Auteur presentation 20%

(10% for the presentation and 10% for the written component)

Who is the director? What do they bring to the film? This presentation asks you to consider the concept of auteurism that we've been discussing in the course. For this assignment you will closely examine the work of a director of your choice, which you will sign up for on the class wiki. Sign up early because two students can not have the same director. You will present your director to the class with clips from the director’s movie. These presentations should be approximately 20 minutes in length and give the class an overview of your director, this should include some bibliographic information. Additionally during the presentation, you will be making the argument to the class why or why not this director is an auteur using clips from his/her movies as examples.

 

Presentations should be engaging, and thoroughly covers the points in your group argument. You should have a good use of clip, both using them economically and knowing where the exact scenes you want to show are on the DVD.

 

In addition to your presentation, you will post a discussion of at least three films from the director, address specific scenes within those films, and a works cited page on the class wiki, which should be at least 750 words (three double spaced pages in Word). You may include a timeline of the director, but even though this will be posted to the wiki, you should think of it as a normal essay and use standard conventions of English.

 

Pay close attention to mise-en-scene, cinematography, music, etc., to support your argument about your auteur. Does your director constitute an auteur? Why or why not? Again, pay close attention to various technical elements to support your position. Be sure to give examples from the films to support your argument.

 

Our class reading Citizen Bickle,or the Allusive Taxi Driver: Uses of Intertextuality by John Thurman in Senses of Cinema makes a persuasive case for auteurism summed up in the final two sentences of the article: "Scorsese, for his part, by his conscious use of intertextuality, underscores the validity of the concept of authorship, and the importance of authorial intentions. Contrary to one Frenchman's notion, the “auteur” is not dead." You can use this article as an example for singular case of auteurism through intertextuality.

 

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Chris Spence

Cathlena Martin

ENC2300

March 21, 2007

 

Auteur Presentation: Tex Avery

Fredrick Bean “Tex” Avery was born February 26, 1909 in Taylor Texas. His work in animation during the 1930’s to the 1950’s had a huge impact on not only the animations of that time, but of those of today’s generation. Over the years he worked for Warner Bros., MGM, and Universal, directing many animated shorts, bringing his own unique style, making significant contributions and developing classic characters. It is Avery’s unique style that makes him an auteur. His cartoons involve characters with highly developed personalities, as well as face paced action to keep the cartoon engaging. Avery’s style and ideas were a very different from that of his competition at Disney and it is his use of violence, sexuality, and fast paced action that put his stamp on his cartoons and make him an auteur.

Avery started his career at Universal with minimal prior experience; Avery spent just three months at the Art Institute of Chicago before working there. At Universal he honed his skills and learned the animation process. It wasn’t until about 1935 that Avery moved to Warner Bros. and became a full time director at Warner Bros (Britannica). Avery was responsible for some of the most recognizable cartoon characters ever made, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, and Bugs Bunny were all creations at the Warner Bro’s studio. In 1941 Avery quit Warner Bros. and began working for MGM. It was at MGM that Avery was given the most freedom which resulted in the direction of some of his best work.

An auteur director must show artistic control over their films as well as the expression of their individual vision to make their work identifiable, Tex Avery uses his originality to do so. He uses violence, sexuality, tempo and reoccurring themes as his signature marks on his work (Cottet). Avery pushes these aspects to new heights during his time at MGM.

In one of Avery’s cartoons, The Screwy Truant, Avery uses violence to entertain the viewer. The violence is used for comedic effect in many cartoons, but Avery pushes the limit and makes it the driving force. The Screwy Truant is an example of how Avery’s work set the pattern for future animations; it exhibits a classic theme seen in cartoons and animations even today. In the cartoon Screwy Squirrel skips school but is chased down by a truant officer. Screwy is the quick and crafty protagonist, and the truant officer is the not-so-bright antagonist who gets abused by Screwy throughout the cartoon. This is a pattern used heavily in future cartoons such as Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny, and Road Runner. The truant officer has different gags pulled on him and is repeatedly hit over the head until the end. There is a point in the cartoon where Screwy finds a box of “Swell stuff to hit dog on head with.” Here Avery’s exaggeration of violence can bee seen as the truant officer is quickly hit with multiple objects, one after the other. All of the physical harm done to the truant officer never really seems to hurt him. Avery’s work seems to set up the rules for cartoons, that anything can happen to your character and they will recover. His brand of violence was humorous and playful and set the tone for future cartoons.

In addition to violence Avery used sexuality in his cartoons. He was able to give a new spin to the classical Little Red Riding Hood fairytale in Red Hot Riding Hood. Red Riding Hood was made into a sexy nightclub dancer in a tiny red dress and the Wolf dresses in suit and more personified. In Avery’s version of the fairytale the Wolf now chases after Riding Hood for affection and not a meal. In the scene where the Wolf first sees Ridding Hood his reactions are over the top, he pounds on the table and howls in the air. These reactions become staples which Avery will use in many of his cartoons featuring the Wolf. One of the Wolfs more recognizable reactions is when his body jumps in the air and he lays out horizontally and stiffens up, a reaction censors deemed a “phallic gag” (brightlightsfilm). The hot young Riding Hood in the cartoon is a prelude to characters such as “Jessica Rabbit” from Who Framed Roger Rabbit (brightlightsfilm). Sexuality is the blatant theme of the cartoon, as the Wolf is pursuing Riding Hood, the Grandmother is pursuing the Wolf. The main portion of the cartoon turns out to be the grandmother’s relentless pursuit of the Wolf, as she exhibits the same mid-air reaction the Wolf had toward Red Riding Hood. The blatant sexuality in the cartoon was not commonplace at the time but like a true auteur, Avery was innovative and able express his individual style and make it successful. He gave an alternative to the Disney happy ending, as he did in many other films, by having the Wolf commit suicide in the end.

Avery’s Little Red Ridding Hood parody was not his only satire, in 1943 he directed Blitz Wolf, a parody of the Three Little Pigs. Blitz Wolf not only satirized the typical fairytale but also made a parody on World War II. The Wolf is again used in this cartoon and is made to look like Hitler as he tries to blow down each pig’s house. In Avery’s version the three pigs defended themselves from a hostile takeover with their own heavy artillery.

Avery’s reoccurring themes play an important role in solidifying his place as an auteur. Many of the gags are motifs reoccurring in several different cartoons. He uses signs either used by the characters with a comedic text or to just to help set up a scene. Sound also plays an important role in setting the mood for just about every scene in Avery’s cartoons. Sound effects are heavily used and enhance each scene. The music used also goes along with what each character is doing so well that you could close your eyes and still know what is going on at times. The music also helps set the tempo which is always fast paced in Avery’s cartoons. If you look at any cartoons today it’s almost a guarantee that you will see one of Avery’s methods or character traits being displayed. His style helped set the groundwork for future animators and is still replicated today, making him a great auteur director.

 

Bibliography

“A Quickie Look at the Life & Career of Tex Avery.” Garry Morris. 1998. Bright Lights Film Journal. < http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/22/texavery.html>.

 

“Avery, Tex.” Cottet. September 1998 <http://www.cottet.org/avery/avery0.en.htm>

"Avery, Tex." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 20 Mar. 2007 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9106334>.

 

 

Tito Alverio

Cathlena Martin

ENG 2300

March 21, 2007

The Imaginative Mind of Guillermo Del Toro

In 2004, Del Toro released his third Hollywood film, “Hellboy,” that shows the two spectrums that he enjoys working in, fairy tales and comic books/pop culture. The film is filled with religious overtones of the cross, and the fact that Hellboy is a demon. But choice plays an important factor because though Hellboy was born for evil purposes of destroying humanity, he chooses and is raised to be good and do good deeds. The film has the same dark, underground look, rarely showing any sunlight. In fact most of the movie takes place in underground areas. He uses the colors red and blue, like he did in “Cronos,” to help give a comic book feel and look, which he really enjoys. His belief is that comic book art holds the same value as traditional art. He is a collector and has studied a lot of artists, and feels that comic book holds great artistic value.

Guillermo Del Toro may be considered by some as an auteur already, and it is clear to see why. His personality and style is consistent throughout each film. He uses the same motifs and themes, and has great control of the technical aspect of films. He uses core meanings to ask questions, and leave them to the viewer. His interests are shown throughout every movie, like insects and the inner workings of things like monsters and clocks. In my opinion, I would like to see more movies made by him before I call him an auteur, but he is already being considered a master of horror and fantasy.

 

Sources:

 

“I try to pour a lot of me into every film.” Will Lawrence. 2006

 

“Dark fantasies of a Mexican auteur.” Bruce Newman. 2007 <http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/columnists/bruce_newman/16408855.htm>

 

“Interview. Guillermo Del Toro.” Various authors. 2007 <http://daily.greencine.com/archives/002960.html>

 

"Guillermo Del Toro." International Movie Database. 2007

<http://imdb.com/name/nm0868219>

 

 

 

Kaitlyn Floyd

ENG 2300

Martin

March 22, 2007

Unmistakable Coppola Creativity

Sofia Coppola was born May 14, 1971 in New York City to director Francis Ford Coppola and his wife Eleanor Coppola. Her film career began when she was an infant. She appeared in several of her father’s films, her most famous role as a child being when she played the baby boy in the christening scene of The Godfather. Ironically, the role that really ended her acting career is also her best known, her portrayal of Mary Corleone in The Godfather Part III. She was cast last minute and received the “Worst New Star” award in the 1990 Golden Raspberry Awards. After which she has only appeared in independent films, bit parts, and music videos. However, she is known more as a successful film director. In 1999, Coppola married director and longtime friend, Spike Jonze; they divorced in 2003.

