Founded by the French in the 1940's the word "auteur" translated to english means " author. Generally, used as another word for a directors style which distinguishes his/ her films apart from other directors. Tim Burton, Alfred Hitchcock & Martin Scorsese are all referred to as Auteur directors. Auteur directors mostly work closely with other members of the film crew in order to for-show their vision for their film and are very critical from the style of clothes, hair, makeup and the set design.
Alfred Hitchcock is one of the first names who comes to mind when talking about auteur theory. His most famous films are *Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds, North by North West and Rear Window - (worked with Grace Kelly). Hitchcock’s story telling techniques were renowned for their intelligent plots, witty dialogue, mystery and murder. Hitchcock played on peoples psychological disturbances. He has been attributed with revolutionizing the thriller genre. The reason for his success, however, was not the genre that he was working in, but rather the skill which he exhibited in the film-making. ie his treatment of the subject in terms of the shots he uses and how he combines them are more important than the genre. One of Hitchcock’s best-known screen moments is the terrifying shower scene in Psycho. This shot features 70 distinct shots in less than 1 minute. They are fused together in such a way that it is difficult to distinguish between the Montage and the Mise-en-Scène. Known as the master of suspense, and known for collaborating with many people. Hitchcock was also well-known for his choice of heroines. They were typically beautiful blondes who appear to be respectable characters, but they when they are in danger or trapped in some way, they react in an animalistic way, Psycho was considered the first slasher movie, Julie Andrews worked with Hitchcock. The reason he stopped working with Grace Kelly because she got married/ became the princess of Monoco. Blamed James Stuart performance in North by North West (Sometimes this manifests itself in criminal activities). In To Catch a Thief, Grace Kelly is a cat burglar and in Psycho, Janet Leigh's character steals $40,000 and gets murdered. One of the first directors to use 3D, " Dial in for murder" to create depths in the shots rather than a gimmick. North by North West deals with double identity, use different elements of psychology. Hitchcock could choose to use colour or black and white. Start of his movies were similar, became known for 'cool' title sequences.
Hitchcock signature elements blocked camera movement in sync with the actors, strong visual lengthy dialogue, strong themes as mentioned previously, suspense, dark humour, romance and murder. Hitchcock used plenty of visual locations and settings, in his films the location is not a just background but a major part of the film. This had become a part of Hitchcockian visual signature. Two stories taking place: visual on top of the dialogue, long edits, clever camera blocking and cinematography. The motif in the person environment, would be the same colour around the character
No comments:
Post a Comment