Taika Waititi is a New Zealand film director, writer and actor, who’s notable works includes that of the Academy Award nominated 2004 short film ‘Two Cars, One Night’ and his feature films ‘Boy’ (2010) ‘What We Do In The Shadows’  (2014) and ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ (2016). Waititi can definitely be argued as being an independent filmmaker, through both spirit and institution. Of course it can be argued the other way, in that he is very similar to Wes Anderson as his films have taken more of a cult following and shouldn’t be regarded as indie, especially with his talents in writing Disney’s blockbuster animated film ‘Moana’ (2016) and directing the upcoming Marvel film ‘Thor Ragnarok.’ This case study will delve into both sides of the argument and pick apart whether Waititi is an independent filmmaker or not.

It can be argued however that Waititi is not an independent filmmaker and that his works fit in more as cult films. In order to dissect if this is indeed the case, one must pick apart what makes an independent film/director indie in the first place. Allen (2002) suggests that we must consider methods of financing, aesthetic issues, identification of a personal vision, and the inclusion or absence of well known names into these works. This part of this case study will explore whether Waititi fits into these categories. In terms of financing, Waititi’s film’s are relatively low budget, ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ costing $2.5 million for example, a low budget among many indie films. ‘What We Do In The Shadows’ cost $1.6 million to make, which is one of the more aesthetic films from Waititi. It is clear he uses a small budget very well for the films he makes which are defined as being indie. His personal vision has a common theme in showing the balance between drama and comedy and toying with the ideas of family in particular a father and son relationship. In regards to well known names being integrated into his works, Waititi uses names that are unknown until the films they star in are successful. Waititi features in all of his films himself, particularly in ‘Boy’ and ‘Shadows’ as key characters, whereas in ‘Hunt’ making cameo appearances. He uses the actor Jermaine Clement in his films, a friend of his who he often collaborates with. Rachel House is also used throughout his works, and Waititi is famous for using many unknown child actors in his films such as Julian Dennison and James Rolleston. All of these actors come from New Zealand and from this it is important to have an understanding that his films are New Zealand made films funded by the New Zealand Film Commission which makes and funds many indie films that include Waititi’s. The country does not have a massive film market internationally, but Waititi has his name and films included in the top ten of New Zealand’s highest grossing films internationally. He says this about indie films himself: ‘’I’d like to see more experimentation and more experimental stuff with indie film because the low budget enables you to do that, to be more poetic and weird.’’ (Waititi, 2015) This is very much the case with his film, in particular with ‘Shadows’ in which he blends a documentary about classic looking and acting Vampires into a real world comedic scenario. With this one can see how Waititi blends certain genres together to form new ones or be part of them - similar how he uses drama and comedy together. It can be said that having the low budget he has he can be more ambitious and still achieve the type of film he wants to make with said budget. In preparation for his new film ‘Thor Ragnarok’ Waititi created a short webisode film very much like ‘Shadows’s genre format to help promote it, a year before it is even released. This shows a connectivity with the audience as well, introducing himself as a director to fans of Marvel by blending his own auteur to it.

Waititi is without a doubt an artistic filmmaker, coming from his father who was a painter, Waititi has produced many paintings and other forms of art that have been developed into the medium of film and have even been featured. Waititi says this about his works: ‘’I'm an artist who expresses himself in whatever medium is readily at hand. There are so many interesting ways to create worlds and beings, how can someone only be interested in one method?’’ (Waititi, 2017)

He is of course describing his work across many platforms, and his artistic works can be seen in ‘Boy’  as many of the childlike drawings the film shows throughout. ‘What We Do In The Shadows’ takes a gothic art style and integrates it with a documentary/comedy film. Waititi’s set designs for the Vampires’ home feel like a haunted house and uses very old, classic Vampire related imagery in the set such as shades of red, white, black and grey to also create a very Dracula like space. 

Waititi also uses film as an art form by using wide angle landscape shots as Wes Anderson is famous for, such as in ‘Boy’ when Alamein escapes prison in an imaginary scenario, we see him outside a cartoon like looking prison in prison garments, fighting off guards in a landscape view that shows the whole scene. This acts as a canvas for Waititi to input many features such as the setting and the characters in one whole shot that only lasts a few seconds as witnessed in the film, almost as if creating a painting of something through the medium of film.

Waititi acts as an auteur independent director, using common themes of narrative and characters in his films. ‘Boy’ and ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ are both coming of age films that use father-son relationships as a basis for the plot. Films like this he has made combine drama and comedy, forming the one genre of ‘dramedy.’ ‘’Dramedies combine elements of drama and comedy in a way that can provide lightness without mockery and understanding without sentimentalism. Waititi specifically focuses on people on the margins of society and uses father-son relationships to balance the delicate nature of the genre, the success of which has proven his status as a new auteur in this golden age of dramedy.’’ (Farnsworth, 2017) As an indie filmmaker this works in favour of Waititi - in comparison to mumble core films that focus on relationships, Waititi fits well alongside this category. The idea behind using a father-son relationships in his film allow for comedy as male relationships are funny and using an older and younger character allow for comedy to be used in different ways as they are both of different ages. The drama stems from the idea that these films with Waititi using this kind of relationship to illustrate the margins of society and how this relationship works within that. Using this Waititi has made himself an auteur of this sub-genre and therefore independent - making use of his own techniques in what is a very small genre defines him from others. This also develops into Waititi’s films being art films. ‘’The art cinema motivates its narrative by two principles: realism and authorial expressivity.’’ (Bordwell, 1979) ‘Boy’ without a doubt is Waititi’s most realistic film and plays with realism by using the notion of the struggles of children growing up without parents or much guidance from their peers. Waititi uses his own expressivity in the film by playing the role of Boy’s father Alamein and using this as a way to construct his own views on family and the connections between a child and a parent, something that Waititi may be passionate about in terms with his own father and the skills he learnt from him, for example the passing on of creating art.

