Auteur theory

Auteur, which is French for author, is a term coined by French film critics. It refers to the idea that some film directors have a certain artistic vision that always carries over into their films, and because of this, it is easier to analyze and understand their films (Pramaggiore and Wallis 451). The idea of the auteur has prevailed since the 1940s (408), and is not only specific to filmmakers who create “higher art.” The French insisted that “even Hollywood directors…could be viewed as…

Jessica Scrudato Professor Vincent Guagenti The American Film Director 19 October 2015 An auteur director shapes the look and feel of the movies they work on more than any other individual. Auteur theory really highlights the importance of the director in any film. This usually becomes clear when multiple movies that they have worked on share distinct stylistic themes and designs. John Hughes’ movies clearly displays common features in several of his films such as the age and characteristics…

The French New Wave, also known as La Nouvelle Vague in its home country, France, came to be during the 1950s and 1960s. It was created by a group of French filmmakers who proved that they don’t need mainstream cinema to create and produce successful films. Even if the New Wave wasn’t really a conscious movement it left a legacy with films like À bout de soufflé/Breathless (written and directed by Jean-Luc Goddard). French New Wave rejected the idea of a traditional story in films – they didn’t…

The film Les 400 Coups is autobiographical, through the character of Antoine Doinel, Truffaut recounts the struggles of his upbringing as a troubled young adolescent in Paris. Les 400 Coups (a French expression meaning to “raise hell”) shows the result of neglectful, or entirely absent, parenting as it is of youth delinquency. Antoine is certainly not blameless, many of his actions are dictated by necessity. He is a victim of circumstance. There is no doubt as to where our sympathies lie or…

kinds of filmmaking, many theorists have emerged including Bazin, who had a humanist approach to film. Formalism on the other hand, is the theory that the technical aspects of film are meant to create the world the audience is seeing, thus making it more impactful and more artful than the narrative attached to it. I align myself more closely with the realism theory because I agree that narrative is what draws audiences to the movies, and because it is what moves or inspires…

Photography is the key element of mise en scene that determines how an audience will interpret the visual information in film. Orson Welles used the photography of his 1941 film Citizen Kane to emphasize aspects of the film he wanted viewers to focus on, and to remove non-essential information from the frame. This was accomplished through various camera tequniques including manipulation of angles and proxemity. Approaching the end of the film there is a scene just after Susan (played by Dorothy…

Paper 1 Describe the classical Hollywood narrative structure. Use examples from the film Shadow of a Doubt to illustrate the structure The Narrative structure of cinema has been ductile through history. Today we have a very wide spectrum of different plotlines and structures that directors and writers get to choose from; however, the classical Hollywood narrative structure stuck to one consistent narrative structure that follows a linear timeline through 3 basic steps: equilibrium, disruption,…

Classical movies have used meaningful dialogues, techniques and even superb actors. Finally, classical films withstand the test of time due to their appeal in which they approach universal truths. Auteur This refers to the filmmaker who has influence and also an artistic control over the movie. Auteur is significant figures in the movie that make it difficult for the…

and personal vision is reflected in their work. In the New Hollywood era genre and auteurism started to intersect due to the fact that auteurs were able to make their mark in genre films. They were able to put their personal spin on a formulaic genre film. Coppola did a lot of what we would call genre films over the course of his career, but due to his label of auteur, none of these films seem to carry any classic tropes of the genre they belong to. 70’s cinema, or the New Hollywood era, was the…

issues advocating against the abstract question of reality. In contrast, the aim of modern science has been, by employing the scientific method, to establish reality beyond any doubt. As a result, the public commonly accepts scientific findings and theories as undisputable truths. However, the certainty of modern science is misleading and continues to leave the question of reality open for…