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Criticism of auteur theory
Criticism of auteur theory
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Discuss, develop and demonstrate, with carefully chosen examples, your own critical perspective and evaluation of Scorsese's significance and importance as a director and ‘auteur'. An auteur is known to hold sole creative control over his or her movies. The director, who passes on foremost stylistic qualities that reoccur in their accumulation of work with fundamental subjects and traditions all through their filmography effectively embody auteurism. Essential surmise of auteurism is known that the director is the product of his own work, adding his own personal influence to his filmography with certain thematic consistencies. The title is immovably applicable to Martin Scorsese who began his filmmaking career in the midst of the New Hollywood …show more content…
Analysing two of his signature techniques, Scorsese’s long takes blend in astoundingly with the narrative of his movies. In Goodfellas, Henry takes Karen Hill (Lorraine Bracco) to the Copacabana nightclub. As they pass through the secondary passage of the club to avoid waiting in the queue, a long take showcases Henry's power taking after his alliance with his Italian-American gang as he presents himself with authority by walking through the many passageways before entering the building. Long takes are very popular with Scorsese who uses them repetitively to convey certain messages effectively. Another long shot in Goodfellas when Karen complains to Henry about her abusive neighbour, captivates the scene. The camera follows Henry’s movements in a long take as he crosses the street where he comes face-to-face with Karen’s neighbour who plummets to the ground following a blow to the face. Henry eventually walks back to Karen and assures her she would not be bothered anymore. Just like long takes have become an iconic feature to Scorsese’s filmmaking, so has his persistent use of freeze frames. This camera technique, made well-known in Hollywood by the director himself, is adequately used as a part of circumstances where Scorsese adds more regard for a certain snippet of a scene. Goodfellas sees several freeze frames being used. Henry’s belt beatings by his father for skipping school sees a freeze frame put in place, followed by the use of narration. The Wolf Of Wall Street takes after this specific characteristic additionally, starting its opening succession with an acceptable freeze frame when the protagonist presents himself. Scorsese's decision in solidifying the frame shot and applying a voice-over on top of it gives the general look an emotional impact to the scene as an
In the film industry, there are directors who merely take someone else’s vision and express it in their own way on film, then there are those who take their own visions and use any means necessary to express their visions on film. The latter of these two types of directors are called auteurs. Not only do auteurs write the scripts from elements that they know and love in life, but they direct, produce, and sometimes act in their films as well. Three prime examples of these auteurs are: Kevin Smith, Spike Lee and Alfred Hitchcock.
In this essay I am going to explore the unique collaboration between director and composer and how much a long-term collaborative process between the two can influence the establishment of the former as an author. An author, in this case, stands for an authority actively shaping the film’s story and message but at the same can be understood as an author of music, I will try to consider both factors. In this process I want to begin with filmmaker’s general relationship to music, then while answering the main question I will give examples of the European collaboration of Theo Angelopoulos and Eleni Karaindrou, focusing on their approach of using music in new ways, as well as examples from the more known collaborations between Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann and David Cronenberg’s collaboration with Howard Shore. Furthermore, I am going to include conclusions from my personal experience I have had with my friend and director Nuno Miguel Wong. Concurrently this Essay is not an analysis of the music in the films of the above-mentioned collaborations, but rather focuses on their distinct working relationship and how it might have affected their musical approach and productivity.
Following careful thought on which director to study, I chose Francis Ford Coppola. Although he has directed more films than I have had the opportunity to experience, I have viewed enough to understand his progression and style of his work. Over almost forty years of work, Coppola has directed about twenty-five films, produced near forty-five, composed two, and acted in eight. He is known predominantly for Apocalypse Now (1979) and The Godfather I (1972), II (1974), and III (1990). However, he has worked in other genres, such as Horror/Romance, Musical, and even Comedy.
The Classical Hollywood style, according to David Bordwell remains “bound by rules that set stringent limits on individual innovation; that telling a story is the basic formal concern.” Every element of the film works in the service of the narrative, which should be ideally comprehensible and unambiguous to the audience. The typical Hollywood film revolves around a protagonist, whose struggle to achieve a specific goal or resolve a conflict becomes the foundation for the story. André Bazin, in his “On the politique des auteurs,” argues that this particular system of filmmaking, despite all its limitations and constrictions, represented a productive force creating commercial art. From the Hollywood film derived transnational and transcultural works of art that evoked spectatorial identification with its characters and emotional investment into its narrative. The Philadelphia Story, directed by George Cukor in 1940, is one of the many works of mass-produced art evolving out of the studio system. The film revolves around Tracy Lord who, on the eve of her second wedding, must confront the return of her ex-husband, two newspaper reporters entering into her home, and her own hubris. The opening sequence of The Philadelphia Story represents a microcosm of the dynamic between the two protagonists Tracy Lord and C.K. Dexter Haven, played by Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Through the use of costume and music, the opening sequence operates as a means to aesthetically reveal narrative themes and character traits, while simultaneously setting up the disturbance that must be resolved.
