What filmmaking techniques does The Wolf of Wall Street use?

CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013): Voiceover as Seduction, Direct Address, The Party as Transgression, Pop Music Needle Drop and Tracking Shot Choreography.

Who directed The Wolf of Wall Street?

Martin Scorsese directed The Wolf of Wall Street, released in 2013. CineCode also covers Mean Streets (1973), Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), Taxi Driver (1976), New York, New York (1977), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1982).

What films are similar to The Wolf of Wall Street?

Films that share techniques with The Wolf of Wall Street include Goodfellas (1990), Breathless (1960), Talk to Me (2023), The Killer (2023).

Biography · Comedy · Crime

The Wolf of Wall Street

Martin Scorsese, 2013

Jordan Belfort starts as a Long Island stockbroker and becomes the founder of a corrupt investment firm. He spends a decade in a frenzy of drugs and money before his unavoidable collapse. Scorsese's 3-hour film seduces you on purpose. It makes you enjoy the excess you should be condemning.

3 Narrative 1 Sound 1 Cinematography

At a glance

The Wolf of Wall Street is a 2013 biography, comedy and crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. 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, Goodfellas uses several of the same techniques.

Narrative

Voiceover as Seduction

Giving the narrator a voice so intimate, witty and self-aware that you get pulled into their point of view. You find yourself going along with things you would normally reject.

How this film uses it

Jordan Belfort's voiceover is a sales pitch aimed at you. He explains his schemes with the enthusiasm of a man who loves his work, and Scorsese makes him convincing. That is the film's ethical challenge. By the time you dislike Jordan, you have already enjoyed everything he did.

Where to see it

Jordan's voiceover over the opening Ferrari sequence. The voiceover signs you up as a student in a masterclass on manipulation. The seduction works on you the way it worked on his brokers.

Narrative

Direct Address

Having a character look into the camera and speak to the audience, also called breaking the fourth wall. It makes you feel like their confidant and reminds you this is a film.

How this film uses it

Belfort keeps breaking the fourth wall, which means he talks straight to the camera. He explains financial schemes, introduces characters and corrects himself mid-sentence. Normally, you would be the film's moral judge. Here, you become Jordan's confidant. You are sharing the fun of his crimes before you can step back and judge them.

Where to see it

Jordan's fourth-wall breaks, where he turns to the camera to explain how the schemes work. They set up how the film will talk to you from here on. You are being sold a cautionary tale while you watch it.

Narrative

The Party as Transgression

Using a party or celebration as the place where normal rules are dropped and characters show who they really are. Afterwards, order often comes back down hard.

How this film uses it

The Stratton Oakmont office parties are the moral center of the film. In them, the market's rules are turned upside down. The people who sell financial fictions all day publicly act out the reality those fictions hide. The excess has a purpose. The parties are the film's statement about what financial capitalism is.

Where to see it

The office party sequences. The trading floor becomes a place where every rule gets broken. For a while, you can see what the market normally keeps hidden.

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

Scorsese's soundtrack does the moral commenting that the film's point of view can't do. You hear Matthew McConaughey's chest-beating hum, the Rolling Stones and the hip-hop that plays over the excess. The song choice is almost always ironic. Songs that celebrated freedom or pleasure play over scenes that show what both of them cost.

Where to see it

The opening sequence. Elmore James' 'Dust My Broom' plays under Belfort's voice as he shows off his Ferrari. The film is telling you where it stands on the myth of the successful American man.

Cinematography

Tracking Shot Choreography

Moving the camera in 1 long, unbroken and carefully planned shot that follows the action through several spaces. You see how people fit into their world without a single cut.

How this film uses it

Scorsese's camera glides across the Stratton Oakmont trading floor and through the parties. Its constant motion matches Belfort's own restless energy. These tracking shots do more than follow him. They make his world look beautiful. The camera's excitement about that world shows you how seductive wealth is.

Where to see it

The Stratton Oakmont floor introduction. The tracking shot moves through the army of brokers while Belfort narrates. The camera's movement acts out the pull of the scene it is recording.

Questions

The Wolf of Wall Street: quick answers

What filmmaking techniques does The Wolf of Wall Street use?: CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013): Voiceover as Seduction, Direct Address, The Party as Transgression, Pop Music Needle Drop and Tracking Shot Choreography.
Who directed The Wolf of Wall Street?: Martin Scorsese directed The Wolf of Wall Street, released in 2013. CineCode also covers Mean Streets (1973), Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), Taxi Driver (1976), New York, New York (1977), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1982).
What films are similar to The Wolf of Wall Street?: Films that share techniques with The Wolf of Wall Street include Goodfellas (1990), Breathless (1960), Talk to Me (2023), The Killer (2023).

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