Coppola made her directorial debut with the black and white short film Lick the Star (1998). The film centers around a clique of high school girls who come up with a plan to poison certain boys in school with arsenic, which they codename “Lick the Star.” Alienation and the fickleness of high school girls are the two major themes of the fifteen minute film. The theme of alienation appears in all of Coppola’s later films. The film opens with a car journey, just as her later films The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation do. Carriage rides are very important to the character development and theme of isolation in Marie Antoinette. Coppola always uses indie or underground music to accompany her films since she is considered a pop culture icon by that community.

The Virgin Suicides (1999) was the first full length film written and directed by the talented Coppola. Four boys reminisce about the Lisbon sisters, five teenage girls who all commit suicide in the 1970’s. The film takes place both before and after the girls take their young lives. Several reasons why the girls may have ended their lives are introduced, the most prominent being the strictness of the Lisbon parents, which is most severe when the girls are placed under house arrest and not allowed to leave after Lux, the most promiscuous of the girls, spends the night out with a boy. A montage sequence is used to show exactly how isolated the girls really are. It begins with four trees waiting to be cut down which can represent the sisters and then with various lighting changes and leaves appearing on the ground, the audience can imagine how long the girls have been cooped up in the house. The rotting tree in the Lisbon’s front yard is very symbolic of the death of the girls. Before Cecelia, the youngest sister, dies, a large branch is cut off of the tree. The rest of the tree is cut down after the remaining sisters all die. The film was a success and removed Coppola from her father’s shadow.

Coppola’s second writing and directorial endeavor was Lost in Translation (2003). Superficially, the film’s main focus is the culture shock between East and West, but underneath, it reveals its themes as isolation and friendship and how these themes intermingle in different stages of a persons’ life. The setting of Japan gives the film a modern feeling even though it explores age old themes. This film provides the most parallels to Coppola’s personal life. Charlotte, the main character, wears clothes designed by Marc Jacobs, a personal friend of Coppola’s whom she has appeared in fragrance ads for. Also, Charlotte’s husband John, a photographer, and Coppola’s then-husband Spike Jonze share similar gestures and speech mannerisms, Jonze began his career as a photographer. Coppola denied accusations that the film was a parallel to her marriage, but she and Jonze divorced shortly after the film was released. One scene highlighting Charlotte’s alienation occurs after her husband leaves for a business trip. She is sitting in her large room window and the camera pans over the city and her, making her look small in such a large place.The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including, Best Picture, Best Actor (Bill Murray) and Best Director. Coppola walked away with Best Original Screenplay.

Marie Antoinette (2006) is Coppola’s most recent writing and directorial effort. It is loosely based on the historical biography by Lady Antonia Fraser, “Marie Antoinette: The Journey.” The film begins when Marie Antonia leaves Austria to marry the Dauphin of France and align their countries; it ends with the fall of Versailles. Like Coppola’s earlier films the major theme is isolation. One scene showing her isolation was where Marie is just standing on the balcony at the palace and her mother’s voice is in the background telling her what to do. The camera focuses on her and zooms out slowly, highlighting her feelings of alienation. She begins buying intricate gowns and shoes and indulging in elaborate cakes, and throwing parties at her house of escape, Le Petit Trianon. As France sinks deeper into debt, Marie Antoinette becomes more isolated from the outside world and continues to engage in frivolous behavior. After Louis XV passes, France’s debt continues to grow, causing unrest and heightened poverty rates among the working class eventually leading to the French Revolution. Coppola suggests in order to humanize the historical figures, a modern stylistic interpretation is needed. She took many artistic liberties with the film and did not focus only on historical facts. One such liberty she took was having Spanish shoe designer Manolo Blahnik create all of the shoes for the film. Coppola stated “It is not a lesson of history. It is an interpretation documented, but carried by my desire for covering the subject differently.”

Even though Coppola has only directed three full length films, and one short film, she is an auteur director. All of her films explore the theme of alienation and feelings of isolation, and recurring themes is a major component of what constitutes an auteur. She also uses the same kind of shots such as the car journey scenes in each film, and although each is different, they convey the same feelings of the audience. Coppola’s influence on these four films cannot be denied, when a knowledgeable audience sees one of these films, they can automatically see her hand in every aspect of the film, which definitely constitutes an auteur director.

 

 

Works Cited

Sofia Coppola. Wikipedia Contributors, 2007. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 20 March 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sofia_Coppola&oldid=116513373>

 

Sofia Coppola. Various Authors, 2007. Internet Movie Database Inc. 20 March 2007 <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001068/>

 

Pramaggiore, Maria and Tom Wallis.Film:A Critical Introduction. London: Lawrence King, 2007.

 

 

 

David Tamayo

Professor Cathlena Martin

ENG2300 Sec. 1794

3/23/2007

Joel Schumacher, ''Auteur'' or not an ''Auteur''? That is the question.

The first signature that Schumacher uses in all of his films is the cross. In at least one scene per movie there is a cross in the scene, either completely focused on or in the background. In the film 8mm, when Tom and Max are talking behind the adult book store, there is graffiti everywhere and on one of the walls a cross is drawn. In Tigerland, Private Milter is praying and crying in a room by himself and he has a cross in his hand. In A Time to Kill, the scene when Jake and Carl Lee are speaking in Carl’s jail cell, a cross is engraved on the side of the bed. The second signature that Schumacher uses is the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In A Time To Kill, the Sacred Heart appears in the same scene as the cross does, except the heart is drawn on the wall behind the cell. In Batman Forever, Batman has just escaped an ambush and as he is driving away he passes by a wall with different drawings on it, the Sacred Heart being one of them. In Batman & Robin, in the scene before the motorcycle race begins, a shot of the spectators is shown, and a guy in coward has a tattoo of the Sacred Heart on his chest.

Schumacher’s use of the color red is another detail that stands out in all of his films, sometimes giving different meanings. In the closing scene of Veronica Guerin, Veronica Guerin is shot in her car while waiting at a traffic light. The shot begins with a close-up of her red car and as the camera zooms out you can see the other cars around her which are all black. Her car being the only red one makes her car stand out from the rest of the cars. This reflects Veronica because she stands out from the coward because she is a famous reporter, and at the time was constantly on the news about her articles on organized crimes, and the attacks she was getting from the man she was going to write an article about next. In the films 8mm and The Number 23 red symbolizes blood. One scene in 8mm, Tom Welles is in a warehouse where Dino Velvet and his men are going to film are porno. The walls of the warehouse are all red, and in this warehouse Tom’s partner, Max, the famous porn director, Dino Velvet, and the Christian’s lawyer, Daniel Longdale, all die, each oozing with blood as they die. In The Number 23, the scene where Walter is reading the book on his bed, he is covered by a bright red, silk blanket. This symbolizes how he’s surrounded by blood and murder with all the nightmares of killing Agatha, and in the past he actually murdered Laura Tollins.

Schumacher also uses fire, which he uses to represent Hell, to make antagonist in his film seem evil. In Tigerland, Private Wilson didn’t complete the task him and his men were assigned to do, and he blames it on Bozz. This scene shows Wilson grabbing a stick from the camp fire and he sets a hut on fire. The scene ends with the hut burning behind him and Wilson just staring at the ground. This reinforces the fact that he is an evil character and that he wants to kill Bozz. In The Number 23, when we are first introduced to Fabrizia she is walking toward Detective Fingerling and behind her is a car that is bursting into flames. She is in the center of the shot with the fire directly behind her. It seems like she’s walking from the fire, which represents that she is coming from Hell. In The Phantom of the Opera, the scene where the Phantom’s opera is taking place, the Phantom kidnaps Christine by escaping through a hole in the stage that is surrounded by fire. This represents that he is going into hell, seeing as he’s going down and it’s encircled by fire.

One final technique that Schumacher used was extreme lighting to make a character seem good. In Tigerland, Private Bozz had already been referenced as a Jesus like character because he was saving people from going to the Vietnam War. (“Some people say if you don’t want to go to the war you either have to start praying to Jesus or talk to Ronald Bozz.”) In the scene where Bozz shoots Paxton to save him from the war, the scene fades out with Bozz by himself and white light taking over the shot. This shows that he has similarities to Jesus since they both save people from horrible fates (going to the war and going to hell).

In conclusion, Joel Schumacher is an auteur because of his usage of signatures, repetition of red, and the occurring themes of good versus evil. He uses the cross and the Sacred Heart of Jesus as signatures. He uses red to either represent blood or make certain characters standout. Finally, he uses fire to represent Hell and have the evil characters associate themselves with fire and uses extreme lighting to represent salvation and uses it with characters that can grant that.