One of the most prominent and influential directors in New Hollywood was Italian-American Martin Scorsese. His first major critical success, and what is often considered his “breakthrough” film, was 1973’s Mean Streets. This film helped to establish Scorsese’s signature style in regards to narrative and thematics as well as aesthetically. Scorsese developed a unique and distinct directorial flair to his films, with reoccurring themes, settings, cinematography, and editing techniques, among other elements. This led a number of film critics to declare Scorsese an “auteur,” similar to Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, and other auteur directors of the French New Wave.
During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that, examining post classical at which time the relationship between them will become evident. It is my intention to reference films from both movements and also published texts relative to the subject matter. In order to illustrate the structures involved I will be writing about the subjects of genre and genre transformation, the representation of gender, postmodernism and the relationship between style, form and content.
Connelly, Marie. "The films of Martin Scorsese: A critical study." Diss. Case Western Reserve University, 1991. Web. 07 Apr 2014.
Spike Lee is a pure example of an auteur actor. He doesn’t make films please critics, but rather to make a film the way he wants. Lee won’t give in towards tension in the movie world, which is similar to the great auteurs. The inspiration Spike Lee has left on young Hispanic and African-Americans in the film world is astonishing. While becoming a godfather for the minority, Shelton Jackson Lee is considered an auteur to extent by addressing provocative subjects, playing an acting role, unique traits, and being consistent.
The Analysis of Quentin Tarantino as a Director The director I have chosen to look at is Quentin Tarantino. His films have achieved a cult ang global status and I dont think anyone is going to argue that he is not an auteur. I am more interested in examining his style and seeing how this makes him an auteur and if it has changed when he was receiving a higher budget. Tarantino was born in Noxville Tennessee on 27th march 1963. Tony
This New Wave aesthetic solidified film as a mainstream artform, stressing that film was carefully crafted similarly to literature. Individual directors, or auteurs, were expected to “author” their films in much the same way that an author would write a novel. This auteur theory and its accompanying aesthetic became the backbone of the French New Wave and was what drove innovation. Breaking free from the screenwriter, producer, and studio driven systems of the past, and putting the creative power back in the hands of the director was seen as a crucial step in solving Cahiers’ perceived problems with French cinema before the movement.
Think about your favorite movie. When watching that movie, was there anything about the style of the movie that makes it your favorite? Have you ever thought about why that movie is just so darn good? The answer is because of the the Auteur. An Auteur is the artists behind the movie. They have and individual style and control over all elements of production, which make their movies exclusively unique. If you could put a finger on who the director of a movie is without even seeing the whole film, then the person that made the movie is most likely an auteur director. They have a unique stamp on each of their movies. This essay will be covering Martin Scorsese, you will soon find out that he is one of the best auteur directors in the film industry. This paper will include, but is not limited to two of his movies, Good Fellas, and The Wolf of Wall Street. We will also cover the details on what makes Martin Scorsese's movies unique, such as the common themes, recurring motifs, and filming practices found in their work. Then on
It is no doubt that Martin Scorsese has heavily influenced the emulating of American film making from European influences. He is a prime example of a ‘New Hollywood Cinema’ director, not only from his ethnicity and background, but from his sheer interest in this form
At the seventy-ninth Oscar Awarding Ceremony in 2007, Martin Scorsese took the best director,relied on the movie “The Departed”. My feeling is very complicated. Martin is my favorite director, so I'm very chuffed to hear that he can be crowned as a movie enthusiast. But it is undeniable that “The Departed” is not his best work, and the consolation of the award is too consolable. Compared to it in terms of quality , the best film of the year should undoubtedly belong to the "Babel".
Martin Scorsese truly captures the film with his evocative directing where he often use slow-mo camera shots and dark, eye-wielding camera angles to capture the decay of New York City. Scorsese is in top form with his directing where he makes the camera use as a viewpoint of Bickle¡¯s character or as a third party watching Bickle¡¯s descent into paranoia and madness. Even with the film¡¯s final act whe...
“Entertainment has to come hand in hand with a little bit of medicine, some people go to the movies to be reminded that everything’s okay. I don’t make those kinds of movies. That, to me, is a lie. Everything’s not okay.” - David Fincher. David Fincher is the director that I am choosing to homage for a number of reasons. I personally find his movies to be some of the deepest, most well made, and beautiful films in recent memory. However it is Fincher’s take on story telling and filmmaking in general that causes me to admire his films so much. This quote exemplifies that, and is something that I whole-heartedly agree with. I am and have always been extremely opinionated and open about my views on the world and I believe that artists have a responsibility to do what they can with their art to help improve the culture that they are helping to create. In this paper I will try to outline exactly how Fincher creates the masterpieces that he does and what I can take from that and apply to my films.