Auteur – a filmmaker, usually the director that produces movies which are characterised by their own creative style
Auteur (Sarris) 1962 – the technical competence of the director, the director’s distinguishable personality and interior meaning
Auteur – French for ‘author’
Audre Bazin – ‘Cahiers du Cinema’
History of film as the history of auteurs
· like artists
· original work
· creative control
· personal film language
· start the conventions of a genre but does not follow them
Critique of the auteur
· presents a canon made by ‘elites’, usually males
· disguises the work of the other people in the film, (screen writer, editor, etc)
· Offers universal view of quality
· Used to sell a film just by using the name of the auteur
Alfred Hitchcock - The Auteur
His technical competence
· expressionist lighting
· story telling by using visual elements, especially in the silent era of film
· use of the subjective camera
· use of the ‘dolly zoom’
· clever use of montage and cutting to create tension in spite of the production code (1939-60)
His personality shown through films
· expressionism – evokes emotion
· cameo appearances of the director
· using the same actors
· use of blondes
· suspense
- Suspense is generated when the audience can see the danger that the characters cannot see
Themes that are often revisited
· ordinary people caught in extraordinary events
· mistaken identity
· espionage
· murder
· madness
· sly wit
· macabre sense of humour
· strong sexual themes
· exploration of the human mind
· ‘Hitchcockian’ suspense
Quotes
· ‘there is no terror in the bang of a gun, only the anticipation of it’
· ‘always make the audience suffer as much as possible’
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