Darren Aronofsky

HART1015

Darren Aronofsky

Swati Tyagi. 09471276.

Darren Aronofsky was born in Brooklyn, New York on 12th February 1969. Over the years, he has established himself as an intelligent film director, screenwriter and producer. Darren had an artistic streak from a very young age. He appreciated classic movies and even tried his hand at graffiti during his teenage years. Darren went on to pursue further studies on film theory, including live-action and animation filmmaking, at Harvard University. Darren’s senior thesis film ‘Supermarket Sweep’, starring Sean Gullette, received several awards and was a finalist for the National Student Academy Award. It was many years later that he debuted his first feature film, Pi (π) which was shot in November 1997. The film premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival and went on to be bestowed with the Best Director Award. The budget for the film was gathered through $100 donations from friends and family who were onboard after reading the script. The initial budget was calculated at $60,000. Upon public release, Pi received further critical praise and went on to gross over $3 million. The second feature film, Requiem for a Dream, was based on a novel by Hubert Selby Jr. The release date for 2000 was met with difficulty due to controversy over the rating. In the end, Darren released the film unrated and it went on to receive much praise. Other films in his director repertoire include The Fountain, The Wrestler and Black Swan. Aronofsky has received critical acclaim for his stylish direction and accolades to follow suit. In order to bring an aesthetic vision to life, the director must unify different aspects of film making; this includes script, production, set, electrical and lighting designs. Through a clear visual idea, the artisan can direct the team to form a cohesive end piece. As noted by Darren, ‘as filmmakers, we can show where a person's mind goes’. To explore the artistic styling and the thinking behind Aronofsky, I...