 

Bibliography

 

“Joel Schumacher.” NNDB Tracking the Entire World. 17 March 2007. <http://www.nndb.com/people/636/000032540/>

 

“Joel Schumacher.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 15 March 2007. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Schumacher>

 

“Joel Schumacher.” Yahoo! Movies. 15 March 2007. <http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800018580/bio>

 

 

Reid Siljestrom

Woody Allen: An Auteur for New York

 

 

Bibliography:

Woody Allen's Biography

www.woodyallen.com/biography, 2006

 

Schickel, Richard

Woody Allen: A Life In Film, Dee publisher, Chicago, 2003

 

 

Lindsay Hubbard

Cathlena Martin

ENG 2300

March 26, 2007

 

Ron Howard: An Auteur of emotion

Ron Howard has directed 26 films with his 27th in its pre-production stage. After analyzing numerous films by Howard, including Far and Away, A Beautiful Mind, and Cinderella Man, it is evident that he is in fact an Auteur. The Auteur Theory, according to the Oxford English dictionary describes the term as a film director whose personal influence and artistic control over his or her films are so great that he or she may be regarded as their author, and whose films may by regarded collectively as a body of work sharing common themes techniques and expressing an individual style or vision. This, combined with Sarris’ and Wollen’s premises define Howard as an Auteur not only thematically, but through aspects of mise en scene as well.

Ron Howard likes to take his audience on journeys. Though strength and challenge he allows triumph to overcome tragedy in his films. This is seen in all three of my exemplifying films, Far and Away, A Beautiful Mind, and Cinderella Man. In Far and Away, a couple moves from Ireland to the US in hopes of owning their own land some day. Through their journey, they are faced with struggle and hard work to eventually live out a dream. Incorporating major historical references, this movie highlights the realism behind the immigration of Irish people to the US in the 1800s and the struggles they faced. In Cinderella Man, Howard addresses the struggle through Jim Braddock, once a successful and wealthy, well-known boxer who’s fate was challenged with the downfall of the economy as a result of the Great Depression. With the support and strength of his wife, another common theme among Ron Howard films, Braddock and his family overcome the challenges they are faced with. Similarly, in A Beautiful Mind, John Nash, the main character once again played by Russell Crowe, suffers from schizophrenia, a suffocating mental illness. But it is through the love and strength of his wife in the supporting role that helps Nash conquer his challenge. The unity and closeness of family is a central theme seen throughout Howard’s films.

Presenting a journey for an audience requires a great deal of cinematography techniques and mise en scene aspects for a director to reach the effect that he or she is aiming for. Howard focuses on getting his audience to emotionally “get lost” in the story of the film. Through his use of camera angles, Ron Howard mostly utilizes close-ups and angles that put the viewers in the characters' shoes. This allows the audience not only to empathize with the struggle and how it is affecting the main character, but also to feel what he or she is feeling. Lighting allows Howard to portray the humanness and realism of the time period and historical period in which each film takes place. His depiction of a historical even is yet another signature of Ron Howard.

The question of whether Ron Howard, as a director, is an auteur or not is a simple question to answer: yes. Thematically and through cinematography, he becomes an author of what some could claim classify as dramatic, emotion invoking films. As he cites historical references and allows his characters to overcome tragedy, audiences leave the theatre feeling good and with a moral in mind. He sums up Americanism in one sentence: ‘“There is something inherently tough about Americans. They will not accept defeat. The astronauts of Apollo 13 (1995) would not give up, John Nash in A Beautiful Mind (2001) would not give up, and Jim Braddock would not surrender to poverty,”’ (IMDb).

 

Bibliography:

"Biography for Ron Howard"

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000165/bio

 

"Ron Howard" From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Howard

 

 

 

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Emanuel Alex

Auter Paper

Cathlena Martin

 

 

Alejandro González Iñárritu is a realist auter who conveys his ideas with recurring themes instead of mise-en-scene. Iñárritu is a Mexican born director who got his start in radio and later was the producer of Mexico’s largest television station. All the while he composed music and continued his studies are various film schools. He has directed seven films, written four, and appeared in ten. He is the first Mexican director to be nominated for the best picture Oscar. 1

Iñárritu sets up most of his films in a very similar fashion. The settings are vastly different, even if they are only a few miles apart. The characters come from different walks of life. Similarly, the characters problems are incredibly different, but their paths converge and their humanity is exposed by the end of the film.

Initially, Iñárritu planned to use eleven short stories in one of his first films, Amores perros, but whittled it down to three. After that, most of his mainstream films maintained the formula of three intertwining stories. He has; however, experimented with how much the stories relate to each other, how much information is divulged to the audience, and when the information is revealed.

In Amores perros all the stories take place in Mexico City. However, the first family portrayed is lower middle class and struggling to get by on a subsidiary illegal income. The second story is of a magazine editor and his super model wife, dealing with her crippling car accident. The final short story is about an old homeless man and his quest to see his daughter again. The title of the film translates literally to “love’s a bitch” and the film deals with all forms of love. The film depicts how love brings people from completely different walks of life together. Iñárritu is obsessed with fate and the way people meet. This theme is repeated in most of his films.

In 21 Grams, Iñárritu depicts the affects of drug use and the moral code of different drug users. Drugs are one of the few elements that appear in each one of his films; he includes money, religion, guns, animals, children, sex, and death in all his films. He believes that these things are an enormous part of everyday life and should not be ignored. Unlike most auters, Iñárritu likes to portray the world exactly how it is. Most of the angles are eye level, most of the shots use natural lighting, and the camera even moves like human eyes would. 21 Grams, like Babel, intertwines three stories, telling them simultaneously. This technique is not used in Amores perrros; the stories, for the most part, are broken up entirely by title pages. The first two films force the audience to put together three stories at once, a slightly confusing tactic that makes the audience feel like they have solved a puzzle when all the pieces are in place. Amores perros presents the stories separately; forcing the audience to put them together after the film is over, instead of during the film.

Babel, Iñárritu latest film, dissects not only social standing but culture and language. For example, guns are shown in three different cultural contexts. To Moroccan children it is a tool, a weapon, and a play thing. To Mexican children it is a noise maker and herald of joy. To American children it is an evil device that kills and destroys. Babel’s main themes are communication and parent/child relationships. The obvious barrier of language is dealt with but other less obvious barriers such as physical disability and drugs are also addressed. The different social norms that affect child rearing are also questioned; Americans parent over the phone from half way around the world, Moroccans rule over their children with an iron fist, and Mexicans make huge sacrifices for their children.

Iñárritu uses mise-en-scene sparingly but masterfully. The transitions between settings are often done smoothly and in an interesting fashion. In Bable, the scene goes from a Moroccan child who has just shot an American tourist fleeing the scene to an American child running in a game of hide and seek. Both children wear a maroon shirt, so the transition is seamless. However, it brings up the question of why we “run”. He also brings up the nature of sex with the use of mirrors. We people make love; it is shot at bed level, showing the couple as one. When people have sex, it is in front on a mirror, indicating that the people are only fornicating and not becoming “one”.

Iñárritu portrayal of time is rarely sequential. Most of his films open with a scene that is sequentially last. This technique and the overlaying of three different stories make his films almost necessary to watch a second time. The first watch and every other watch are completely different. He shows the viewer bits and pieces the first time. The second time, the viewer feels like a character in the movie, aware of all the visual elements that were not apparent the first time around. For example, characters that are introduced later in the film appear in the background early in the movies.

Each of Iñárritu’s films leaves the viewer with a similar revelation. When calamity strikes, humans are all essentially the same. We all need food and water. We all love. We all feel pain. Dramatic events break down people and the survivors are the true victims; sometimes one is just better off dead.

 

works cited

 

1 "Biography for Alejandro GonzáLez IñáRritu." IMDb. 19 Mar. 2007 http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0327944/bio.

 

Elizabeth Zadezensky

Cathlena Martin

ENG 2300

29 March 2007

Natural Born Auteur

Oliver Stone began writing scripts when he was a young boy, using his own life experiences to influence his writing. He has worked through several types of movies, creating them in his own signature, with themes such as war and life in New York City. Three great examples of this are World Trade Center, Platoon, and Wall Street.

Oliver Stone was born in New York City on September 15, 1945, to Louis and Jacqueline Stone. His father was an aesthetic Jewish stockbroker and his mother was an optimistic Catholic French woman. His father has affected the way Stone views the world, even making a movie dedicated to him about the stock market. He attended Yale for a short time before dropping out and enlisting in the Army. He learned his crafted from the New York Film School, and was even given guidance by Martin Scorcese. In order to be an auteur, a director must possess the technique and knowledge to create a good film, also a director often brings his own personality into his movies – eventually becoming his signature, and finally, for a director to be an auteur, he or she must create interior meaning within their movies through mise-en-scene.

