"Film Theory: The Autuer- Hitchcock"
Sam Broadhead
The Auteur- A Filmmaker whos movies are characterised by thier own style (Thier Personal Film Langauge)
- eg. Stanley Kuberick, Tim Burton, Alfred Hitchcock
French New Wave- 'Cashier du Cinema'
Autuer:
- French for 'Author' meaning 'Author of Film' -director was celebrated above all other roles
- Seen as an artist who produces original work and holds the creative control
- Starts genres but does not follow them
- 'Autuer Theory' by Sarris (1962)
- Technical Competance
- Director's Distinguishable Signature Film Style
- Interior Meaning of the Film
- First films were British & silent
- Innovation in film making- "Master of Suspense" putting himself in the audience's reception
- Influenced American Slashers and Physchological Thrillers
1920's
-Starts in the Film Industry with an artist background
- Works for F W Marnau
- 1st Film- "The Lodger"
- "Champagne" (1928)- Use of the Subjective Shot (Audience sharing the same gaze)
- "Psycho" Shower Scene- Montage & Cutting- gives a sense of drama and pace
"What Is Drama But Life With The Dull Bit Cut Out"
What Makes Him an Autuer?
1. Technical Competance
- Expressionist Lighting
- Visual storytelling in Silent Era
- Subjective Camera (Audience sees what the Characters see)
- Dolly Zoom (Undermines Normal Shots)
- Master of Montage & Cutting to produce tension regardless of the production code
2. Personal Style
- Expressionism- Form evokes dark emotion - Not concerned with realism or naturalism
- Cameo appearances of the Director- Usually as a background character
- Narrative is often visual (aware of the camera) rather than dialogue
- Continuous use of certain actors
- Obsessive use of casting Blond Actresses- Hair up: Oppression whereas Hair Down: Liberated
"Blonds make the best victims. They're like vrigin snow that shows up the bloody footprints"
- Suspence- Audeince can see more than the characters
"There's no terror in the bang of a gun, only the anticipation of it"
- Introduced to physchoanalysis by David O Sieznick
- Collaborated with Salvador Dahi
- "The Birds" - Motif to show fear and doom
Re-Occuring Themes in Hitchcock Films
- Voyerism- Watching/Vision/Sight repeated constantly, eg. In Profile
- Trauma- The effect on the individual and thier behaviour because of it
- Madness- Mental Insanity
- Expressionistic use of Colour as a Motif
- Mistaken Identity
- Espionage
- Murder and Madness
- Sly Wit and Macabre Humour
- Sexual themes
- "Hitchcockian" Suspense
- Relationship between Order & Chaos
- Anxiety and Free Will
- Guilt
- Death Drive
- Relationship between the Genders
- Relationship between the spectators and the image
- Projection of desire and guilt
- Nature of Cinema
- Cannon of Films made by 'Elites'
- Disguises the work of others
- Offers a universal view of quality
- Capitalist device by selling a film by virtue of the Director
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