[Script] – Darrell, Sean and Sam will all be green screened and will have the relevant clips behind them about what they are talking about.
Intro:
Darrell: An Auteur is a filmmaker, usually a director, who has a particular creative style and knowledge that is distinctively present in his or her films. They create a strong personal style that is interpreted by themselves into their films.
Sean: We will be discussing two important directors who are well known for their style and techniques that are common in their films; Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick.
Sam: We shall be analysing films from both directors, including: The birds, Psycho, Vertigo, The shining and A Clockwork Orange. We will analyse the key stylistic conventions, techniques and thematic conventions that are used to back up the evidence of the directors being Auteur’s.
Hitchcock:
Sean: We are going to start with Hitchcock and a scene from his film “Vertigo”. This is the famous tower scene with an exquisite camera shot at the top of the stairs. This shot incorporated a fast track up and away from the stairs, while the camera is zoomed in creating a disorientating effect for the audience. The scene was experimental with the shot type and ground breaking camera work. This scene was iconic in the film and is one of many expert shots that Hitchcock uses. This is why we see Hitchcock as an auteur.
Sam: The effect of this shot on the audience makes them feel scared and disorientated. Hitchcock wanted to show the audience that the camera shot is what the character is feeling like. This shot was used at the start of the film to show the audience the accident he had encountered to emphasise the fact that he has an illness. The shot is then used throughout the film to remind the audience the effects of heights on the character. These types of disorientating shots are seen in other Hitchcock films for example in Psycho the camera tracks up the stairs and into the top corner of the hallway which shows a birds-eye view of the stairs.
Darrell: This shot was used during this part of the film to stop the audience from seeing what Bates was doing, to make the audience think that he was talking to his mother. Birds continue to act as a symbolic reminder of the intimidating nature of Bates himself, for example in the scene where Marion is talking to Bates at the motel, the mise en scene of the birds suggests an intimidating scene with the birds up high and looking down on the people in the room. Also during this scene Hitchcock uses point of view shots for the characters looking at the birds in the room. This brings the audience into the action, heightening the effect of the growing sense of horror and fear felt by Marion at this point. This is expected of the horror genre, the stereotypical horror film will gradually get faster paced and people in the film will start to get killed, this is seen in most horror films. They all follow a specific storyline.
Sean: Point of view shots are also regularly seen in other Hitchcock films, for example the characters are running down the road and as they turn their heads around they look at the birds behind them, and this is a point of view shot. The effect of this shot it to bring the audience closer to the action and gives them a sense of realism, which in turn makes us feel overwhelmed by the amount of birds attacking the characters – almost like we’re there with them in the film.
Darrell: This is also used during the car scenes in Hitchcocks film, for example in all three films we watched this shot is used. The woman driving to badago bay, the man driving and following a woman in vertigo, and the most interesting one the woman in psycho driving. This one is interesting because she is hearing voices while she is driving and the audio is played over the top of the footage in the car. This was the first time we had really seen anything like this, and this showed the audience what the character was thinking at the time and also positioned us close to them in the narrative.
Sam: The film psycho is most famous for the ‘shower scene’. This scene uses fast paced cuts and edits, which is a key feature of Hitchcock’s work as an Auteur. This was similar to the scene that we saw in The Birds towards the end of the film. Both scenes used the same shot types, and fast edits. The fast paced editing gave a disorientating effect on the audience because they could not quite see what was going on. This was the same in both scenes. The fast paced editing in psycho shows that she is being stabbed lots of times and fast, and the same in the film birds, this shows that she is being pecked lots of times and fast. Both these scenes are designed to scare the audience and give them a shock. The fast paced cuts give the audience the sense of stabbing that the girl is experiencing, therefore this increases the fear felt by the audience at this point.
Darrell: Psycho is one of the most famous films of all time. The specific clip that we are looking at took seven days, 45 cameras and 50 edits, for a 3 minute clip. This kind of work was ground breaking at the time, and this is why Hitchcock is seen as an auteur.
Sean: The music in Hitchcock’s films tell the narrative to the audience. As the tension builds up, the non-diegetic sound gets louder and faster. During the murder scene of the film psycho there is high pitched string instruments, this makes the audience disorientated and may cause them to feel distressed, almost as if Hitchcock wanted to create an oppressive and claustrophobic atmosphere at this point.
Sam: In terms of genre analysis, Hitchcock’s films follow many of the generic conventions of horror films, they frighten the audience, they contain a murder weapon such as a knife, and they also have a victim. Rick Altman defined genre as being made up of semantic and syntactic elements. The semantic elements of the film include the knife to represent murder. The ideological message is that blonde, attractive women are vulnerable and they should ‘watch there back’.
Darrell: Hitchcock is perhaps one of the most emulated and influential directors of all time. How he orchestrates suspense, his innovative camera work, and his use of red herrings – it all factors into his influence. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of directors who borrow from Hitchcock routinely
Kubrick:
Darrell: The second director we are looking at is Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick is a respected director and is well known for his films, The Shining and A Clockwork Orange. His style was unique and included many odd camera shots, which made his style his own. His films often show the dark side of human nature and often featured characters that are mentally disturbed.
Sean: In The Shining, Kubrick uses an imaginative shot which tracks Danny the small boy on his tricycle. The camera stays with the bike and tracks around corners. The shot creates suspense with the audience and the suspicious mindset to create tension. This shot was quite unique and groundbreaking at the time, as it had never been seen in this sense before. The shot also created an eerie presence on screen, which is shown throughout the film.
