Trade Marks

Intense slow motion shots of characters

Films often feature a US President giving a major speech before a major action is to be committed.

Has the camera moving during most scenes. Very rarely uses static shots.

(2001) His last 3 films all share, two male leads at odds with another, a cataclysmic event as the narrative's fulcrumic point, the film's lead female character has, been a long haired brunette, and watched the film's climax from a control room

Actors in his films are almost uniformly shot in tight, emphatic close ups, framed under the hairline and above the chin.

Often uses lightflashes like cameraflashes to enhance scenes.

Often has over-the-top visuals like key events taking place at sunset or dramatic events taking place behind actors doing routine activities.

Utilizes monotonic but intense musical cues during action-filled car chase scenes (Bad Boys II, The Island)

Uses shots of aircraft against a setting sun, especially helicopters (Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Transformers).

Often features a slow-motion shot of an object crashing into, or tumbling towards the camera.

Uses a shot where the camera spins in a circle around characters. (Bad Boys II, Transformers)

Frequently incorporates scenes that involve characters running or moving towards the camera (almost always shot in slow-motion)

Big explosions

He occasionally makes cameo appearances in his films like in Bad Boys II he plays a guy driving a small beat-up old car which Martin Lawrence attempts to borrow, a NASA scientist in Armageddon, and in Transformers he is the "disgusting" human that gets flicked away by Megatron.

Has worked with producer Jerry Bruckheimer on all his films, until The Island.

Is known for his high grossing action-packed movies. All of his movies have grossed more than $100 million, except Bad Boys and The Island.

Frenetic editing of action sequences.

Often includes one black character as comic relief like Eddie Griffin in Armageddon, Leonard McMahan in The Rock, Mark Christopher Lawrence in The Island, the minstrely robots Skids and Mudflap in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Most of his films have a shot of pilots running toward their aircraft for takeoff.

All his films have at least one shot of a man screaming in slow motion. Usually as a battle cry.