What filmmaking techniques does Once Upon a Time in Hollywood use?

CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019): Counterfactual Narrative, Pop Music Needle Drop, Era-Coded Visual Grammar, Hollywood Self-Indictment and Picaresque Structure.

Who directed Once Upon a Time in Hollywood?

Quentin Tarantino directed Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, released in 2019. CineCode also covers Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Death Proof (2007).

What films are similar to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood?

Films that share techniques with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood include La Dolce Vita (1960), Babylon (2022), Catch Me If You Can (2002), Inherent Vice (2014).

Drama · Comedy

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Quentin Tarantino, 2019

Fading TV Western star Rick Dalton and his stunt double Cliff Booth make their way through 1969 Hollywood. The world they built their careers on is falling away around them, and Sharon Tate lives her final golden summer next door. Tarantino's film is an act of grief and wish-fulfillment. It mourns the death of one Hollywood by imagining another ending for it.

3 Narrative 1 Sound 1 Cinematography

At a glance

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a 2019 drama and comedy film directed by Quentin Tarantino. This breakdown covers 5 techniques (3 narrative, 1 sound and 1 cinematography), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, La Dolce Vita uses several of the same techniques.

Narrative

Counterfactual Narrative

Building the story on a what-if, such as a version of history or of a life that went differently. Seeing the alternative shows you why the real version matters.

How this film uses it

The entire final act rewrites the Tate murders into a version that never happened. Tarantino uses the movies' power to change history as a way of protecting Sharon Tate's memory.

Where to see it

The Manson Family's arrival at Cielo Drive. Cliff turns it around on them in a darkly comic burst of violence.

Sound

Pop Music Needle Drop

Playing an existing popular song at a precise moment in the film. The song's lyrics, era and associations add irony, period feel or emotion that an original score could not.

How this film uses it

The 1969 AM radio soundtrack plays continuously (Paul Revere, Deep Purple, Jose Feliciano). It is there as the sound of a specific cultural moment that is about to end, which goes fairly far past nostalgic decoration.

Where to see it

The drive through Hollywood with 'Mrs. Robinson' playing. The camera simply watches the lights of the city pass, and all you get is the feel of the period.

Cinematography

Era-Coded Visual Grammar

Changing the color, film texture and camera style for each time period, and using the fashion and architecture of the day. Every era gets its own distinct feel.

How this film uses it

Robert Richardson shoots 1969 Hollywood on Kodak 35 mm film with old anamorphic lenses, chasing the vibrant look of Technicolor. The entire film feels like the last photograph taken before an ending.

Where to see it

The Spahn Ranch sequence. The ranch's sun-bleached colors set it apart from Hollywood's gold, as a place where the rules are different.

Narrative

Hollywood Self-Indictment

Making a film that criticizes the film industry from the inside. It shows the cruelty under the glamour of stardom and how easily talent gets thrown away.

How this film uses it

Tarantino lays out the specific ways Hollywood is cruel to people it no longer needs (the declining star, the typecasting, TV ranking below film). He does it with the inside knowledge of someone who has benefited from the same system.

Where to see it

Rick Dalton's breakdown in his trailer after missing a scene. He can't keep up the show of confidence that the industry demands.

Narrative

Picaresque Structure

Telling the story as a loose string of separate adventures, often following a low-status hero through different levels of society. With no single plot, the episodes add up to a portrait of a world.

How this film uses it

The film wanders with Rick and Cliff through a series of loosely linked episodes (the Lancer set, the Spahn Ranch, the Playboy mansion). Each episode works mainly as a portrait of the era, and the plot barely moves.

Where to see it

Cliff's flashback to his boat with his wife. It sits entirely outside the main timeline and is there only to show you who he is.

Questions

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: quick answers

What filmmaking techniques does Once Upon a Time in Hollywood use?: CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019): Counterfactual Narrative, Pop Music Needle Drop, Era-Coded Visual Grammar, Hollywood Self-Indictment and Picaresque Structure.
Who directed Once Upon a Time in Hollywood?: Quentin Tarantino directed Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, released in 2019. CineCode also covers Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Death Proof (2007).
What films are similar to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood?: Films that share techniques with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood include La Dolce Vita (1960), Babylon (2022), Catch Me If You Can (2002), Inherent Vice (2014).

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