Screenwriter Research

 

SCREENWRITER RESEARCH – DAMIEN CHAZELLE

Chazelle was born January 19^th, 1995, and is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. His best-known work is ‘Whiplash’ (2014), ‘La La Land’ (2016) and ‘First Man’ (2018). Chazelle was bought up in a catholic family with a French father, an English-Canadian mother and his sister, Anna, who is an actress. Chazelle in 2018 married his current wife, Olivia Hamilton (a former Princeton University graduate) and had their son in 2019.

Chazelle originally wanted to become a musician, specifically a jazz drummer, when he attended Princeton High School but knew he didn’t have the instincts to become one of the greats, meaning he pursued his filmmaking. This aided Chazelle’s break-through movie ‘Whiplash’ as he had an intense music teacher in studio band that subsequently was the inspiration for one of the main characters, Terence Fletcher, played by J.K Simmons. Chazelle then went on to study filmmaking on a visual and environmental studies at Harvard University, graduating in 2007.

Whilst studying at Harvard, for his senior thesis project he wrote and directed one of his debut features called ‘Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench.’ In 2009, this film got picked up by Variance Films for limited release and even won awards on the festival circuit after being premiered at Tribeca Film Festival (2009).

‘Whiplash’ became Chazelle’s success and because he felt as though it was too personal, he put it in his draw for ages. However, his script in 2012 was blacklisted as one of the best unmade films that year, then was eventually picked up by Right of Way Films and Blumhouse productions which turned his script into a short 18-minute film. This was shown at Sundance Film Festival 2013, which funded his production to become a feature film in 2014, winning Best Adapted Screenplay and many Oscars.

Due to the success of ‘Whiplash,’ Chazelle went on to attract financers for ‘La La Land.’ In 2016, ‘La La Land’ ended up receiving critical and commercial claim, and winning all 7 of its golden globe nominations, which included best director and best original screenplay. Chazelle won best director and he ended up becoming the youngest person in history to do so at age 32.

Through researching Chazelle as a writer, and even director, it is clear to tell that a lot of films, heavily evolve around music and more specifically jazz and usually have an inspiring talent in which they are predominantly known for and their ambition. Stylistically wise, he uses a lot of whip pans which heighten the movie and provide that intensity that Chazelle goes for. Moreover, aiding this intensity Chazelle puts a lot of rapid-fire edits, like montages, within his work.

References

Wikipedia. 2021. Damien Chazelle - Wikipedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Chazelle. [Accessed 17th November 2021].

IMDb. 2021. Damien Chazelle - IMDb. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3227090/. [Accessed 17th November 2021].