AUTEUR THEORY
Auteur is a French word meaning author
It’s used to describe a director who exacts a high level of control across all aspects of film.
Auteur directors have a distinctive style from film to film and fill other roles such as writing,
editing, and acting their own films.
HISTORY OF AUTEUR THEORY
Director Francois Truffaut writings used a critic in the influential French journal “cashiers du
cinema” (cinema notebook) which developed the concept of the auteur in his 1954 essay “une
certaine tendance du cinema francais”. (A certain trend in French Cinema)
Truffaut wrote about the films of several new French film makers who he termed auteurs.
Francis Truffaut was able to differentiate diverse movies in the French cinema.
He categorized mainstream studios movies as “metteur en scene” or stagers over script written
by another artist.
Truffaut argued that the film makers who made the best films were those who wrote and directed
their own films and who had a unique personal union.
Truffaut called this approach “la Politique des anuteurs” (The Policy of the Authors). Example
Get out.
Truffauts ideas on film were embraced by an era of French film makers who were part of what
he called “La Nouvelle Vague” (what English speakers call as the French New Wave)
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AUTEUR DIRECTORS AND OTHER FILM DIRECTORS
Auteurs wrote and directed films that were beyond surface level stories to ask bigger question
about human existence and explore deeper theories in an advanced and skillful way whereas
most directors translated scripts written by others to the screen. Auteurs wrote their own
screenplays or at the very least have a heavy editorial hand in the writing process.
THREE COMPONENTS OF AUTEUR THEORY
Technical Competence
Distinguishable Personality
Interior Meaning
TECHNICAL COMPETENCE
Auteurs must be ate the top of their craft in terms of technical film making abilities. Auteurs
always have a hand in multiple components of film making and should be operating at an high
level across the board.
DISTINGUISHABLE PERSONALITY
Auteur is a French word meaning author
It’s used to describe a director who exacts a high level of control across all aspects of film.
Auteur directors have a distinctive style from film to film and fill other roles such as writing,
editing, and acting their own films.
HISTORY OF AUTEUR THEORY
Director Francois Truffaut writings used a critic in the influential French journal “cashiers du
cinema” (cinema notebook) which developed the concept of the auteur in his 1954 essay “une
certaine tendance du cinema francais”. (A certain trend in French Cinema)
Truffaut wrote about the films of several new French film makers who he termed auteurs.
Francis Truffaut was able to differentiate diverse movies in the French cinema.
He categorized mainstream studios movies as “metteur en scene” or stagers over script written
by another artist.
Truffaut argued that the film makers who made the best films were those who wrote and directed
their own films and who had a unique personal union.
Truffaut called this approach “la Politique des anuteurs” (The Policy of the Authors). Example
Get out.
Truffauts ideas on film were embraced by an era of French film makers who were part of what
he called “La Nouvelle Vague” (what English speakers call as the French New Wave)
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AUTEUR DIRECTORS AND OTHER FILM DIRECTORS
Auteurs wrote and directed films that were beyond surface level stories to ask bigger question
about human existence and explore deeper theories in an advanced and skillful way whereas
most directors translated scripts written by others to the screen. Auteurs wrote their own
screenplays or at the very least have a heavy editorial hand in the writing process.
THREE COMPONENTS OF AUTEUR THEORY
Technical Competence
Distinguishable Personality
Interior Meaning
TECHNICAL COMPETENCE
Auteurs must be ate the top of their craft in terms of technical film making abilities. Auteurs
always have a hand in multiple components of film making and should be operating at an high
level across the board.
DISTINGUISHABLE PERSONALITY
