Journals
Rennett, M (2012) The Journal of Popular Culture. Quentin Tarantino & the Director as DJ. 45 (2) .p. 391-401.
“Within the narrative film making format, the director as DJ has become the movie making representative of hip hop society.” This quote has been very useful to me as I am an admirer of Tarantino’s works, it shows me the comparison and similarities of Director and DJ’s. Especially when it comes to director like Quentin himself who has made a mark in Hollywood by not following the standard dogma of directing. This is a clear article on auteurs and how they differentiate themselves from other auteurs and directors.
Vokovic, K & Petrovic, R (2013) Legendary Caesar and the Architect Ariadne: Narrative, Myth and Psychology in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, the Dark Knight and Inception* [Online]. Available from: https://www.questia.com/read/1P3-3232573981/legendary-caesar-and-the-architect-ariadne-narrative [Accessed 12/12/2019].
The source is about Christopher Nolan’s influential and innovative modern style filmmaking; but at the same time it is also traditional as well. It informs us about the stylistic and narrative features and consistently reveals the psychological motivation. As Nolan is influenced by other directors (like Hitchcock, Kubrick) and their movies and complex narrative structure (like Citizen Kane and The Killing). It also tells me the in depth exploration of humans and their psychological motivations are. His movies are constantly based on a theme and also have some elements of film noir concepts like insecurity, ambiguity and moral ambivalence. This has helped me to approach my scripts and characters with psychological dilemmas and other complex settings, which helps the stories to create more intensity.
Parks, E.H (2015) Developing an Auteur Through Reviews: The Critical Surround of Christopher Nolan. In: Furby, J & Joy, S (eds). the cinema of CHRISTOPHER NOLAN imagining the impossible . Directors Cut, New York: Columbia University Press.
This source is a blue print of how Christopher Nolan early work and how the reviews have helped him to get to the auteur status. As an audience we know his work and can relate to his persona to the themes and techniques of his film. The reviews have praised him since his first film ‘The Following’ came out and how Hollywood really needed a director like him. Critics and reviews consider him as a central creative force and a director who is in control of the mood, tone and pacing. The findings for this source have been a pure research by Erin Hill-Parks through various magazines. And it shows that not just the audience; but also the critics consider him as an auteur. The reviews have helped me and made me understand how his movies were consistent for him to earn an ‘Auteur’ status.
Kennedy, Todd. “Off with Hollywood’s Head: Sofia Coppola as Feminine Auteur.” Film Criticism, vol. 35, no. 1, 2010, pp. 37–59. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44019394.
This helped me to understand why Sofia Coppola couldn’t get the auteur status early on, for her movies even though all her movies were consistent whether it was regarding the stylistic structure or the movies were according to a theme. Mostly, her movies consist of feminine ideology; but she has been consistent with actors and characters to play the girlish rebellious kind. This source had its weakness as it didn’t explain the any certain aspects or a persona of an auteur director. The good thing is that it compares Sofia Coppola to other female directors who have given up on themselves to make good movies. But this source seems to mainly put the blame on male patriarchy for Coppola’s failure to be an auteur. It definitely gave me an insight on how to approach stories as a director and what to do to succeed as an auteur.
Epitropaki, O & Mainemelis, C (2016). “The Genre Bender”: The Creative Leadership of Kathryn Bigelow. [Online] (8). P 15-18. Available from http://dro.dur.ac.uk/18589/1/18589.pdf?DDD2+rcvj28+dul4eg [Accessed 14/02/2109].
The source tells you about the creative and the business side of Kathryn Bigelow, through her work, she has shown critics and Hollywood elite, that she is not just a director; but a director with a vision. According to this journal, it describes Bigelow as an organised person who could deliver movie on time and on budget. Due to her ambidexterity she has achieved the status of ‘Auteur’ and ‘The Hollywood Brand’. I personally am inspired by this source which could help me to be just as organized with creative projects and be able to write and direct movies with efficiency. She’s an authentic director and likes to shoot on location, and would rather shoot in an uncomfortable environment than at ease and compromise with her creativity. As an aspiring director that is what I would also like to do with my movies, to make it as honest as possible, because I believe that actors tend act more realistic in uncomfortable situations.
