Film Analysis - Auteur Study

Auteur Study is the idea that the Film is the sole creative vision of the Director.  Ofcourse not all Director's cna call themselves Auteur's, but the things we look at in Auteur study, espcially signatures. All media makers tend to carry signatures over from project to project. I think the Auteur study helps us to read signatures, see synergies and understand what the each elemtn means, giving us a more indepth view.

I used a clear and well written example, Stanley Kubrick. He is known for his signatures in composition, shot type, colour contrast as well as use of narrative and character. Kubrick's work is often up for discussion, and he is known as one of the definitve Auteurs. So, can we apply the same ideas to other films, even other media?

Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, best known for the Channel 4 show Peep Show, recently put out the first series of new comedy Fresh Meat. Despite having different narratives, stories and characters, the audience can pick up signatures in the writing and themes. Firstly, look at the settings of both shows. They both feature the residence of the characters as the main setting. Peep Show features a flat that's a bit of a dump, while Fresh Meat features a student house that's a bit of a dump. Next the characters. Peep Show has a pair of mismatched friends, a middle class accountant type and an unemployed musican. Similarly in Fresh Meat, the main set of characters are all from different social backgrounds, with posh kids, poor kids, smart and dumb etc. The writing then makes all the different characters collide, and cause funny situations.

This is an example of signatures, not even from Directors, but just media creatives. The same idea can be applied to all media types. Comic Book writer Frank Miller always uses inner monolgoues and black and white visuals, Rockstar Games always use the same GPS style map in the corner, and tend to have hidden commentories on capitalist society. Doing the initial Auteur study has helped me understand individuals always have influence on  an overall piece and that they carry signatures from piece to piece.

I can then look at signatures, not thinking about them in the context of two or three films, but to further understand why a device or signature has been used. For example, tacking a thought from my submitted Film Analysis, you can see Kubrick uses the contrasting Red in a number of films. Ofcourse many directors use colours in their films, so why is this thought important? Well, when you see high contrast in a handful of examples, you start asking why it's used? In this case, it could be to show Man against machine, or in another, to show subconcious violence.

Auteur Study and the study of Semitoics and signatures gives us the groundwork to analyse all media formats, and think about how the Audience takes it, Why cerain creators get fanbases?What ideas and idealogies are being put through to us? It helps us analyse film.