Werner Herzog

[wolfgirl]

What do you think are his trademarks and directing styles?

I know he includes chickens in many of his films (he has a fear of them, ironically), uses many long landscape shots, uses Klaus Kinski a lot and makes animals do strange things.
Marcel_Du_Rat on IMDb said "Human perspective: Very rarely does he use bird's eye, or worm's eye view, or odd angles - usually everything is very documentary style, as if you were standing there.
Images of moving in circles:
Aguirre - raft circling in the whirlpool, and circling around the raft at the end.
Strozcek/Dwarfs - cars running in circles.
Little Dieter - End shot circling over plane field."

What other styles have you noticed?

[Mike 9.3 Miles From Leigh]

The commentary on Fata Morgana reveals a lot of what Herzog is about and I liked it when he said that he's always trying to produce images that you haven't seen before. On that front he regularly succeeds.

Another common theme in his films is man's relationship to nature. All th films I've seen of his have been interesting.

[snowplowsteve]

Haven't seen any of his work, really need to.

But he shakes off being shot during an interview.

Fine with me.

[peterraul]

in his interviews he has said "mans relationship with nature" and i think there has always been an archetypal anti-hero in his films whom try to achieve beyond his potential and very often failing. This ranges from Fitzcaraldo to Grizzly Man


P.s. if anyone lets me know where to find "Even Dwarfs Started Small" or even rarer, "Spiel im Sand" let me know asap thx

[kenji]

well, he's obsessed with the obsessed and the extraordinary (places and people)

[compernero]

Werner Herzog Box set 2 contains 'Even Dwarves Started Small', 'Fata Morgana', 'Heart Of Glass' and 'The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser'. on Amazon for £12.33.

I think he likes to cast non- actors judging by his early films and hypnotised them for an other worldly feel in Heart of Glass, He likes Hypnotising Chickens too which he says is easy because they are very stupid.

He uses long takes and often leaves the camera on after a scene to capture the unexpected.

[MrSilly]

Herzog does have an incredibly varied career. While there are films of his that I didn't enjoy that much, the sheer breadth to his bck catalogue means I could never truly say he's a bad filmmaker, merely patchy at times.

Oh, and the BBC seem to be having a Herzog season of sorts recently (and possibly still continuing), last week they showed The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser on BBC2 and last night Herzog's remake of Nosferatu. Both were shown at ridiculously late times however, so I doubt it's a major priority of theirs. Fitzcarraldo was also on BBC4 last night at the more reasonable hour of 10:30pm, so it seems they may be showing more of his work if there's anyone who hasn't seen them.