Nada Mudawi-- The Auteur Theory -- Unit 26 Film Studies - Task 5-- Richard Curtis

Nada Mudawi -The Auteur Theory - Richard Curtis

The Auteur Theory, which originates from the 1940s , and is closely associated with the French new wave (a method of film analysis) meant that an audience can instantaneously identify a director by watching their film and noticing a unique style of theirs- this could be the use of lighting, actors, action , shot types and running themes. Some of the early pioneers of the auteur filmmaking were the French directors; Francois Truffaut who is best known for his speech
The word 'auteur' was thought to be coined by a man named 'Bazin' who was a famous film critic and theorist.


The Auteur Theory is perhaps the one that I personally enjoy researching about the most out of the other theories. This is simply because although all of the other theories are evidently proven in many films, this one I feel from a film studies point of view gives  the most accurate and genuine explanation of the logic behind directors and aspects of their films. An auteur is a person who has the steering wheal in a film, this meaning they have power over many things which are included in films ,such as lighting , themes , action etc. Auteur's usually have distinctive creative influence in their work. The audience can often easily spot a directors film by the way it looks, the mood of the film, values and themes in the film or by a motif. An example of this is you can often tell a Steven Spielberg film by a particular camera shot type he very much likes to use. This shot would be a medium close-up, and we see the actor is looking off camera and then the camera usually stays like so for 5-6 seconds on their face to show their emotions. This camera shot is famously known or referred to as ‘the Spielberg face’.

Richard Curtis is considered an auteur as there are many similarities in the films he has worked on. Curtis directed popular films such as Love Actually, The Boat That Rocked and most recently About Time. Curtis was also the executive producer on Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral and co-wrote the screenplay for Bridget Jones’s Diary. Curtis’s films often have an ensemble cast; this can be seen in Love Actually, The Boat That Rocked and also Four Weddings and a Funeral.
                                  

Hugh Grant has starred in many of Richard Curtis’s films as a incompetent Englishman type character. We see Grant in various films; Four weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Love actually and most recently About time. His voice in these films tends to always sound very upper hand, a bit aristocratic and he is most of the time seen dressed smartly. Hugh Grant also narrates both Notting Hill and Love Actually. As Curtis likes the lead male role always be the narrator, and this is another element which makes Curtis an auteur - he is dependent on male, dominant narrators in his films, this helps the audience to identify that he is an auteur as they wouldn't therefore not expect a female to be the narrator. Perhaps Curtis has done this because he wants to emphasis on male dominance and the importance of male characters. This makes the audience feel like they are being told a story, almost like a fairy tale. Therefore, Curtis is a conformity to the auteur theory because he uses the same actor in most of his films, this means that an audience who watch these films, will automatically identify the director. ''oh look it's Hugh Grant, it must be a Richard Curtis film''. 

Often the British characters in Curtis’s films follow the stereotype of a typical white person. They're often posh and well-spoken and in the beginning unfortunately in love. Both the characters and the scenery are often glamorous in Curtis’s films to give for instance a foreigner who is watching the films a general perspective of what Britain and the British atmosphere is like. This can be seen in 'Notting Hill' when Will, a character in the film, is walking down a street. You can see that the buildings look professional and there is a lot of foliage about the place, which makes the environment look quite decent. The weather also makes London look appealing as it is sunny and bright. Several scenes in Notting Hill are also set in the Ritz hotel. The Ritz is one of London’s most upmarket hotels and represents London to the audience as being an idyllic place to visit or live. This again shows Curtis to be an auteur as we see the same location or even ideas of location recce used in several of his films.

Marriage is the frequent theme which I have spotted running through Curtis's films. This is seen especially in his film 'Four Weddings And a Funeral' where we see four different weddings between  Angus & Laura, Bernard & Lydia, Carrie & Hamish and finally Charles & Henrietta. Another wedding we see take place is in 'About Time' and 'Love actually'. In 'Love Actually' the wedding is between Peter and Juliet. The wedding scene is romantic which would appeal to the female target audience. A female audience would probably enjoy watching these scenes because they gain escapism from it, where they would imagine how their wedding day would be like, perhaps the wedding scenes also help the female audience to get personal information on what a wedding would be like, if they didn't know.
Wedding proposals also take place in several of Cutis’s films. These include Bridget and Mark in Bridget Jones’s Diary and Jamie and Aurelia in Love Actually. In both of these engagements something stops or delay's them from happening. In Bridget Jones’s Diary Mark says to Bridget “There’s a question I’ve been meaning to ask you” and Bridget replies “As long as it’s not will you marry me” which puts Mark off proposing to Bridget. In 'Love Actually' Aurelia goes back to her home country, which means that Jamie has to fly to another country to propose. When he gets there he has to search for her as she is in work. In both of these situations love almost acts as a deferral for some time until ultimately both couples do end up getting engaged. Love being a power is another theme that runs throughout Curtis’s films. Most couples in his movies go through a journey which separates them, but they always find love in the end. Generically Romantic films usually have a happy ending; this makes the audience happy and makes the film feel complete.

To contrast this although Curtis likes his themes to portray happiness and love as we see in the many marriages, Curtis also often uses the theme of death. The loss of a life allows the audience to mourn alongside the characters, they are drawn with sympathy. This is why Daniel and his step-son Sam lose their wife and mother in the beginning of 'Love Actually'. The audience sympathize with them and hope for them to have a happy ending, which ultimately does happen. In 'Four Weddings and a funeral' the character of Gareth passes away. The audience  feel sympathy not only for him but for those characters that were close to him and hope that things become lightweight for them.