Sam: Sound is used to intensify the scene for the audience in The Shining. Digetic and non-digetic sounds are using expertly in certain scenes to engage the audience. The main scene where this is shown is the tracking shot of Danny riding his tricycle in the hotel. Digetic sounds in one scene feature just the wheels of the tricycle against certain surfaces, such as the carpet and wood floor. These sounds create a kind of tension for the audience and a sense of loneliness in the hotel, as the scene features no other sounds.
Sean: However, non-digetic sounds are also gradually introduced. The music goes from violins, to more high pitch sounds. The music then builds up so much to overwhelm the digetic sounds, when Danny sees the girls. The non-digetic sounds create a sense of dramatic tension for the audience at this point, which climaxes when the ghostly girls appear. These unusual choices of digetic & non-digetic sound link to A Clockwork Orange, in the scene where Alex breaks into the elderly man’s home with his droogs and destructs the home. As Alex is beating the old man, he sings, “singin’ in the rain’. A song that is not generally linked to crime, assault and rape.
Darrell: Non-digetic sounds are also apparent in A Clockwork Orange. This appears in the scene where Alex is with two other women in his bedroom. The actions on screen have been fast forward with the rhythm of the music in the background. The music reflects the speed of the action but also represents a humorous side of the scene.
Sam: In the film, Kubrick also highlights the long corridors in the hotel with long shots. These are present throughout the film. The shots represent many meanings and links towards the audience. The shots of the long corridors show a sort of neverending fear and tension within the characters and the audience. The long corridors create a lonely place to be and a sense of isolation from the rest of the world. The feelings and tension that are given off to the audience, create the horror theme throughout the theme and connects to the audience in a frightening way.
Darrell: These shots also correspond with A Clockwork Orange and it is seen when Alex attempts to get into the home of the elderly man and women, there is a shot which shows a long parallel corridor, the mirrors on the wall in the corridor add to make the shot very symmetrical, there is also a strong use of primary colours seen In the particular scene and throughout the film.
Sean: Symmetry is seen in The Shining in certain pivotal scenes. In one particular scene, the camera is set behind the character Jack as it sits in the main lobby as he does his work. Jack is situated in the centre of the screen, this gives two effects; one being that the room dwarfs Jack and almost hints that the hotel is in control of him. It also shows how Jack is the centre of attention, which links, to his positioning in the room and his eventual control over the other characters.
Darrell: Kubrick frequently used primary colours in his cinematography and he was also known to show a sharp contrast of black and white. Kubrick uses a imaginative shot in The Shining, which shows a large pour of blood coming out of the lifts and into the foyer. The blood is a deep red (primary colour) and the shot is a perfect example of intelligent cinematography as the camera just stays with the lifts and doesn’t move as the litres of blood fill the floor. The blood filling the floor is another example of genre theory the sight of blood is very stereotypical of horror, the blood is there to make the audience squeamish.
Sean: Kubrick also includes in this film, numerous extreme close ups, these are used to portray extreme emotions. The main one being the legendary “Here’s Johnny” scene. The camera places the characters face on the whole screen. This specific shot portrays the real emotion on screen and creates a large shocking impact on the audience.
Sam: This close up shot is also present in A clockwork orange when Alex is being experimented on. The shot is also at an extreme length and shows his whole face and the emotion he is showing. This shot provides evidence in both films that Kubrick holds his own style.
Darrell: Kubrick used his imagination and style in A clockwork orange. Kubrick used many different shots and broke rules to portray certain shots on screen. One of these for example is “the rule of thirds”. This rule states that the object or subject on screen should not pass a certain point and should stay to the left or right of the screen.
Sean: However, in A Clockwork Orange, Kubrick breaks this rule many times in the film. One example of this is when the old man is typing, and the camera places the man in the centre of the screen. The shot looks odd yet this was a style that Kubrick used. This shows evidence of why he was considered to be an auteur.
Sam: This shot can also be found in the shining, where Jack is typing in the centre of the large room. The shot is disorientating for the viewer and creates a sense of fear within the viewer’s mindset. The style of the shot creates an imbalance of normality compared to the regular film seen by audiences.
Sean: Both films provide escape and hope for the audience; this is a code of practice for out lives today. Steve Neal said “Genre is a repetition with an underplaying pattern of variation.” The horror genre provides a set of expectations for the viewers. Hitchcock created the horror genre, by using certain types of shots, characters and props. All of these things are now stereotypical to our cinema today. Stanley Kubrick used all of these techniques and conventions, to develop what Hitchcock had already created. Both Hithcock and Kubick bring in the audience into their films, to create tension between the characters and the audience. They both created and used new camera angles that no-one had seen before and this is why they are both seen as auteur.
For and Against Auteur Theory
Sean: An Auteur is seen as director but they have a very large influence on the film as a whole and they are responsible for the plot and story-line. You can recognize there work, by there artistic style because there work is one of a kind. They have established themselves over many years and become well-know. This is why people believe Hitchcock and Kubrick are Auteurs.
Sam: Some problems with auteur theory are worried that there are so many people involved in creating and making a film. That some people get forgotten. People such as actors and production workers don’t get any of the credit they should. Some people even believe that the editors are the most important people during the film making process.
Conclusion:
David: In my opinion, I would disagree with auteur theory, because even though the director has a lot of influence on the film. There are hundreds of other people that are forgotten about. I believe that genre theory is a benefit to the current cinema because people know what to expect from the film, so if they dislike a certain genre they will avoid it. I have learnt that to film a specific genre of film, you need a different mind-set for each genre, for example filming a horror film you need to include the stereotypical iconography for that genre, for horror this would include; blood, a murder weapon, a psychologically disturbed character and a scary setting. Who knows where the horror genre will end up in the future, thanks for watching.
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