What filmmaking techniques does Strange Days use?

CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in Strange Days (1995): Subjective Camera, The Gaze, Ticking Clock Structure, Genre Collage and Obsession as Structural Engine.

Who directed Strange Days?

Kathryn Bigelow directed Strange Days, released in 1995. CineCode also covers Near Dark (1987), Blue Steel (1990), Point Break (1991), K-19: The Widowmaker (2002), The Hurt Locker (2008), Zero Dark Thirty (2012).

What films are similar to Strange Days?

Films that share techniques with Strange Days include Under the Skin (2013), Hannibal (2001), The Walk (2015), Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993).

Science Fiction · Thriller · Crime

Strange Days

Kathryn Bigelow, 1995

In the last days of 1999, Lenny Nero deals illegal recordings of people's memories and sensations, called SQUID clips, on the streets of a Los Angeles close to breaking apart. When a clip shows a murder, he is drawn into a conspiracy. Watch how first-person shots make you wear the clip.

1 Cinematography 1 Psychology 3 Narrative

At a glance

Strange Days is a 1995 science fiction, thriller and crime film directed by Kathryn Bigelow. This breakdown covers 5 techniques (1 cinematography, 1 psychology and 3 narrative), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Under the Skin uses several of the same techniques.

Cinematography

Subjective Camera

Placing the camera where a character's eyes are, or shooting the scene the way that character experiences it. You see and feel things from inside their head.

How this film uses it

The SQUID scenes are shot from the point of view of the person who recorded them, and they needed a specially built camera. You step inside a stranger's head and feel what they feel. When Lenny plays a clip, you are living it with him.

Where to see it

The opening robbery: One of the criminals records a Chinese restaurant robbery on a SQUID, and the clip puts you in his shoes as it happens.

Psychology

The Gaze

Paying attention to who is looking, who is being looked at and whose eyes the camera borrows. Looking becomes a form of power in the story.

How this film uses it

In this world, looking is a product. People buy other people's memories to feel things they never lived. Lenny's job is to sell looks, and the film asks what it does to people to watch from inside someone else's skin.

Where to see it

The clip of Iris: Lenny plays a disc and watches Iris's brutal murder, and the film asks you to look and to feel guilty for looking.

Narrative

Ticking Clock Structure

Building the story around a clear deadline the hero must beat. The time pressure and the obstacles grow with each scene until the climax.

How this film uses it

The story is set in the last days of 1999, and the plot rushes toward midnight on New Year's Eve. A conspiracy is closing in while the city waits for the new millennium. The date gives every scene an edge.

Where to see it

The Westin Bonaventure party: As midnight approaches, Lenny and Mace sneak into a private party to find Philo.

Narrative

Genre Collage

Mixing several genres in 1 film, such as crime, romance, horror and absurd comedy. The clash between them keeps you from settling into a single way of watching.

How this film uses it

The film mixes science fiction, a detective story, a thriller and a love story. Lenny is part private eye, part black market dealer and part romantic fool. Sci-fi tech sits next to old noir habits, and you cannot settle into a single genre.

Where to see it

Lenny and Mace's escape: They flee Steckler and Engelman in a bullet-resistant car and drive into the harbor to put out the flames.

Narrative

Obsession as Structural Engine

Building the whole plot on one character's fixation with a person, goal or rival. Every scene ties back to it, and the obsession keeps feeding itself while it destroys them.

How this film uses it

Lenny cannot let go of Faith, his ex-girlfriend, and that fixation moves much of the story. He pines for her and keeps trying to win her back and protect her. It makes him sloppy, and it keeps the plot moving.

Where to see it

The nightclub scene: Lenny tries unsuccessfully to get Faith away from her new boyfriend, the music mogul Philo Gant.

Questions

Strange Days: quick answers

What filmmaking techniques does Strange Days use?: CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in Strange Days (1995): Subjective Camera, The Gaze, Ticking Clock Structure, Genre Collage and Obsession as Structural Engine.
Who directed Strange Days?: Kathryn Bigelow directed Strange Days, released in 1995. CineCode also covers Near Dark (1987), Blue Steel (1990), Point Break (1991), K-19: The Widowmaker (2002), The Hurt Locker (2008), Zero Dark Thirty (2012).
What films are similar to Strange Days?: Films that share techniques with Strange Days include Under the Skin (2013), Hannibal (2001), The Walk (2015), Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993).

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