His most recent movie, World Trade Center portrays the heart-wrenching and difficult time that two police officers in New York City experienced as they attempted to respond to the attacks of September 11, 2001. In the horrible attack of terrorism against the United States of America, thousands of people died, many of them were police officers and firefighters. Oliver Stone was able to capture the drama and the events in such a manner that it brought the tragic incident to life. Stone has a knack for creating and representing the trials and tribulation of humans in moments of extreme need. For example, in World Trade Center, Willie and John, the two police officers remaining underneath the rubble of the towers experience a sort of religious experience. Willie, who is stuck underneath tons of concrete, slowly dying, begins to envision scenes of a white light and God. Meanwhile, he and his fellow officer, John, are thinking of their families and what is going to happen to them. Stone used several dream-like states to portray flashbacks and illusions. He used a lot of white light and soft colors to distinguish it from the dark and dreary hole which seemed to become more and more like a tomb.

Wall Street was produced in 1987, and was Stone’s attempt to portray the life his father lived as a stockbroker in New York City. The scenes that stood out the most in my mind was the way Stone used lighting in the film to portray good and evil. Once Bud Fox decides to do business with Gordon Gekko, there is a fade to black, which makes Gekko look almost sinister. He is the conniving “player” who thrives on the highs and lows of the stock market, feeding off of all the people he can. Later in the movie, there is a scene where Bud fades to white, juxtaposing the two characters as good and evil.

Stone wrote the script for Platoon in 1976, but did not manage to find someone to make the film until ten years later. This movie is almost completely autobiographical about his tour in Vietnam as an infantry soldier in the Army. Chris Taylor, the main character is played by Charlie Sheen, who also plays Bud Fox in Wall Street. Stone uses similar themes as that of Wall Street, such as human nature, morals, and loss of innocence to show the nitty-gritty attitude of “kill or be killed” of war. He used the constant moving angles of the camera and changes in lighting to create the most realistic movie about Vietnam at the time. He also used desaturated color to show the calm after the last ambush. In one scene specifically, some of the officers are raping the women and children in the village that they were about to torch and Taylor interrupts it and tells them that they just don’t get it, and they keep teasing him and threatening him and he finally says that it is because she is a human being. That scene was very powerful because it drove home the point that Stone was trying to make that the fight had become simply the rejects of society trying to survive.

Oliver Stone is an amazing director and auteur; he brings his personal life and taste into his movies in order to bring them to life. He uses his knowledge of film and technique to create a seamless transition between each scene. As a result of that, he has won three Oscars and been nominated for dozens and dozens more.

 

Works Cited

“Oliver Stone” Imdb http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000231/

“Oliver Stone” Filmmakers.com http://www.filmmakers.com/artists/oliverstone/biography/index.htm

“Oliver Stone” Wikipedia.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Stone

 

 

Robert Newman

Cathlena Martin

eng 2300

march 29, 2007

Spike Lee: Auteur

 

The classifications to be an auteur are so extreme and so difficult to achieve that many brilliant directors never achieve such an esteemed status. To be an Auteur a director must be the key influence of a film, but more than just that is necessary. A director must put his own personal stamp on a film through the use of his own unique styles. From the way the director shoots the scenes to the content of the film to the major themes of the movie, they must all be the artistic vision of the director for them to be considered an Auteur. Spike Lee is the definition of an Auteur. No director puts his own ideas, values, and personality into a film in the way that Spike Lee does. Through the analysis of three of his films: Crooklyn, Mo’ Better Blues, and Malcolm X I will support the argument for Spike Lee as an auteur.

Crooklyn is a film about a poor, urban family living in Brooklyn. The family consists of five children, four boys and one girl. The girl is named Troy and she is the main character. The movie focuses on the struggles that children and parents growing up in impoverished communities must face. Troy experiences a strange sexual episode that affects her throughout her life. She witnesses a small foreign man dancing very promiscuously with a transvestite in a mini-mart where she goes to steal candy. Troy is also affected by the drug use and violence that surrounds and infiltrates the community. Spike Lee’s character, Snuffy, plays a glue-sniffing punk who scares the local children and steals their money and food stamps. Troy is so affected by Snuffy that she has nightmares about him chasing her down a street, stealing her food stamps, and forcing her into doing drugs. Spike Lee uses the theme of childhood in every one of his films. Childhood was such an important factor to him so he portrays it in his films. Lee realizes the importance that childhood has in affecting and shaping the course of a person’s life. Crooklyn parallels Lee’s life because just like the mother and father in Crooklyn, his mother was a schoolteacher and his father was a struggling jazz musician trying to make ends meet. The contrast between the strict authoritarian mother and the free-spirit father provide and interesting mix in the creation of the artist Spike Lee.

Mo’ Better blues is a film about love, lust, friendship, betrayal, and salvation. Lee uses many of these themes in his works. Denzel Washington plays Bleek, a blues trumpet player in a band with Wesley Snipes, who plays the saxophone. Both Denzel and Snipes play characters that are unfaithful to their wives/ girlfriends. Snipes eventually becomes faithful with a woman who Denzel used to be with, but Denzel continues to be unfaithful. Denzel continues to betray both his friends and girlfriends because when he has no one else he can always rely on his music to support him. In one scene Samuel L. Jackson hits Denzel in the mouth with a trumpet and Denzel can no longer play his trumpet. Denzel is now alone in the world and slips into a yearlong depression. He eventually begs his old girlfriend to come back to him and they end up living happily ever after. Lee focuses on the theme of salvation through love and in contrast the theme of demise in betrayal.

Spike Lee’s most expensive and longest film is Malcolm X. Denzel Washington plays Malcolm X, who is portrayed as a hustler turned extremist Muslim turned moderate Muslim. The movie follows the journey archetype. Malcolm’s entire life is portrayed as a journey beginning with his childhood. KKK members murder Malcolm’s father and his mother goes insane. These events plant the seed for his hatred of the white community and that seed is eventually nurtured and watered by the honorable Elijah Muhammad who preaches hatred of all white people and non-Muslims. Under Elijah’s tutelage Malcolm becomes extremely powerful in the Muslim world until he realizes that Elijah Mohammad is not as honorable a man as he once believed. Malcolm’s journey continues when he makes the necessary voyage to Mecca. In Mecca he learns that Muslims can come from all places of the world and be all races. When Malcolm returns to the U.S. to preach his newfound ideas, they are greeted with opposition by Elijah Muhammad and eventually Malcolm’s journey comes to an end with his assassination while he is giving a speech. The movie is typical of Spike Lee because it focus on childhood affecting adulthood, as well as themes of religion, oppression, betrayal, and salvation.

Spike Lee is most definitely an Auteur, and an accomplished one at that. His films portray his ideas and views on life. He writes all of his films as well as directing, producing, and acting in them. Lee takes full advantage of the first amendment and speaks is mind no matter what sort of controversy it may cause.

 

Works Cited

 

Biography of Spike Lee

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_Lee

 

 

Jamie Caceres

April 4, 2007

An Askew View of Kevin Smith

 

Kevin Patrick Smith was born on August 2, 1970 in Red Bank, New Jersey. Jersey ends up being where he draws a lot of inspiration for his movies from, being that all of his films take place in all or part of his films. He was raised as a Catholic, which is also reflected in many of his films. Not only is he a director, but he is also a producer, writer and actor. Often he writes, produces, directs, and even acts in his own films. He founded View Askew Productions, from which he produces his films. His educational background is limited as attended Vancouver Film School but dropped out about halfway through to pursue directing on his own. He is married to Jennifer Schwalbach Smith and they have one daughter together, Harley Quinn, who is named after a character in the Batman animated series. He is fanatic about New Jersey, comics, hockey, and certain elements of pop culture like Star Wars, all of which is reflected in his films. He has directed 11 films and is currently working on two more. Kevin Smith is an auteur because his personal stamp can be seen throughout all of his movies, as he puts a lot of himself and aspects of his life into his films.

Kevin Smith’s personal life influences can be seen throughout his films. The setting for his movies often take place in New Jersey as well as the characters often being born and raised there. His setting also often include semi-suburban areas where the disenfranchised youth. His first movie that he directed by himself in 1994, Clerks, was filmed at the actual convenience store in which he worked. A prominent characteristic throughout his films is the fact that he often employs the same actors throughout his films. Not only does he use the same actors, but they often play the same character throughout different films, thus linking events and people to other movies. It is as if Kevin Smith created a community in which all the characters are inextricably linked by their shared past in other movies. His most often used actor who always plays the exact same character throughout his films is Jason Mewes, who always plays the unforgettable character of Jay, the loud and obnoxious drug dealer. Kevin Smith himself always plays Silent Bob, Jay’s “heterosexual life mate” and partner in crime. He also uses similar characters within his films. The main character’s best friend is often sarcastic with a caustic sense of humor while the main character is more reserved and well rounded. For example, Randal Graves, played by Jeff Anderson, and Banky Edwards, played by Jason Lee, are both very similar in their roles of providing comedic relief to the drama going on in the main characters’ life. Raised as a Catholic, that element is also prevalent in his films, with characters referencing things like going to Catholic school. His movie Dogma is a sort of satire on the Catholic religion as it is about the main character, Bethany, who is charged with a holy quest to stop two banned angels from trying to return to heaven by going to this Catholic Church in Red Bank, New Jersey. The themes throughout his movies are similar in that the main character is usually struggle to find some aspect of themselves. Some examples include how Bethany tries to find her faith in Dogma, Dante struggles being a blue collar worker in both of the Clerks, Ollie struggles to be a father after having a high-powered career in Jersey Girl, and Holden and Amy struggle be themselves and have a relationship together in Chasing Amy.

