A Filmmaker's Guide to: Auteur Cinema

In this chapter of ‘the filmmaker’s guide’ we’re actually going to be learning about literature and film together. I understand that many of you are sitting in university during difficult times and finding it increasingly hard to study and I understand that many of you who are not at university or not planning on it are possibly stuck of what to do, need a break or even need to catch up on learning film before you get to the next level. This guide will be brief but will also contain: new vocabulary, concepts and theories, films to watch and we will be exploring something taboo until now in the ‘filmmaker’s guide’ - academia (abyss opens). Each article will explore a different concept of film, philosophy, literature or bibliography/filmography etc. in order to give you something new to learn each time we see each other. You can use some of the words amongst family and friends to sound clever or you can get back to me (email in bio) and tell me how you’re doing. So, strap in and prepare for the filmmaker’s guide to film studies because it is going to be one wild ride.

Auteur Cinema

What is it?

Auter Cinema refers to a cinematic style of a particular director. For example: an author of a book writes in a particular style, if you read a book by your favourite author, you would probably recognise their style without there being a name on the front cover. This is the same basic concept for movies. Movie directors have a particular style in which you do not really need to know the director on the front of the poster or the DVD etc. in order to know who it is. An example of this would be Quentin Tarantino. You can recognise a Quentin Tarantino film without having his name plastered on the poster. Why? Well, it is because of his directorial style. He is an 'auter' director. He has his own directorial style which is recognisable amongst the film world.

Let us have a look at some other auter directors apart from the obvious Quentin Tarantino:

Christopher Nolan

Nolan's style is often focused on the psychological side of the movie. Various concepts are translated into the physical set such as the paradox of the Penrose Steps in "Inception" and the Nietzsche-esque morality argument characterised by the Joker in "The Dark Knight".

Paul Thomas Anderson

Known as PTA, Anderson's directing style often includes a main character of troubled and twisted ego. In films such as "There Will be Blood" and "Phantom Thread", Sir Daniel Day-Lewis portrays both of the main characters in which Paul Thomas Anderson has written them as egomaniacs with a tendency to over-indulge in their own sense of self-worth whilst also having their entire lives crumble around them.

Brian De Palma

Brian De Palma, king of psychodrama, has a lot to offer in his realm of being an auteur filmmaker. He is known for creating characters with some sort of paranoia, something following or haunting them and obviously, de Palma's use of the shaky-cam style in "Mission Impossible" and his use of action sequences as seen in "Scarface" are hardly going unnoticed.

Here are some more you can investigate for yourself

1. Wes Anderson
2. Ingmar Bergman
3. Sergei Eisenstein
4. David Fincher
5. Greta Gerwig
6. Terry Gilliam
7. Jean Luc Goddard
8. D.W Griffith
9. Todd Haynes
10. Sir Alfred Hitchcock
11. Tobe Hooper
12. Derek Jarman
13. Spike Lee
14. Elia Kazan
15. Charlie Kaufman
16. Stanley Kubrick
17. Fritz Lang
18. Terence Malik
19. F.W Murnau
20. G.W Pabst
21. Jordan Peele
22. M. Night Shyamalan

When we’re looking at auteur filmmakers, we need to basically take a good look at the way in which a director makes their style known amongst the film world. How are they making it known and what are they doing to make their style different from others? When we have a look at this further reading, we will be focusing on the books about these different styles of different directors.

Further Reading:

• Duncan, P (2018). Alfred Hitchcock: The Complete Films. USA: TASCHEN.
• Nathan, I (2019). Quentin Tarantino: The iconic filmmaker and his work. USA: White Lion Publishing.
• Nathan, I (2020). Wes Anderson: The Iconic Filmmaker and his Work. USA: White Lion Publishing.
• Shone, T (2020). The Nolan Variations: The Movies, Marvels and Mysteries of Christopher Nolan: The Movies, Mysteries, and Marvels of Christopher Nolan. UK: Faber and Faber