Film Theories

AUTEUR THEORY

In film criticism, auteur theory holds that a director's film reflects the director's personal creative vision, as if they were the primary "auteur" (the French word for "author").

In law, the film is treated as  the work of auteur, as the creator of the film, is the original copyright holder. Under European Union law, the film director is considered the author or one of the authors of a film, largely as a result of the influence of auteur theory.

Auteur theory was advocated by film director and critic François Truffaut. 

This method of film analysis was originally associated with the French New Wave since 1954.

 Its Origin Auteur theory draws on the work of a group of cinema enthusiasts and argued that films should reflect a director's personal vision.

 The championed filmmakers such as Akira Kurosawa, Satyajit Ray, Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, and Jean Renoir are known as absolute "auteurs" of their films.

 Another element of auteur theory directors to wield cameras as writers use pens and to guard against the hindrances of traditional storytelling.

According to Sarris, a director must accomplish technical competence in their technique, personal style in terms of how the movie looks and feels, and interior meaning .

The original French version of auteur theory was the idea of making a film distinct to the director by infusing ideas of his own into the characters and story beyond what the script required.

 

Attributes of an Auteur

·        An Auteur should showcase his expertise in all factors of Mise en Scene.

·        An Auteur should show a distinct signature of his flair in all his films that differentiates his films from that of others.

·        Internal Meanings derived from the scenes shall be crafted well by the Auteur.

·        Aauteur theory promotes the director as the author of a film.Behind every movie lies a director with a vision. 

o For instance, Alfred Hitchcock’s films are recognizable not only for their story and stylistic elements but also for his standardized production method. 

Hitchcock is “universally acknowledged as the world’s foremost technician” and his form “does not merely embellish content, but actually creates it” (Truffaut 17). 

Hitchcock was known for creating detailed storyboards for each of his shots and both experimenting with and implementing filmmaking and storytelling conventions.

 This is why the French critics were so obsessed with filmmakers like Alfred Hitchcock because of his tendency to add personal expression throughout his filmography (Truffaut 314). In fact, idolizing of Hitchcock led Truffaut to conduct an extensive, in-depth interview with the filmmaker and allowed him to publish it as Hitchcock.

CRITIC OF AUTHORSHIP THEORIES

Auteur theory ignores the writers, the studios, and the collaboration that goes into completing a motion picture project.

Film authorship theories fall into one of three categories: 

auteur, writer, or collaborative. 

Feature films are never made by a single person. From the writer to the director to the studio executives, many ideas and hours of hard work go into collaborating on a film production. It is important to know that one theory of authorship will not answer the question for all 

 Truffaut’s auteur theory argued that a director is an artist rather than a technician (Hess 50). 

His interviews with Hitchcock revealed the director to be a deeply emotional man who “feels with particular intensity the sensations he communicates to his audience” (Truffaut 15). This would make Hitchcock more than a craftsman or technician and elevate him as an artist.

Many critics agree that auteur theory is fraught with logical problems . For example, auteurism unnaturally elevates the director’s place within production and judges films based on their director rather than as an individual artistic work.

 On a movie set, the director’s word is art, but the producer’s word is law. The producer keeps a film on budget and on time, if he’s doing his job. The director works for the producer unless they are the same person. Therefore the producer curbs the director’s vision— his authorship. 

It is “naïve and often arrogant” to assume the director is the only author that matters in the filmmaking process (Grant 112). Historically, critics have attempted to design formulas and methods with which to recognize auteurs separately from others. However, these methods “dumb down” the art into a matt;er of numbers and tally marks that destroy the purpose of analysis: to better appreciate the artistry present .

II. WRITER THEORY

Irving Thalberg said, “The writer is the most important person in Hollywood” (Kipen 13).

 on Auteur Theory” (1962), anti-auteur critics have espoused screenwriters as the authors for their contribution to conception and drafting of the story.

In the silent film era, a director’s power over story was unquestionable due to a lack of any real screenplay. Early screenwriting obviously drew from theater. For the first time, filmmakers began to see writing the story as an integral part of the filmmaking process.

A narrative film must begin with a screenplay (Hatfield 2). Simply put, one cannot build a skyscraper without a blueprint. So who writes the story? As basic as it may sound, the individual or group who put the words to paper creates the story. A writer is the architect of the movie, while the director and his crew are the foreman and construction workers. Buildings are credited to their architect, not their builder. The original French auteur critics began to find more interest in a film’s script than its direction once they began making films of their own

Once a script is sold, the writer loses control of the final outcome of their idea. Directors are free to rework, edit, and interpret a screenplay “nearer to their heart’s desire”.  Writers often have no control in the interpretation of their story . 

III COLLABORATIVE THEORY

Paul Sellors claims that authorship—whether for novel, film, or fine art—is an issue of intention. This concept is not exclusive to a single person, but rather, it can be applied broadly to the studio, the director, and the writer if they all play a part in producing the final product. The contributions of the cinematographer and the editor also cannot be ignored in bringing the moving image to the screen.

Films are not created by a single consciousness. They come together as part of the collective effort by artists and technicians. Collective authorship comes from group intentionality moving towards a common goal.

Movies communicate a story. Therefore, the author(s) of a film is the party(s) who possesses the most intentionality behind the making of a film. Authorship comes from the “mutual interaction” between the world created and the creators. While the writers, directors, and producers create the work, the cinematographers, editors, and animators create the world that we perceive as the work. Films have many components that come together in “some degree of coherency”. This coherency is due to the audience’s perception of the whole rather than the parts. Rather than simply observing a camera angle, wardrobe choice, or an acting performance, the audience perceives the entire film as a single entity.

Collaboration theory also accounts for the contribution each artist or craftsman makes to the film, including above-the-line (director, producer, leading actors) and below-the-line jobs (grips, gaffers, extras). While certainly a motion picture’s personality can be linked to its major creators— director, producer, leading actors—all those who contribute play a part in its nuances that may go unnoticed by simple pattern analysis .

The producer can be considered the most responsible party in the production of a film because his or her role demands gathering the cast and crew necessary to pull off the production (Movie Staff). Once the necessary craftsman are in place, the producer becomes in charge of logistics rather than storytelling; this role falls to the director and to whom he choses to delegate certain tasks. However, the producer retains rights of the film; the crew does not. 

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