Curtis often likes to contain story-lines which focus on life's hardships in his films. One example of this would be disability. In Notting Hill the character of Bella is in a wheel chair. Curtis also includes homosexual characters in his films. In Four Weddings and a Funeral the characters of Matthew and Gareth are gay. Curtis chooses to tackle these subjects in his film to show that these people are normal and are as capable as everyone else.

Unit 26-- Assignment 1-- Analyzing the Genre Theory-- Task 4

Genre as a system -

The 'genre as a system' theory which was proposed by the theorist Steve Neale. This theory talks about films and their genres, suggesting that the genre of a film is a center point for a system whereby everything and everyone benefits from it.
In other words this means that it is a system which is continuously ongoing; the industry (production company) release a film-- this film is viewed by audience members taking in account the preferred genre-- soon the institute get intakes of money following the marketing and distribution of the film--The make a new film out of this money and the process continues. A genre simply means kind or type, it is a way of simplifying what kind of film you're watching.


The term 'repetition and difference' refers to the generic conventions commonly seen in films, that an audience can spot in a specific genre.
Below I am going to provide various examples from a range of genre's applying this theory where necessary.
The first film genre I will talk about the superhero genre. Most superhero films in our modern era have overpowered cinema and brought in new ideas for film. Before, the cinema was dominated mainly with films that have western or musical genres. The clip below is a trimmed part of the western movie ' The Magnificent Seven'. (This film has a remade version of it, waiting to be released in 2016) In the clip we see the generic conventions of a western film, some of the props we're introduced to are guns, and ropes- these are items which we'd normally expect to appear in a western film.
Also the narrative is quite iconic of western films, where it is usually about maintaining law and order, it is sometimes rooted from the archetypal conflict - 'White hat Vs. Black hat'.

The clip I have given is a good example of this, because here the plot is based around a Mexican farming village who are being terrorized each year by a bandit, they threaten to return so the farmers go out to America to look for gunman to protect them, and end up with seven. So this example, shows bad Vs. good. Films like these were an iconography of the 1940s- the target audience here feel center pointed, almost like they're a referee, although I unfortunately am not a target audience, I know I would feel that way. I can apply Neale's repetition and difference theory because here it conforms with it, audience members of that time would have also expected these generic conventions in the same way modern day audience members would. The only thing now is to see whether the 2016 remake adds a new prop, or plot change etc and effects the generic convention of this western movie.
The audience gain satisfaction from seeing something they're used to, because if otherwise the target audience for this film genre wouldn't be getting what they deserve.

Another repetition I have spotted commonly used in the western genre is the sound design. Throughout western movies there is diegetic sounds, one of which is from a gun shot, as you can see in this scene from 'Yuma' the diegetic sound helps the pureness of the film stay neutral, as the film is set in a rural environment which is 'artificial free' if you like , not like in the city. This helps the realism of the film, and adds to the narrative. I think if it was a sound effect it wouldn't be as realist, another thing is that it helps the rawness of the film stay as it is. The audience gain pleasures such as social interaction with friends, discussing their intrigue to the story line.


Superhero movies with the action genre are ones that I'm quite interested in , so I have decided to talk about it rather than the single action movie. Below I will research into different superhero movies, and discuss the repetition and differences that I find. As a genre, I would say that it is aimed mostly at a younger audience aged 6- the age of 17. Having said this many older audiences members in their late 20s are still quite interested in it, I think this is the targeted audience because when you're young you think that the superheros are real and that they actual go around saving the city, they're a dominant figure for young children, a role model they aspire to be. Older audience members (unless very childish) are more mature and so not so fantasized by this genre.

kick ass- non conformity to the generic conventions of a superhero movie because the character all don't have powers to make them superheros they just have gadgets to help them. Some have just the ability to fight - which suits it better for the genre of action and the superhero element is excluded making the film really unattractive. Because when people see
Also, superhero played here is a geeky young teen - not a handsome muscly chap with amazingly bred hair! This puts off an audience who are generally used to watching handsome superheros save the day, such as Christian Bale or Peter Parker.



Another generic convention is the typical mise-en-scene repeatedly seen throughout superhero movies. This is a long shot used to show that the film is set in an urban place. The city, which would be typical as superheros usually 'save the city'. I think this is a generic convention not just because I have seen it in various superhero movies but also because overall this shot is quite popular throughout cinema.


Batman- non typical of superhero movie because the main character has no powers - but typical of the genre of 'action' as there are many explosions and fight scenes / elements of death.
Target audience would be those who love the action genre but fantasize about superheros. In my opinion I think that superhero movies and action movies are merging together nowadays, although it is quite beneficial to have these two major genres together in one film, it is also useful to note that if one wasn't there the other wouldn't be their also. Mainly because superheros have to save the day by going through a series of fights and attacks and possibly murder in order to win the girl and save the city. This means that there has to be action as a genre, without action and fighting the superhero character is worthless because he isn't a 'superhero' he is just like everyone else.

This long shot from 'The Dark Night Rises' is again typical of superhero movies. Here Batman looks to Gotham city, that he endeavors to save. I reckon this is quite a good way to expressing the usual plot / narrative of a genre like this. The directors creative elements work successfully as they try to show their audience the two sides of the story almost.

Comedy is another interesting genre to analyze, because here the main generic convention I can spot is typical actors or characters that we see in most comedy films. Without these characters the comedy genre would be very unpopular, this means that once we see that this typical character is yet again starring in a comedy movies we're satisfied as this is what we expect.

 I am going to be talking about the film 'Dumb and Dumber. Because this film was really successful in my opinion simply because of the extremely funny characters, who never fail to entertain us throughout. The two main characters in the film are Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey, these two characters in the film are very entertaining and for this reason they're often seen in comedy movies. Many people watching this film will recognise them and as they're very funny will enjoy watching the film. By using typical characters you're more guaranteed to gain audience engagement through entertainment.