Hitchcock, Tati and Leone: style, narrative and directorial approaches in mainstream cinema and their relationship to contemporary screen-dance practice.

Abstract

This research recommends the style, narrative and directorial approaches of Alfred Hitchcock, Jaques Tati and Sergio Leone as a relevant point of reference for current screen-dance practice. Their specific cinematic authored models were tested in order to determine whether the framework could provide a flexible enough methodology for the making and producing of effective screen-dance, and in the hopes of providing new pathways for the researcher's screen-dance practice. The cinematic authors selected for scrutiny were Alfred Hitchcock, Jaques Tati, and Sergio Leone. The criterion for this selection was determined by the directors' stylistic and narrative preferences, and democratic approaches to sound and image making. Five screen-dances were produced for this research between 2004 and 2011 and a further two in 2014 and 2016: Vanishing point (Tiso, 2004), Tippi: Crying Fowl (Tiso, 2007) and Nil desperandum) (Tiso, 2012) were based on the Hitchcock oeuvre, Souvenir (Tiso, 2005) was based on the Tati opus and Crimes (Tiso, 2005) on Sergio Leone's legacy. Flow (Tiso, 2014) and The big sofa (Tiso, 2016) were developed out of the findings of a completed directorial, stylistic, narrative listing. This thesis is largely a piece of self-enquiry. The researcher has been methodical in how she has approached her own work, so that the work is presented as a heuristic analysis interwoven woven into body of the practical components.

Date of Award	Jun 2018
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bedfordshire
Supervisor	Tamara Ashley (Supervisor) & Louise Douse (Second supervisor)