Director Research

Paul Greengrass

Paul Greengrass, born 13 August 1955, is an English film director and screenwriter. Films he has directed include two in the Bourne series, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, Green Zone, Captain Phillips and United 93; for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Director.

He is currently the president of Directors UK.

Ryan Kearney, editor from 'New Republic' stated that "Paul Greengrass could make the most mundane human activity—slouching in a work cubicle, napping in a hammock—feel dramatic."

What Greengrass did in the two Bournes that he directed was to create a realistic psychological space–using innovative framing, unusual camera motion, editing and enhanced sounds.

Greengrass doesn’t track much, or pan, or dolly when producing his films. The cameras are hand-held, and more often than not searching and constantly struggling to keep up with the action. They whip around and fight for focus.

By rejecting the aesthetic standard of normal action photography and editing, Greengrass’ films suggest that they’re something other, and the language they use, similar to that, from documentary filmmaking lends both immediacy abut also legitimacy to the action portrayed on screen.

Above is a video of Paul Greengrass responding to the criticisms made about his 'shaky cam' techniques.


CNN International, labelled the scene below as perhaps the scene that gave him the oscar nomination 'nod.' They feel that this is the best produced scene from the entire film.

When creating our trailer, we are likely to film our selected shots with the 'shaky cam' method, this is because it gives a natural tension to the shot. Our shots may not win us an oscar but they will certainly raise the production value of our trailer!