Danny Boyle is a well known and successful British Director. Through his life so far he has directed over 20 films and TV dramas winning many awards such as BAFTA's and Academy awards for his work.
Born October 1956 in Manchester, England, Boyle studied drama throughout his education. After graduating Bangor University for English and Drama, he joined a theatre group called 'Joint Stock Theatre Company' where he fell in love with directing. He moved to 'The Royal Court Theatre' to direct his first play 'The Genius' before moving onto 'The Shakespear Theatre Company' to direct 5 more plays.
In 1987 he moved on from plays and decided he wanted to direct behind a camera. This made him branch out into television starting as a producer. From there he went on to direct TV episode's such as For The Greater Good and Inspector Morse. After watching Apocalypse Now he was inspired further and felt his heart for directing laid in films.
In 1995 Danny Boyle released his first directed feature film called Shallow Grave, a black comedy crime film staring Ewan McGregor. This film went on to be the most commercially successful British film of the year and won the BAFTA for best film. It also showed off to production company's his many talents leading to full commission for the hit book adaptation film, Trainspotting.
Over the years Danny has gone on to direct many more films throughout his career including Slumdog Millionaire which won Eight Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director.
Main Film Credits:
Shallow Grave (1994)
Trainspotting (1996)
The Beach (2000)
28 Days Later (2002)
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
127 Hours (2011)
T2 Trainspotting (2017)
Directing Trade Marks:
Boyle has many trademarks that show his style and common themes he includes in the majority of his work. He is a very versatile director that has explored directing over many different genres including Drama's (Trainspotting and Slumdog Millionaire), Horror (28 Days Later) Thriller's (127 Hours, Shallow Grave) and Sci-Fi (Sunshine). This is unusual for a director as they typically stick to one genre but this shows the vast range between his work.
He will often open with a scene from the middle of the film then continue from the start allowing the audience to watch the narrative unravel to that moment. A good example of this would be in Slumdog Millionaire. The film opens with the protagonist sitting in the hot seat playing the Indian television version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire with one question away from winning the Million. When the scene is played it then flashes back to the start of his life and the journey he takes up to that point in his life. By doing it this way we understand what the film is about and it entices the viewer into wanting to know more of how he got there. The opening scene can be viewed below.
In terms of scoring his films they often contain at least one track that is recognisable and has been popular in chart history. A few examples are Underworld - Born Slippy (Trainspotting), All saints - Pure Shores (The Beach), M.I.A. - Paper Planes (Slumdog Millionaire), Bill Withers - Lovely Day (127 Hours), also noticeably varied in genre. He does this to connect with his audience but when he does score classically he often uses John Murphy Like in 28 Days Later and Sunshine.
Boyle will sometimes use dreamlike sequences in his films to heighten the intensity at certain moments. This is done in train spotting numerous times to convey how the characters are feeling when high on drugs and is also done in 127 hours when the protagonist is hallucinating.
I chose this director to research as I believe I can learn from many elements of Danny Boyle's work. He has shown how he can adapt to an array of genres but I am focusing particularly on how he has created a very British feel to his more earlier work like Trainspotting and Shallow Grave. I love how he has created a very compelling drama's which keep viewers hooked but they also have a very real and gritty style to them. I will take this research into consideration when looking at my own work.
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