His movies also have similar themes and elements within them that reflect his personal taste in relation to pop culture, like his affinity for Star Wars, hockey, comics, and references to directors like John Hughes. In almost each one of his movies, characters at some point or another have a debate of some sort on the Star Wars films. For example, in Clerks, Dante and Randal debate whether Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi had a better ending. In Chasing Amy, Hooper X, Banky, and Holden have a debate about how Darth Vader represents the Black race that is taken over and destroyed by the Jedi, who represent white people. In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, there is a scene where Bluntman and Chronic fight the bad guy with light sabers. Comic book references are always prevalent, he even created the comic, Bluntman and Chronic, for his films which is a comic based off Jay and Silent Bob. The famous comic Stan Lee even makes a cameo in Mall Rats to give Brodie a pep talk about relationships while at the mall for a comic signing. Kevin Smith often features hockey into his movies in one way or another. Whenever a character is playing a video game during a scene, it is hockey. Dante and Randal close down the Quick Stop in order to play a game of hockey real quick on the roof of the store with their friends.

Kevin Smith is an accomplished director as well as a talented individual as he assumes the roles of writer, producer, and actor as well. His individual style and individual influence can be seen throughout his films. While comedic in nature, his films also provide in depth story lines that cross over into all of his films.

 

Bibliography:

www.imdb.com – “Kevin Smith”

www.wikipedia.org – “Kevin Smith”

 

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Auteur Presentation: Quentin Tarantino

 

Nilufer Mehta

Eng 2300: 1794

Cathlena Martin

4th April 2007

 

Sources:

 

Bullz-eye on Quentin Tarantino

http://www.bullz-eye.com/entertainers/quentin_tarantino.htm

 

A Detailed Reading Of: Pulp Fiction – Fabian Ziesing

http://home.nikocity.de/fabianweb/pulp.html

 

Kill Bill Vol. 1 and the Tarantino Game – Erika Hernandez

http://www.aboutfilm.com/movies/k/killbillvol1.htm

 

The everything company: Quentin Tarantino

http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=Quentin%20Tarantino

 

God of the Machine – The Video Clerk As Auteur

http://www.godofthemachine.com/archives/00000489.html

 

The Tarantino Legacy – Jane Mills

http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/36/tarantino1.html

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Leticia Dieppa

Cathlena Martin

ENG 2300

5 April 2007

Spanish Cinema: Pedro Almodóvar

 

Almodóvar directs, writes, and produces all of his films. He has directed about 16 films, Volver (to return) being the last one so far. His style is so different from any other director that when someone mentions his name, people tend to automatically know what type of movie it is. His personal style consists of glossy images, strong colors (red, blue, yellow), popular music, and focus on his culture including as well complex narratives and humor to relieve tension.

Pedro Almodóvar was born on September 24, 1951 in the province of La Mancha. He was one of four children. During his teenage years he was influenced by many directors such as Billy Wilder, Douglas Sirk, Alfred Hitchcock, Luis Bunuel and many others. In 1967 he was around sixteen and decided to move to Madrid because his wish was to study film and become a film director. He had no money to go about making his dream come true and this was all happening during the Franco years. During this time in Spain it was impossible to study film because Franco who was the dictator at the time decided to close all of the National Schools for the study of cinema. He had many temporary jobs to pay for his expenses until he found a better job at a telephone company. He did not have to work all day and used his free time to focus on his interests. He would work with different theater groups and wrote for a few magazines.

In the 1970s, he had enough money to buy a Super-8 camera and filmed his first full-length film and couple of short films. His first feature film was Pepi, Luci, Bom and other Women on the Heap (Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del monton). This movie is follows the lives of the three main characters. Pepi who wants revenge from a corrupt policeman who raped her; Luci who is a masochistic housewife; and Bom who is a lesbian punk rock singer.

Pedro Almodovar could be easily classified as an auteur; he exhibits some recurrent characteristic of style. This style which is unique to him and only to him serves as his signature. Women to Aldomovar are very important and in the majority of the films, women are usually the main characters. He often likes to portray women who are strong, who survive, and woman who put up a fight. He truly loves women of all ages and temperaments; this love for women alone is one of his signatures. A reason for the strong female characters in his films is because these women serve as a portrayal of his own mother who had cameo roles in his films until her death in 1999.

In the film Volver, all the main characters are women and are at the center of connected plots. This movie emphasizes concept of motherhood and what a mother is capable of doing for her daughter. Raimunda (Penelope Cruz) is willing to take the blame for her husband’s death even though it was the daughter who killed him because he tried taking advantage of her. In this particular scene, Raimunda plans what to do with the body and takes action. Raimunda getting away with the crime and taking the body and burying it suggests Almodovar’s desire to be rid of men. Having the plot done this way allows the audience to focus only on the women. Later in the movie when Raimunda takes over her neighbor’s restaurant, she rejects the attention of a handsome man who is a member of a film crew who eats at the restaurant because that is not as important as the way in which a couple of Raimunda’s friend end up chipping in to help her with the business. One of the friends helped her transport the freezer where the dead body could be found to a river. This women helping one another and being there when times get tough is about women solidarity.

Another one of the many techniques Almodovar uses is the use of satire to portray Spain’s religious institutions. Bad Education (2004) took him ten years to produce because is a dark semi-autobiographical story of innocence and corruption of the Catholic Church. When Almodóvar was eight years old the family moved to Extremadura which is in the west of Spain where he was sexually abused during his Catholic School years there. Another example of the theme of corruption in the church is found in his 1983 film, Dark Habits. This film presented a criticism of the church through the story of a woman forced to hideout with a group of nuns. The superior nun falls in love with a dancer who is running away from justice and hides her in the convent. The actions of the nun are morally corrupt when she begins having an affair with the dancer as well faking miracles to fun for their cocaine and heroin habits. This character is ruled by desire and intuition rather reason.

The theme of Identity is very important if not the most important theme in Almodóvar’s work. Almodóvar’s characters are never just heterosexual or homosexual; they perform their identities and thus are identifiable by what they choose to be at any particular moment. In All About My Mother (1999), which was a film about a mother morning for her son which tied in with Almodovar losing his mother that same year makes references to the donation and transplant of organs. In this film, the transsexual character Agrado has a scene where there is a comical speech concerning the surgical alteration performed upon her own body which is what makes her who she really is. The main character is after her son’s father who is also a transsexual and wants to find him and tell him about his son. Throughout his films there are many uses of airports, cemeteries, nightclubs, theaters, dressing rooms, and film studios because these serve as locations of transformations which ties in with the recurrent theme of identity.

I strongly believe that Almodovar could easily be classified as an auteur. He fulfills the way the auteur theory could be visualized with the three circles. Through his films he demonstrates the use of different techniques; he definitely has a personal style without a doubt that seperates him from the rest of the directors, and his films have interior meaning since his personality and experiences go hand in hand with the material and themes of the films.

 

Work Cited

 

Smith, P.J. (1994). Desire Unlimited: The Cinema of Pedro Almodovar. New York: Verso.

 

Allinson, M. (2001). A Spanish Labyrinth: The films of Pedro Almodovar. New York: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd.

 

"Biography for Pedro Almodovar"

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000264/

 

___________________________________________________

Alex Jones

Terry Gilliam

Though Terry Gilliam is for most people, inexorably linked with the tradition of British comedy, he was actually born in America. Specifically, he was born in Minnesota and then later his family moved to California where Gilliam eventually attended college. He was influenced heavily by the absurdist humor of Mad Magazine and during college he contributed to the school magazine. Though he graduated with a degree in political sciences, he initially found work with Help! Magazine as an animator. Eventually he moved to England where he worked with several future Monty Python members, including Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. He worked with them, along with the rest of the Monty Python group on Monty Python’s Flying Circus from its inception. He was initially credited as being only an animator but as his influence in the sketch comedy grew his name was placed with the rest. His chief contributions to the show were the zany animations between sketches. This style of animation has influenced a number of artists and is the main inspiration for an entire Guinness ad campaign.

Once Terry Gilliam got into the director’s seat, he demonstrated a very particular style which was very reminiscent of his Python days. Though it seems to be pulled from his work with Monty Python, he demonstrates a significantly darker sense of humor. In Brazil for instance, there is one scene in particular which stands out as being both frightening and utterly ridiculous at the same time. In the scene the protagonist, Sam, is trying to see his friend who works in the information retrieval department (which turns out to be a euphemism for interrogation). The secretary sits at her desk transcribing everything that is being said in the office where an interrogation is taking place. The juxtaposition between the calm secretary, the tortured screams of the man being interrogated and Sam’s own horrified expression as he waits is too absurd not to be funny. It also helps that the secretary is transcribing what amounts to little more than sound effects (for example “Ahhh!” and “Eeee!”). At the end of Time Bandits the protagonist, Kevin, wakes up in his house which is on fire. He has just returned from “The Fortress of Darkness” which is something akin to hell, where a piece of concentrated evil was left uncollected. This piece of evil some how winds up in Kevin’s microwave and his parents find it. When they inevitably touch it, despite Kevin’s plea (“Don’t touch it, it’s EVIL!”), the two of them explode. At first the viewer is simply stunned but immediately afterwards Sean Connery rides by in a fire truck and gives a huge wink to Kevin and presumably the audience, almost as if he were saying, “It’s okay you can laugh. Those two people just exploded for no reason. You can’t tell me that’s not hilarious.” Though his humor has gotten much darker since the days of Monty Python it is still steeped in the tradition of absurdist humor, just as Monty Python always has been.

