TCF112/Auteur Theory
From Screenpedia
Revision as of 17:58, 17 April 2013 by Screenpedia>TCFadmin (→France, post-WW II (1945-))
France, post-WW II (1945-)
- US films released in France, part of new explosion of film interest.
- Three Godfathers of Auteur Theory
- Henri Langlois
- Cinématheque Française
- Film screenings provided film education
- Alexandre Astruc
- Critic
- Caméra Stylo (stylus)
- "camera pen"
- André Bazin
- Founder/editor of Cahiers du Cinéma
- Realist theorist
- Nurtured young Cahiers critics who would become directors in the New Wave (Nouvelle Vague)
- Included: Jean-Luc Godard, Eric Rohmer (edited Cahiers), François Truffaut
- Truffaut: "A Certain Tendency in the French Cinema" (1954)
- Attacked "Tradition of Quality"
- Proposed "politique des auteurs"
- "policy of the authors"
- director = auteur/author
- 2 types of directors
- Auteur
- Metteur-en-scene
- Henri Langlois
Auteurism in US
- Andrew Sarris, "Notes on the Auteur Theory" (1962)
- Two Principles of Auteurism
- Director = auteur of a film
- Film history should be seen as a history of auteurs.
Films by one director should show consistencies in theme/narrative/visual style.
- Sarris, The American Cinema (1968)
- Index of films/directors
- Analyses of directors
Alfred Hitchcock
- Theme
- "Master of Suspense"
- Rational/order vs. Irrational/chaos
- Wrong Man
- Innocent appear guilty
- Guilty appear innocent
- Catholic guilt
- Voyeurism
- Narrative Structure
- "Wrong man" on the run, linked to a woman
- Style (visual/sound)
- Extensive use of storyboards
- High angle
- National Landmarks
- Promoted own image
- E.g., In famous cameos