OUGD401 - The Auteur Lecture notes

'The Auteur' - Film Lecture

What is an auteur?
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 spite of—and sometimes even because of—the production of the film as part of an industrial process, the auteur's creative voice is distinct enough to shine through all kinds of studio interference and through the collective process.

Examples of auteurs:

• Alfred Hitchcock
• Stanley Kubrick

Auteurs are like artists, they create original work, start conventions of genre but don't even necessarily follow them and have control over a cultural production.

Notes on the 'Auteur Theory' by Sarris (1962)

'one of these productions will show technical competence of the director'

'a distinguished style'

'interior of the meaning'

Alfred Hitchcock

Why is Hitchcock classed as an Auteur?

• Long career in film
• Famous in both Europe and America
• Has made innovation in film making
• Master of suspense and audience reception
• Influential in later genres: American slashers/ psychological thrillers
• Inspired by the Avante Garde
• One of a kind and distinctive style

Hitchcock's technical competence:

• expressionist lighting
• story telling visually in a silent era of film
• use of subjective camera
• dolly zoom
• clever use of montage to create tension despite production code "what is drama but life with the dull bits cut out?"

"blondes make the best victims. They're like virgin snow that shows up bloody footprints"

Personal Style:

• expressionism - forms evoke emotion -not realistic or natural
• cameo appearances of the director
• narrative through visuals
• continuous of certain actors
• obsessive of blonde actresses
• suspense - audience can see danger his characters can't see - "there's no terror in the bang of the gun"

Revisited themes:

• Ordinary people involved in extraordinary events
• Mistaken identity
• Murder
• Madness
• Psychotic
• Order/ chaos
• Search for identity
• Guilt/ desire
• Feeling of guilt
• Self destruction
• Gender politics
• Spectators/ spying/ obscure viewpoints
• nature of cinema

The 'Interior meaning'

eg, in Vertigo, there is a deeper meaning of the 'ever living'

eg, birds are a symbol of doom in his films. Birds also feature in lots of different birds eye view camera angles

Example of the 'dolly zoom';

A brief history of Hitchcock:

Around 1920 Hitchcock joined the film industry, as he starting drawing off the sets.

'Nosferatu', 1922, suggesting monstrous beast through shadow.

'The lodger', 1927 by Hitchcock. One of his first films.

'Champagne', 1928 - a character sees their loved one kissing someone else through the bottom of a champagne flute - obscure and interesting camera angles.

'Jamaica Inn' - subjective camera angles.

'Vertigo', 1958 - innovative camera zoom , ie the 'dolly zoom'

'Psycho', 1960

'Rebeca', 1940

'Spellbound' - collaboration with Salvador Dali

'Notorious'

Notes from watching 'Vertigo':

• Theme of voyeurism.
•  trauma and its effects decent into madness
•  subjective point of view
• Repetition of scenes
• Theme of uncanny likeness, hair of real life person not unlike to characters favoured painting.
• Theme of surreal madness
• coloured filter on camera lense
• Judy - accidental meaning, dressed in green.
• Judy - uncanny likeness to madeleine.
• Character transforms Judy into madeleine. 
• colour is used in symbolic/ expressionistic way.

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Critique of the Auteur title:

• Mostly males
• canon of films made by 'elites'
• is there such thing as a universal film opinion?
• Capitalist device
• Disguises work of others