Gilliam has recurring themes throughout his films which is practically required for a director to be an auteur. His movies generally deal in one way or another with the distinction between fantasy and reality. In The Adventures of Baron Munchausen a little girl named Sally travels with the Baron in order to save her town. At the end of the movie the Baron is shot and killed and than is revived seconds later as he says “And that is just one of the times in which I met my death.” The entire movie was in fact a story told by Baron Munchausen. When the townspeople open the gates however, the Turks who were besieging the walls are gone, thus blurring the line between fantasy and reality even further. In the movie Brazil, Sam often has day dreams about being able to fly. In these dreams he always sees the same girl and has to free her from a cage. Eventually he meets her in real life and has to help her escape the government. Terry Gilliam also directed the movie adaptation of the Hunter S. Thompson novel, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Though he didn’t write it, Gilliam’s direction gives an excellent depiction of the drug induced haze through which the characters in the movie wander. The camera work goes back and forth between eye level, high angle and low angle shots depending on how disoriented he wants the audience to feel.

Though Gilliam does an excellent job with presenting his themes through mise en scene as well as through cinematography, I am not convinced that he is an auteur. One of the criteria for doing so is the development of one’s own particular style. Terry Gilliam, unfortunately, has a sense of humor which is too reminiscent of Monty Python. Some of his more recent films have begun to pull away from this style of humor and perhaps he will eventually make his mark as an auteur but I don’t believe he’s done so just yet.

 

Works Cited

1) The Internet Movie Database: Terry Gilliam (http://imdb.com/name/nm0000416/)

2) Wikipedia: Terry Gilliam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Gilliam)

 

Amanda Jackson

ENG2300

Cathlena Martin

4-05-07

Michel Gondry’s Explorative Eye

Apparently, director Michel Gondry makes other music video directors cry. He redefined the genre in the 1990’s by introducing innovative filming and editing techniques and an inventive visual style. Yet most people know him for his Oscar-winning film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind which he co-wrote. Although only his second full-length feature, this film proves that his technical dexterity, groundbreaking imagery, and originality are not exclusive to music videos. On the contrary, his imaginative eye and understanding of the visual art allow him to manipulate reality into a surreal world that is peculiar to Gondry and magical to viewers.

Michel Gondry was born in Versailles, France in 1964. In his early childhood, Michel’s artistic cultivation encompassed several forms. He drew well at a very young age, and the desire to create and invent took the form of Lego machines that could perform fantastic operations. His parents provided him with a musical background and the foundation for his attraction to pop-rock. Constant Martin, Gondry’s grandfather, invented one of the first keyboards, a synthesizer called a clavioline. This instrument can be heard in some of the Beatles’ songs. Gondry played the drums in a band named Oui Oui for which he made his first music videos. It was as a result of these productions that he discovered his love for directing, experimenting with animation and live action.

A turning point in his career occurred when Björk, an Icelandic song writer/singer, saw his videos and asked Gondry to direct a video for her. He directed the music video for her song Human Behavior and won “every music award existing” because its “organically outlandish images perfectly complimented the singer’s unique musical style” (Bergman, Eric). Björk and Gondry formed a relationship based on a mutual respect for each others’ work, and Gondry directed several more music videos for her. Björk once commented on Gondry’s directing style, “In the most twisted and complicated idea, Michel is only looking for one thing, to extract a bit of magic and mystery from things.”

Gondry continued to direct music videos which he used to experiment with distorted perspectives and improbable tableaus to create credible fantasy worlds. Inspired by dreams and childhood memories, his imagery is wildly imaginative and uninhibited. His works are marked by questioning the definition of reality and the interactions between the worlds we live in. For the direction of the music video Everlong by the Foo Fighters, Gondry modeled the plotline after one of his childhood nightmares of having enormous hands. In the video, Dave Grohl is locked in a dream where he uses his hand morphing ability to save his girlfriend. This morphing technique, which is prevalent in film and video throughout the 1990’s, was pioneered by Gondry in his video Je Danse le Mia and is one of his trademarks. As a child, he liked the idea of invention and animation was his outlet. When he made his transition over to film, he found he could take certain elements, create a clumsy invention and then make them work for the camera. Thus his fascination with experimentation became one of his signatures.

Most of Gondry’s innovative technical maneuverings were made by meticulous camerawork, editing and sheer ingenuity. If he used CGI it was in combination with simpler devices so that the resulting images seemed more realistic and less manipulated. Long takes and slow tracking shots became another one of his signatures. In a single take, or what appears to be one, the perceived simplicity of the camerawork and editing suspends his viewers’ sense of wonder because they cannot immediately determine how the trickery was achieved. In Kylie Minogue’s video Come Into My World, Gondry follows the artist walking down a street in a single long take and then loops the footage of Kylie from her starting point until she returns again where another Kylie joins the walk and interacts with the first Kylie. Looping the footage four times represents her four choruses and the geometry of the song allowed her to be at the same portion of the street at the same time in the song. Using the same type of compulsive precision and imagination, he established the use of several camera shots simultaneously to create a revolving single shot in the Rolling Stones video Like a Rolling Stone, which later formed the backbone of the Matrix trilogy.

Gondry’s films embody his inventive visual style in which he continues to experiment with his technique. In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, in which he collaborated with Charlie Kaufmann to write the script, the dreamlike characteristic of memories form the concept of Joel and Clementine’s world. People, objects and scenery spontaneously change in front of Joel in a seemingly single take. The Science of Sleep which was not only directed but written completely by Gondry truly reflects the incorporation of his personal life into his work. Stefane, the protagonist, represents Gondry’s alter ego as he is a young artist who can hardly distinguish between his dreams and reality, confusing expectations with his far flung fantasies. His artistic background comes through in his use of stop-motion animations of cardboard cutouts as well as his inventive nature with the presentation of a “dream” and “time machine”. His characters are honest and human and symbolize the theme of finding beauty in ordinary people.

Michel Gondry is an auteur because his hand and personality are involved in every aspect of his production. He is a writer, a choreographer, an artist, an editor, and a director. His distinctive style is easily recognized by imaginative imagery which often strays into the surreal. He not only possesses technical skill but revolutionizes it. After only three full length features, it will be a thrill to see what he has in store for his future works.

 

Director File-Michel Gondry

www.director-file.com/gondry/

 

Music Videos

www.partizan.com/partizan/musicvideos/?michelgondry

 

Sputnik7-Michel Gondry by Eric Bergman

www.sputnik7.com/features/index.jsp?feature=michelgondry

 

Guardian-Michel Gondry Interview

film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/

 

 

Alan Alvarez

Eng 2300

4/8/07

Spielberg as an Auteur

 

To be considered as an auteur is a distinction that most directors never get. In order to qualify as an auteur, the director must be seen as the driving influential force behind the creation of the film. The film should show reflections of the director’s life and should be inspired by events that have occurred in his life. The director’s films should also have themes and trademarks that bind them all so that when someone is watching a film they should know who the director is. Steven Spielberg fits this definition and more

Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1946 and moved to California after his parents had divorced. He attend California State University, Long Beach before dropping out and taking an internship at Universal Studios. He started off directing some segments in a TV show and his first theatrical debut was The Sugarland Express in 1974. He broke out on the stage as a prominent director with the release of Jaws and has not looked back since

Throughout his long career he has made films that have impacted our society both commercially and culturally. From big blockbusters like Jaws, and Jurassic Park, to dramatic films like Schindler’s List, and Amistad, he has delighted and brought audiences to tears.

Spielberg has a penchant for using the same cast and crew in a multitude of his movies. Some notable examples of this is how he has used producer Kathleen Kenndedy in all his films since E.T the Extra-Terrestrial and cinematographer Januz Kaminski in every film since Schindler’s List. Of extra note is how often he has worked with academy award winner John Williams. John Williams’ scores can be heard on all Spielberg films except The Color Purple. Spielberg uses his scores to provide emotional emphasis to scenes and this is a recurring theme throughout most of his movies. Spielberg also shows loyalty to certain actors and has cast Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford, and more recently Tom Cruise in a majority of his movies.

