TONY SCOTTBy Jade Jelley

A bit about Tony Scott Tony Scott was a

British-born film director and producer.

He was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England.

Born: June 21st 1944

Died: August 19th 2012 (aged 68)

Genres of his filmsHis films come from a wide variety of genres, including the action drama ‘Top Gun’ (1986), action comedy ‘Beverly Hills Cop II’ (1987), auto racing film ‘Days of Thunder’ (1990), action comedy ‘The Last Boy Scout’ (1991), romantic dark comedy crime film ‘True Romance’ (1993), submarine action film ‘Crimson Tide’ (1995), psychological thriller ‘The Fan’ (1996), spy thriller ‘Enemy of the State’ (1998), spy film ‘Spy Game’ (2001), action thriller ‘Man on Fire’ (2004), sci-fi action thriller ‘Déjà Vu’ (2006), thriller ‘The Taking of Pelham 123’ (2009), and the action thriller ‘Unstoppable’ (2010).

Denzel Washington Tony Scott worked with Denzel Washington in

five of his movies; ‘Crimson Tide’ (1995), ‘Man on Fire’, ‘Deja vu’ (2006), ‘The Taking of Pelham 123’ (2009) and Scott’s final film ‘Unstoppable’ (2010).

During an interview with ‘The Times’, “More than any other actor, he always surprises me,” Scott said. “He always manages to pull out a different aspect of Denzel.”

During an interview Denzel said that he loved Tony’s ‘passion and energy’, he also referred to him as a ‘wonderful, wonderful man’.

Well-known actors used in his films

Tom Cruise Tim Robbins Kelly McGillis

Denzel Washington Christopher Walken Dakota Fanning

Chris Pine Rosario Dawson Denzel Washington

John Travolta Luis Guzman Denzel Washington

Man on Fire

Top Gun

Unstoppable

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

Settings/Music Quote from David Bowie (an actor in Scott’s first film – Hunger),

“the visual was nearly all of what he was doing. He did not have great ideas about the through-line of the story. It was about moving one interesting visual against another.” Tony Scott was only interested in the visual, he would take detail to things such as, the light reflecting on the hood of a vehicle or a human face.

‘Scott’s camera mimicked the gaze of the consumer. Vehicles, weapons, bodies and buildings were all equalised as objects of aestheticism.’

Tony Scott uses fast editing to make his films more thrilling and exciting for the audience.

He uses a range of different shot types to capture all of the action and build suspense.

The type of music which Tony Scott used in his movies was dramatic and tense, this was used to build suspense, particularly during action scenes and important parts of the films.

Typical NarrativesTOP GUN‘As students at the United States Navy's elite fighter weapons school compete to be best in the class, one daring young pilot learns a few things from a civilian instructor that are not taught in the classroom.’

MAN ON FIRE‘In Mexico City, a former assassin swears vengeance on those who committed an unspeakable act against the family he was hired to protect.’

UNSTOPPABLE‘With an unmanned, half-mile-long freight train barrelling toward a city, a veteran engineer and a young conductor race against the clock to prevent a catastrophe.’

THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3 ‘Armed men hijack a New York City subway train, holding the passengers hostage in return for a ransom, and turning an ordinary day's work for dispatcher Walter Garber into a face-off with the mastermind behind the crime.’