Online Articles
Giroux, J (2013) The Case for Michael Bay as Visionary Auteur [Online] Available from: https://filmschoolrejects.com/the-case-for-michael-bay-as-visionary-auteur-3d10fe558494/ [Accessed 13th December 2019].
This source mainly describes the works of Michael Bay, though some may consider him as an excessive action director. But many consider him as an American auteur, which show cases the American culture through his movies. Fast and stylized cars, over the top explosions, broad range of humour, actresses in bikini, beer, these are some of the facts the keep occurring through various movies and thus gaining the recognition of an auteur. Even with the technicalities, like camera work, lighting, though he doesn’t repeats himself they appear in his movies in a more subtle manner. The source is good as it only shows the strong points of Bay’s film, but it doesn’t shows any other reasons of why he shouldn’t be considered as an auteur. Anyways I’ve grown watching most of his movies and he is definitely an inspiration for making risky movies.
Aldredge, J (2019)Is Michael Bay Worthy of “Auteur” Filmmaker Status… Or Nah? [Online] Available from: https://nofilmschool.com/Michael-Bay-Auteur-Status [Accessed on 13th December 2019]
‘No film school’ have been a good source when finding about Michael Bay’s film history. Not only they mention about his qualities of him as an auteur; but also mention the failures he had as a director. It’s a history of his filmmaking career with a two-part series by Patrick (H) Willems, mentioning the extent of Bay’s film, the camera movement that keep reoccurring in movies, delivering glossy, action shot of the American culture to the viewers. The broad range of humour used, car chases, laughing at other people’s pain and finally the victory of good guys coming back home. This is like a simple formula to all his movies; but none the less it is effective as it keeps audiences entertained.
Khan, A (2014) What’s So Special About Raju Hirani? Outlook[Online] Available from file:///C:/Users/Philomina%20Jacob/Downloads/CAHarvardGuideV2%20(1)%20(3).pdf [Accessed 12th December 2019]
This is a small article on of the great directors of Indian cinema, he is known for his great directing for movies like Munnabhai M.B.B.S, Lage Raho Munna Bhai and 3 Idiots and P.K. Apart from the musicality, the movie contains the same aspect like hilarious goofiness, tackling a social and political issues and also the make you feel good aspect. Even the use of camera is very standard, mainly wide angles and nothing too over the top, A very simple story and is narrated very simply as well, with comedy banters, challenging authority, and bringing all of them back together by the act of good will and kindness. Obviously, this article is written by one of the great actors who worked in his films ‘Amir Khan’, and has given a first-hand report on the director, mention him to command the story in his humorous way, and is bale to lead the team efficiently through his creative process. Like many Hollywood directors Raju Hirani sticks to same actors for most of his films, and the story concept remains the same as well.
Hope, T (2011) The End of the Auteur Era of Film? IndieWire [Online] Available from https://www.indiewire.com/2011/09/the-end-of-the-auteur-era-of-film-177855/ [Accessed on 12th December 2019]
The source is about how solo, the auteur theory role is, its informing its readers that, whether it is fair that auteur theory should still be in place. The writer explains that it’s sounds selfish for one person to take credit for. After analysing the works of other directors the write has come to this conclusion, that a film is collaborative project. The role of the writer, director, actors and other technician come together and make a movie. Apart from this argument, that writer hasn’t explained much more of why auteur theory is bad. I personally do not agree with this article, and believe through evidence shown in our cinema industry nowadays; collaborators, technicians and writers are getting the credit they deserve.
Online Video
Howard, T (2015) Quentin Tarantino, The Auteur [Online Video]. December 1st Available from YouTube [Accessed 12th 2019].
The video informs ‘why Quentin Tarantino is considered as an Auteur?’This source was very helpful in defining the term ‘Auteur’ for me, it covered the A to Z’s of Quentin Tarantino’s directions. The good thing is that each sections was explained thoroughly for anyone to understand. What spoke out to me was mentions of camera work, which was greatly informative to me. After analysing many movies I also noticed the specific ways Tarantino uses camera. The weakness in this video it doesn’t explain much on why Quentin Tarantino wasn’t considered as an auteur in the first place. This video analysis of Tarantino has helped me be creative as a writer and a director. Some of the scenes shown in this video looked risky and this has inspired me to be bold with my writing and working in the film industry.
Film Blog 