Spielberg has several themes that permeate throughout his works. There are two key themes that go hand in hand throughout his movies. A regular person is put into extraordinary circumstances and the childlike sense of wonder that the characters feel when confronted with these events. An example of this is in Jurassic Park. Drs Alan Grant and Ellie Sadler are paleontologists that are transported to an island by John Hammond. This island is the home of a themes park where he has successfully managed to clone dinosaurs. An important scene in this movie is when the two protagonists finally see the dinosaurs for the first time. They are driving to the main island compound and stop in the middle of this huge grassy plain. Grant looks out his window and sees his childhood dreams come true. The camerawork in this scene really helps gives a sense of this wonderment by using low angle shots pointing up. This gives the impression of a little boy looking up in awe of what he is seeing. The music in the background is majestic and just adds to the overall mood. Another good example of this is in Jaws. Specifically the scene where the shark is first seen. In this scene Brody is trying to lure the shark out by throwing out chum and is surprised by the appearance of this beast.The look of awe on their faces as the camera zooms in on them just shows how incredible the situation is. Even a seasoned shark hunter like Quint is reduced to child like amazement. The music again underscores the scene. The shark itself has a theme attached to him and every time he appears it sounds and adds tension.

Another theme that reoccurs is family relationships and how they affect the characters. Spielberg was very affected by his parents divorce and uses this lot in his movies. Most movies have at least one character that has problems with his dad or has had problems dealing with divorce. In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Spielberg reveals that Indy's father was also an archeologist and that his father was almost never around for him because he was so engrossed in his work. Indy's father is proud of the fact he taught him “self-reliance" and thinks he was a good father. Indy thinks differently. Most of the humor in the movie itself comes from the interaction between father and son and the tension between them. This can be seen in many scenes where they share dialogue and their contrasting views are shown. Junior is always trying to make his dad proud and thus gets into lots of fights along the way.

Spielberg is an auteur. His movies have certain elements that bind them together and he imbues his films with his own personal experiences. His movies are journeys into the unknown and he invites the audience along for the ride with his use of low angle shots and his great use of music.

 

 

"Steven Spielberg." wikipedia.org. 8 Apr. 2007. 8 Apr. 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Spielberg>.

 

 

"Steven Spielberg." internet movie database. 9 Apr. 2007 <http://www.imdb.com/ name/nm0000229/>.

 

 

Matthew Bucks

April 9, 2007

Wes Anderson

 

Wes Anderson was born on May 1, 1969 in Houston, Texas. His passion for entertainment didn’t take long to surface and Anderson became an accomplished playwright by middle school. He took his talents with him to the University of Texas where he would meet a couple of actors which would jump start his directing career. Anderson met Owen and Luke Wilson in a playwriting class when the three of them noticed their similar tastes for comedy. The trio collaborated in writing a short comedy about three goalless college kids who decide they need the thrill of robberies to quench their thirst for some excitement in life. It was this 14-minute short, titled Bottle Rocket that propelled Anderson and the Wilson’s into Hollywood. Producer James L. Brooks took notice of this films’ lack of cynicism and its convincing light-heartedness. Brooks offered the money needed to extend the short into a full-length feature film. Without attending film school, Anderson was suddenly immersed in the world of filmmaking. Anderson both writes and directs all of his features, giving him complete control of every aspect from music to costumes. His unique style shows through in every single second of film. Some critics complain that his films are too stylish, but who is to say that a film is too stylish? Without his trademark style, what would be a Wes Anderson film? His keen attention to detail, his wide-angle lense shots, and his colorful representation of human emotion through witty dialogue all mix together to form a final product of art.

The auteur theory states that an auteur is one who is the author of his films. It is impossible to watch any Wes Anderson film and come out denying that the film is his piece of work. His trademarks are extremely identifiable and they flawlessly complement one another, making each film a complete work of art. Anderson’s technique and personal style undoubtedly shape together to unveil a core meaning. His four films, Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, all revolve around the themes of adolescence, mid-life crisis, downfall and redemption. Anderson’s ability to convey these emotions using both dialogue and artsy camera work make each story seem realistic and believable even though the situations themselves are a bit ‘off the wall’.

Anderson’s life truly inspired these films. Take for instance that Bottle Rocket (a film about three post-college kids who are bored and decide to fill their boredom with crime) was written near the end of his college career and Anderson was wondering what he would do for the rest of his life. Anderson’s teenage fixation with playwriting and rebellious attitude would inspire Rushmore’s main character Max Fischer. The Royal Tenenbaums was created as Anderson’s way of depicting his favorite author, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s timeless New York City. Anderson’s predeliction for Jacques Cousteau documentaries inspired the hilarious parody The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Personal influences contributed to the passion for directing these four films. Each film is Anderson’s baby for the three years he makes them.

While personality shapes these films, it is ultimately Anderson’s trademark cinematographic techniques that put his stamp on them. When the opening credits finish rolling, you enter the world of Wes Anderson. His use of wide angle lenses allows the audience to be swallowed by the world in which his character’s live. The background of every shot is meticulously coordinated and designed. A perfect example takes place in a cemetery during The Royal Tenenbaums. The camera follows the characters as they walk and talk, but one can’t help to notice the surrounding area’s solemn and tranquil feel. Anderson encourages the viewer to be enveloped in his world. He is noted for his great attention to aesthetic details, and he assumes responsibility for every detail in his movies. He is involved with choosing everything from costumes to settings. This attention to details pays great dividends in the final product. Some critics say he pays too much attention to these details, but I disagree. It is these very minute details that make a Wes Anderson movie what it is. The Life Aquatic wouldn’t hold near the comedic value without Team Zissou sporting light-blue jumpsuits, Adidas sneakers, and matching red skull-caps. Anderson’s grasp of film goes beyond the visuals, however, he is also responsible for each piece of music in his films.

Here is a quote from Martin Scorcese on Anderson’s use of music in his films, ”Anderson has a fine sense of how music works against an image.” This is very true, because each scene is beautifully complemented by just the right choice of music. The Creation’s “Making Time” plays over the montage of all of Max Fischer’s clubs in Rushmore. Or the more tragic piece “Needle in the Hay” playing as Ritchie Tenenbaum tries to end his life. Anderson has also employed composer Mark Mothersbaugh to create scores for each of his films. Each time Mothersbaugh seems to create the perfect piece of music to reflect the actions taken on the screen. Anderson’s ability to combine the music and the scene enhances each film tremendously.

Martin Scorcese labeled Anderson as “the next Martin Scorcese” in an interview in 2002. Although they create entirely different kinds of films, Scorcese saw Anderson’s overwhelming ability to direct such complete movies. Anderson should most definitely be labeled as auteur because his personal style and technique undeniably convey a core meaning. He is truly the author of every aspect of his four films. Anderson’s fifth film The Darjeeling Limited is sure to follow suit when it is released later this year.

 

Sources:

Esquire

http://www.esquire.com/features/ESQ0300-MAR_SCORSESE_6

 

"Wes Anderson"-IMDB

http://imdb.com/name/nm0027572/

 

 

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Catherine Mashburn

Cathlena Martin

ENG2300

12 April 2007

 

 

On July 26 of 1928, film director Stanley Kubrick entered into this world. It was not until 13 years later that he would grace the cinematic society with his talent and skills when he received a video camera for his birthday. After his 13th birthday, Kubrick started on the path that would eventually lead him to becoming a world renown and praised director. He started his filming career with a short one-reel documentary, Day of the Flight, at 21 years of age. Before then, he had spent much of his time soaking up everything old films located in the Museum of Modern Art had to offer, as well as new films of the time. He was obsessed and spent nearly every day in front of a movie screen starting at age 19. Since his first film, Kubrick has directed over 13 full-length feature films. Three of them of particular significance are Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Forget the Bomb, A Clockwork Orange, and The Shining. Each of these films contains in them unique qualities as well as certain and specific attributes that are all the same.

In 1964, Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Forget the Bomb was released. Done in black and white, it depicts the idea of the possibilities of an atomic bomb. It is directed and told in a manner that Kubrick described as a “nightmare comedy.” There are several pieces of irony scattered throughout the film. One specific instance is when two men are fighting in “the war room.” As they are wrestling one another, the president of the United States approaches them and tells them that they cannot fight in there since it’s the war room. This kind of ironic dialogue is not just noticeable in this film, but it also makes appearances in several others Kubrick films. Another very specific characteristic of this film is the set and the creativity used to create it. Those scenes containing shots of the interior of the warplanes are excellent examples. They are so very realistic and believable that there was talk of the FBI investigating where Kubrick got his inspiration from to create them.

Continuing with Kubrick’s use of set, A Clockwork Orange is noted for having very different and creative sets. Its opening scene depicts shots of women statues and tables. Most of these women are positioned in a very provocative manner. There is no doubt that such a set is unforgettable. On that note, the movie in its entirety is far from forgettable. The subject matter is one of controversy and the film received much negative media attention. Despite its questionable content, A Clockwork Orange still contained within it humor and ironic dialogue. Most commonly, the humor in this film serves as sort of comedic relief. In other words, much of the time the humor does not necessarily belong in the scene it is placed. Specifically, there is a scene in which the main character, Alec, breaks into a women’s house and beats her to death. Normally such an onscreen action is surrounded with a negative atmosphere. In this case, however, the scene itself is actually very comedic. Alec does not just beat this woman to death, but he beats her to death with a giant sculpture of a penis. It’s hardly possible to take such a scene seriously or to watch it without at least chuckling. Again, Kubrick is master of placing little snippets of humor in darker themes.