Waititi can be compared to other independent directors in the same way, such as Wes Anderson. Anderson uses youth and family relationships quite often in his films, and uses a father-son like relationship in ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ (2014). ‘’(Anderson) his films are about childhood they are also about family and the need, in the face of familial abandonment, to create communities in its place.’’ (Orgeron, 2007) In the same way Waititi uses this as well. The character of Ricky in ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ holds no place in society due to his rebellious actions, and is placed in the care of his foster parents whom Ricky finds a connection in his foster father Hec (Sam Neill) and the two go on the run in the wilderness and form a renegade like connection with eachother, forming a new community in place of Ricky’s loneliness and bad behaviour.

Waititi’s films can also be compared to Anderson’s as being close in comparison with the subject of structure and chaptering, as Waititi does throughout ‘Hunt’ and Anderson does in ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’ (2009) as a way to separate scenes and acts of a film but also act as an art form by titling each scene as it’s own piece of film. The style and cinematography is also very similar between the two director’s films, with the use of quick zooms, dead-pan delivery and ninety-degree camera angles. This is seen in particular in ‘Hunt’ which also adopts a lot of Anderson’s humour and wit, and whilst it may not be an original way for Waititi to direct and make his films, it shows a link between independent filmmakers and the styles they have and adopt from eachother.

It is true however that Waititi’s films are now quite cult backed, most notably ‘Shadows’ which can be found on popular streaming sites such as Netflix, along with ‘Hunt’ being featured as well. 

‘’Cult movies differ radically from standard Hollywood films in that they characteristically feature atypical heroes and heroines; offbeat dialogue; surprising plot resolutions; highly original story lines; brave themes, often of a sexual or political nature… the novel handling of popular but stale genres.’’ (Peary, 1989) From this quote it is easy to see why Waititi may be regarded as a cult filmmaker yet this definition does suggest that these features are indie if they are not Hollywood, and we can see Waititi being incorporated as part of this. However there is definitely a more prominent and mainstream audience backing behind him, and it is clear that many studios recognise his talent and want him as a mainstream Hollywood director, hence his upcoming work in directing Marvel’s ‘Thor Ragnarok.’ This does potentially take him out of being an indie director, which in turn does not make him a director of institutional independence anymore, however Waititi may still inflict his auteur style on the film and make it as independent as his previous works.

To conclude, Waititi is undoubtedly a driving force in the New Zealand film industry, which definitely regards him as an independent filmmaker. His meshing of genres, with many offbeat characters, alongside his use of relationship based narrative make him very much independent in spirit. Whilst he may be making a leap into a more mainstream side of filmmaking with ‘Thor Ragnarok’ is is hard to ignore the fact that even though his films are cult followed, they are still defined as indie in both terms of spirit and institution. 

Bibliography

Allen, Michael. (2002) Contemporary US Cinema. 1st ed. Print.

Peary, Danny. (1989) Cult Movies 2. 1st ed. New York, N.Y.: Delta. Print.

Orgeron, Devin. (2007) La Camera-Crayola: Authorship Comes Of Age In The Cinema Of Wes Anderson. Cinema Journal 46.2 (2007): 40-65. Print.

Bordwell, D. (1979) The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice.” In Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings.’’ 5th ed. Ed. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. New York: Oxford UP, pp. 716-24. Print.

Taika Waititi.’ The Arts Foundation. N.p., 2017. Web. Accessed on 4 Apr. 2017, Web URL: 

<http://www.thearts.co.nz/artists/taika-waititi>

Miles Farnsworth: ‘Taika Waititi: The Auteur You’Ve Never Heard About – Cinenation’. N.p., 2017. Accessed on 4 Apr. 2017, Web URL: <https://medium.com/cinenation-show/taika-waititi-the-auteur-youve-never-heard-about-640eca0e6840> 

Buder, Emily. "Taika Waititi On The Art Of The Absurdist Vampire Mockumentary". IndieWire. N.p., 2017. Accessed on 4 Apr. 2017. Web URL: <http://www.indiewire.com/2015/02/taika-waititi-on-the-art-of-the-absurdist-vampire-mockumentary-2-65158/>

Filmography

'Boy', 2010. [DVD] Taika Waititi, New Zealand: Transmission Films.

'What We Do In The Shadows', 2014. [DVD] Taika Waititi, Jermaine Clement, New Zealand: Madman Entertainment.

'Hunt for the Wilderpeople', 2016. [DVD] Taika Waititi, New Zealand: Madman Entertainment.