Film Matters: Please tell us about your article that is being published in Film Matters.
James Doyle: My article is a study of the precise image of masculinity that is portrayed in Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2011), and of how this image is presented to the audience through the visual design of the film. Drive questions what it means to be a “real” man in a distinctly American context, using the archetype of the outlaw hero to explore the idea of identity, and of masculinity, as something that is never fully occupied, and always subject to changes in meaning. My article focuses on how this idea is explored through the visual design of the film–the cinematography, production design, and costume design.
FM: What research and/or methodologies do you incorporate in your article?
JD: When I was first approaching the subject of my article, I was particularly interested in how design creates a visual language. As an undergraduate student studying production design at the time I wrote the first iteration of this article, Drive stood out to me as a contemporary film that primarily relied on visual design as well as archetypal cinematic conventions to tell its story. This offered me the opportunity to explore film narrative from the point of view of a designer. I approached my research from a number of different avenues, which eventually came together in the writing of the article. I looked at the socio-psychological conditions of masculinity and of liminality through the work of people like Sigmund Freud and Victor W. Turner, and how this psychoanalysis related to American cultural history. This gave a firm foundation to the study. I also looked at the history of the portrayal of masculinity on screen and the ways in which this has changed, but also stayed the same, over the past number of decades. On top of this, I built in my own analysis, primarily informed by my practice in the production design field of filmmaking. This visual analysis was aided by contemporary means of research through online videos, as well as online journals and articles, which proved to be invaluable in helping to bring together the psychoanalytical and historical research within a film design context.
FM: Describe the original context for/when writing this article while an undergraduate student.
JD: This article is a reworking of an aspect of my dissertation that was written as part of my final year of study in the BA Design for Stage and Screen program at the National Film School, IADT, Dublin. My dissertation was a study on the exploration of masculinity and liminality in Drive, with a chapter dedicated to the role of visual design within this context. This article is a reworking of that chapter, with some of the context of the other chapters included.
FM: How has your department and/or institution supported your work in film and media?
JD: The BA Design for Stage and Screen program that I am a graduate of is somewhat unique in that it was mutually informed by a very strong practical element–creating and often realizing designs and collaborating with students on the BA Film and Television Production program–balanced with a theoretical element, a teaching of the historical context in which we were learning our design skills. This theoretical element was invaluable in teaching me the visual skills that have heightened the quality of my practical work and continue to inform a need to interrogate the context in which my work will be seen and understood, and how best to approach this.
FM: How has your faculty mentor fostered your advancement as a film scholar?
JD: Dr. Elaine Sisson, who mentored me throughout not only my dissertation, but all four years of study on the BA Design for Stage and Screen program, was instrumental in teaching me the skills needed to approach film studies from the point of view of a designer. As well as this, she nurtured my growing interest in the critical engagement of production designers with cultural analysis and film history in the creation of work that specifically addresses film design, something that I hope to continue exploring alongside my practice as a designer.
FM: How has the Film Matters editorial and publication process impacted the development/evolution of your article?
JD: As my article has come about out of a larger body of work, the Film Matters editorial and publication process has really made me consider what it is I want to say and how to say it in the most precise way possible. This has helped develop the article from a somewhat disembodied chapter of text into its own independent piece of writing. The final article has been honed by the feedback from the panel of Film Matters readers who were fresh to the text and were so important in helping me figure out what information was essential to communicate.
FM: What audience do you hope to reach with your Film Matters article and/or what impact do you hope it has on the field of film studies?
JD: I hope my article reaches other film scholars who may be exploring similar themes or ideas, as I know how valuable I found journals throughout the course of writing this article. I hope it shows people the value of looking at film design as an essential component of film studies, and that it is something that we see being examined more in the field in the future. I also hope my article reaches filmmaking practitioners. The process of writing this article really opened my eyes to the importance of precise communication with an audience in my own design practice, and I hope by reading it that other practitioners will gain a sense of that importance too. I feel that practitioner-led scholarship has the potential to greatly benefit not only the individual scholar, but also the filmmaking community as a whole.
FM: What are your future plans?
JD: Since graduating, I’ve worked in the art department on a number of film and television projects, which has been great in letting me gain practical on-set experience. That’s something I definitely hope to keep up. I’ve also continued working as a designer on various short film and theater projects in Dublin and London. I’m hoping to continue working on research projects, as well, and I’m excited by the prospect of starting on something new, building on the skills I got to employ whilst working on this article. A selection of my design and art department work can be seen on my website, jamesmatthewdoyle.com/.
Author Biography
James Doyle is a graduate of the BA Design for Stage and Screen at the National Film School, IADT, Dublin, where he specialized in production design, receiving a First-Class Honors Degree. Since graduating, James has worked on a number of film and television projects, including Vita & Virginia (2018), and as a graphics assistant in Annie Atkins’s Dublin studio. He has also worked as a designer on various theater projects in Dublin and London.
