you see are stereotypical or clichéd, they still hold importance in regards to Robert Rodriguez's influences.

Slide 8- Key Points about the scene

Slide 9- Influences in regards to filming techniques