Auteur exam question

 How far can an auteur express their own personal 'signature' in the films they make?

The word of cinema is is often a constricting place for many directors, where most directors do have their own personal style, it may not always be what the studio is looking for so they may find themselves changing things or having to remove things from the filming process due to issues with the studio. Ultimately ending with many conflicts and probably a directors cut being released ten years later. This was definitely the case for Ridley Scott on the set of blade runner, After being fired from the set he was still bought back to continue directing a movie he overall just didn’t enjoy, from the use of a voice over that complicated the entire story line to important artistic scenes being removed. Scott was a perfectionist that loved all things theatrical and Dramatic. His wild ideas were definitely tamed by the studio. This proves that the signature style of an auteur can not always be used as far as they may wish for it to be. 

Blur - screenplay

Opens on a black screen, the sound of a tape winding is heard, then the click as it plays.

Light music starts to play, the screen opens as the character opens her eyes, we see a window and the sun coming through the curtain. We turn as she rolls in bed and picks up her battered and broken phone. She slams it back down,

-black-

Flashback- a high pitched noise plays
her eyes open again and we see a sink, her hands under the running water, covered in blood, her vision isn’t clear, it’s blurred and discoloured.

-black-

Her hands come away from her eyes and we can see again, she picks up a coffee cup in her hands then takes a sip. She nervously fidgets with the cup.

-black-

 a high pitched noise plays
She opens her eyes to see a blurred large crowd, a man stands near a fountain and stares, as the crowd walks past he disappears.

-black-

She sits at a small bus stop with the road in front of her, she stares, daydreaming as cars drive past.

-black-

Walking down a dimly lit allyway, through a gate and we see her look up at the exposed brink wall of a church, our vision becomes distorted.
 a high pitched noise plays
 We see the man again stood between many trees, he has blood on his face and his shirt. She begins to run, looks back, and he’s gone.

She sits on a chair in a small room, she taps her foot rapidly

The camera pans in on her foot tapping as the sound amplifies  

She walks down a narrow corridor as we track behind her, she opens a door on her left, it cuts to her entering the room on the other side

 

Film analysis

Wasp 

Wasp was produced in 2003, it follows the conventions of a British social realism film such as a lack of non diegetic sound, the use of realistic locations and realistic costumes. Wasp won best short film at the Oscars in 2005. It follows a day in the life of single mother Zoe and her four children, the use of ideology is present throughout the film exaggerating on the poor conditions these children are put in.  

The opening sequence uses tracking shots to show the girls leaving a block of flats. There are straight cuts between each shot showing each of them walking down the stairs. They are all dressed in miss matched outfits and some are barefoot. This use of mise en scene shows their social standing as very low. 

Film ideas

Social surrealism - similar style to trainspotting or curfew 

Based around a woman with ptsd 

Re occurring flashbacks unraveling the reason she acts the way she does 

    -abuse 

    -arguments 

    -childhood 

Realistic locations that are distorted in some way

    -blurred 

    -dull colours 

Inspiration:

13 reasons why

Sex education

Trainspotting

“How does the aesthetic quality of ‘Trainspotting’ depict ideological
issues of youth and addiction?”

Trainspotting the film (1996) was directed by Danny Boyle after her wrote to the original writer of trainspotting the novel, Irvine Welsh. The film is branded as ‘social realism’ although many people will disagree with this due to the films surreal aesthetic. Social realism films are considered to consistently be set in realistic locations, this is a path that producer Andrew Macdonald chose not to follow when creating trainspotting.
The most evident scene that contradicts the films label as a social realism film is the “worst toilet in Scotland”. It begins with the voiceover from Ewan McGreggor’s character Renton explaining his situation while the handheld camera movements become slow and dazed.  The colour pallet used is cold and neutral, at this point of the film he is off heroin so these colors are contrasting to the vivid ones that are normally associated with him in their home, this is clearly symbolic of the mental state that drugs put them in. The truly surreal aspect of this scene is where he “physically” climbs inside the toilet to retrieve the lost suppositories, once again highlighting on the extent of the situations that their mental state will put them in when it comes to their addictions.

The framing in this shot of Renton on toilet is very low in comparison to the high, wide angle of the shot in the underwater world, representative of  the ‘high’ they’re so addicted too. The cinematography used in trainspotting visualises the way that youth see drugs through the use of hyper realism,

Section A comparative study

“The Director is always the biggest influence on a film”

Explain using two films to the extent that you agree. 

I agree with this statement as features of a directors style will always be present throughout a film. This more specifically relates to an auteur, such as Ridley Scott. Scott fully directed the 1992 directors cut of Blade Runner, a futuristic sci-fi noir based around artificial intelligence and playing with a key theme of immortality. The production for this film was not smooth, Ridley himself was fired and re-hired due to conflict with producers. Narratively and cinematically, Scott was deemed to be too out side of the box for the audience at this time. It was said that blade runner was “being made for people who didn’t understand it”. The storyline was laced with deeply emotional ties to Ridley’s personal life, such as his Brother Frank Scott’s death. He also found ways to incorporate his British upbringing into the mise en scene using pathetic fallacy of rain to create a grey gloomy tone throughout  the film.

Another director with am auteur signature that comes from noir style film is Orson Welles. During the production of Lady from Shanghai, Welles’ directorial skills were challenged by the studio. This lead to much of the film not being edited in him signature style. Many of his long takes were edited out for short badly edited sequences that mostly featuring Rita Hayworth. All cinematic skill went out the window when it came to the studio trying to showcase Rita in glamorous lighting. Although being called “a product of its time” I personally think it showcases messy and uncoordinated production.

This statement could also be applied to the production of blade runner, this is evident as there are two cuts of the film, the directors cut and the final studio cut. Scott wanted aesthetics and symbolism over  a narrative explanation, however some of his scenes such as “the unicorn scene” were cut from the final piece, and a narration “internal monologue” was added. This is much like how the studio cut Welles’ soundtrack from The lady from Shanghai, replacing it with slow music. This feature is problematic as it is repetitive and ill fitting with the scenes it is placed in. In the end, the lady from Shanghai only featured 75% of Welles’ directorial work.

However sometimes a true auteur will be very invested into the entire production of the film, down to  the very last detail, a key example of this is Scott painting the lips of Rachel, it showcased how he had a strict vision for the film and how he wanted everything to visually look. Welles also showcases this while preparing the set for Lady From Shanghai by painting the sets himself, however this was not by choice but it meant that the whole film looked how he wanted it to look. He did not have a choice due to the fact there were disagreements between Welles and the crew, as referenced earlier.



P

Discuss how important cinematography is in establishing strong responses from spectators to a key characaters

This sequence opens with a close up shop of Sebastian's hand playing the piano, the shot is lit to highlight his hands and the rest of the shot is dim. This feature, aslong side the fast piano music creates an intensity to the scene, establishing Seb's passion for music. The camera zooms out to show the rest of the band, but Seb stays illuminated compared to the dark shadowed room. This implies that his position at this time is good for him and his career in music, highlighting him could also be a way of establishing him happiness. I dont believe that you would have to be an active viewer to notice this lighting and music choice, any passive spectator could see the way seb is set apart from the crowd.

As the shot continues to zoom out, revealing a crowd of dancing people, we see the way that Mia is lit from above, making her stand out. These two characters being shot in this way would tell an active audience that there is a relationship between them.

The camera quickly whip pans from Mia to Seb repeatedly, showing her dancing and him playing the piano, this emphasises on their relationship and how she supports him. They are both smile because they are happy  to be where they are. Whip pans are signature to the directors style and have used it alot in other films, active spectators will notice this feature of an auteur.