The final movie, The Shining, is quite possibly one of Kubrick’s most famous. Taken from Steven King’s novel of the same name, it tells the eerie story of a young boy whose father is consumed by the hotel they are watching for the winter months. One of the most notable qualities of this film that has yet to be mentioned is Kubrick’s use of music. Like several of his other films, he makes use of classical and orchestral music. To top it off, there are quite a few instances in which the non-diegitic music lines up with actions taking place on screen. This has a profound effect on the viewer in this horror film. Again, even in a horror film, Kubrick manages to include some kind of humor. In this film it is a combination of both the actors lines and their motions. A specific scene to discuss is the most famous “Here’s Johnny!” scene. Before Jack Nicholson pokes his head through the chopped door to reveal those haunting words, he spouts off a short monologue of The Three Little Pigs story. What he says and how he says it is really more funny than scary.

Clearly, Kubrick has certain characteristics that make their way into each of his films. The ones discussed above are just a snapshot of his vast assortment of director traits. Without a doubt, Kubrick has established himself not only as an extremely talented and skilled director, but also as an auteur.

 

 

Kagan, Norman. __The Cinema of Stanley Kubrick__. New York: Continuum Publishing Co., 1994.

 

__Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures__. Videotape. Warner Bros., 2001.

 

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Silvia Garcia

ENG2300 Sect. 1794

Cathlena Martin

April 12, 2007

 

 

Pollack began making full featured films as an adult, which is why insight to his upbringing should be considered. Pollack’s first film was “The Slender Thread,” which was released in 1965. Since then Pollack has directed about 16 films, his most recent being 2005’s “The Interpreter” with Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn. His movies tend to fall under two genres, action and romance. For the sake of time and argument, four of his romantic movies have been chosen for analysis. These movies are “The Way We Were,” 1973, “Tootsie,” 1982, “Out of Africa,” 1985, and “Sabrina” (1995).

Sarris outlines three criterion for being an auteur. According to Sarris, an auteur should be technically competent, have distinguishable personality and carry out an interior meaning in his/her films. Pollack’s knowledge of the industry covers various aspects of film production. Not only is he a trained actor, but also he completed a series apprenticeships in the field of producing. He has gone on to produce successful films such as “Cold Mountain.” Pollack also did not begin to direct feature films until after he had an understanding of the art and had directed various television pieces.

The interior meanings in Pollack’s films are best described by analyzing common themes in the four movies chosen. One main theme carried out in all four films is that of star-crossed lovers and their struggle to obtain and maintain their love. In “The Way We Were,” Katie and Hubbell fall in love by chance and both struggle to be what the other wants. Katie especially, struggles to keep Hubbell’s love and adoration. In “Tootsie,” Michael struggles to regain Julie’s trust after he reveals the truth about Dorothy in hopes of also gaining her love. In “Out of Africa,” Karen strives to prove to Denys that her love is worth the price of living a life at home, away from the safari. “Sabrina” brings about a more complicated struggle for love, tying together the hearts of young Sabrina and the two Larabee brothers.

Another main theme carried out in the films is the representation of a strong woman. Katie is the quintessential activist, born to constantly fight for what she believes in, while Dorothy becomes a leader by mistake. By standing up for equality and fair treatment in the workplace, Dorothy brings a sense of confidence to a whole demographic of female viewers and her co-worker Julie. Karen grows into her role as a strong person. She was always confident being the one who suggested marriage to her friend Bror, but the confidence she needed to kneel and beg the governor for the safety of the Kukuyu tribe is one she gained after a life of experience. Finally, Sabrina’s strength comes from a transformation that allowed her to see the woman she had become. This strength allowed her to turn down the bribe Linus offered when he learned about Sabrina’s feelings toward his brother David.

Pollack also carries out a series of technical trademarks. He tends to use lighting via fire to create intimate settings for emotional changes. All his films are also marked by a series of aerial shots, which provide a view of the landscape and surroundings. A more awkward trademark is his tendency to shoot from behind when it seems a shot of the actor’s face would be more befitting. A final technical trademark includes his focus on items, which are non-essential to the plot. For example, in “Out of Africa” a significant amount of focus is placed on a coo-coo clock, which in the end is irrelevant to the major plot line. Finally, Pollack is also known for being an “actor’s director,” being that 12 actors he has directed have been nominated for Oscars for their performance in his movies. He also casted Robert Redford in several of his movies.

So, is Sydney Pollack an auteur? He meets the criteria and therefore should be given the title. According to the standards set by Sarris, Sydney Pollack is in fact an auteur.

 

 

 

Carlos Baez

Cathlena Martin

ENG2300

4/13/07

 

Alfonso Cuarón was born on November 28, 1961 in Mexico City. He grew up in Mexico City and attended the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where he studied philosophy and film. After graduating he began working in the Mexican television industry as a technician and then as a director. Gaining experience in television, he began to find jobs working as an assistant director on many of the films that were being filmed in Mexico and Latin America at the time. One of the films he worked on during this time was Romero (1989).

His directing debut was a Mexican film, Sólo Con Tu Pareja, which was written by his brother. The film caught the eye of Sydney Pollack who, impressed by Cuarón’s work, invited Cuarón to direct an episode of Fallen Angel, a series on Showtime. His next step was to direct A Little Princess, his first film released in the United States. While he was very proud of this film and it was critically acclaimed, it didn’t do very well with audiences. It wasn’t until 2001 that he got his “break” when he directed Y Tu Mama Tambien. This opened the doors for him to ultimately direct Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and then Children of Men. While Cuarón has a very wide range of films that he has directed, there are some common themes that can be found in most of his films including identity, the idea of a journey, nature and he addresses a lot of social issues.

Social issues can be seen in all of Cuarón’s films. Many times if the film is an adaptation, he adds them in to give the film a more contemporary social context, or if he has written the film, it is rife with social issues and commentary on those issues. The three films where these can be seen most clearly are: A Little Princess, Y Tu Mamá También and Children of Men.

In A Little Princess, Cuarón tackles the issue of class division through the characters of Sara and Becky. Since Sara is from the upper class and Becky is a servant-girl at the school Sara is attending, Sara is not supposed to speak to Becky. However, Sara, who has recently moved from India, is used to many different cultures and skin tones, and does not see the reasoning behind the social taboo. The class division can also be seen when it is thought that Sara’s father has died and is forced into becoming a servant-girl, making Becky her only choice for a friend.

The social issues in Y Tu Mamá También are more personal for Cuarón since he is Mexican and also co-wrote the film with his brother. As Julio, Tenoch and Luisa drive through Mexico, you can see that the farther they get from Mexico City, the harder life is. The scene that really sticks out in regards to this is at the end of the film when the narrator tells us that Chuy, the fisherman who has become their friend, will no longer fish after the opening of a hotel in the region. Chuy has to give up the freedom he had as a fisherman and become a servant of big business, because now the only job to be had is working for the hotel.

In Children of Men, the social issues that can be seen most clearly are references to the Iraq War, torture and illegal immigration. This can be seen very clearly when Theo, Miriam and Kee are attempting to make it to the boat, but have to go on a bus to the prison. Miriam is taken out of the bus and a black sack is put over her head, which is a visual reference to the photos that came out of Abu Ghraib with the American torture scandal. The viewer can also see that there are people being tortured in a number of ways in cages. The other instance where it is seen is when Theo and Kee are walking with the “illegals” through the gate and they go under a sign that has “Homeland Security” written on it and over a loudspeaker, you can hear the a woman’s voice warning people to “not help out the terrorists.” While Cuarón’s films are all different from each other, along with the common themes, he is also consistent with his filming techniques.

Cuarón uses the camera very differently to most mainstream Hollywood directors. He believes that the close-up has been over done by Hollywood and has lost its significance in film. Instead of relying on close-ups he instead tries to use the camera in a more realistic manner, an almost documentary approach. He utilizes long takes and lets the character fit into the surroundings. In Y Tu Mamá También, Cuarón even states that Mexico is the fourth character in the film and in Children of Men, he takes his technique to a whole new level. He utilizes the camera in a way to allow him to shoot whole action sequences in one long take, making the scenes truly amazing and showing that his vision is truly that of an auteur.

Cuarón is a new breed of Mexican director, who along with his friends Guillermo Del Toro and Alejandro González Iñárritu are ushering in a new era of Latin filmmaking. Not only do they direct and write most of their films, most importantly, they all support each other. They produce each others movies and help each other out, all for the sake of great filmmaking.

Cuarón should be considered an auteur for his films. Not only does he have his hand in most steps of the filmmaking process, like directing, writing and editing, but he also has a distinctive style that can be seen through his use of the camera. His next projects will be ones to look out for.

 

Bibliography

 

 

“Interview: Alfonso Cuarón.” Various Authors. 2002 http://savvytraveler.publicradio.org/show/features/2002/20020405/interview2.shtml

 

“Alfonso Cuaron: Biography.” Various Authors. 2007 <http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800192961/bio>

 

 

 

 

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