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Friday 22 August 2014

Director as Auteur



Spike Jonze case study

Looking at the body of work of one director or artist provides very interesting material for textual analysis, and mimics the work of real academics/experts in the music industry.  Borrowing from film theory, the idea of a director as "auteur" or author, allows you to analyse music videos from the point of view of regarding each text as being a personal expression of the director. 

At A2, you will easily access the higher marks for research and planning if you are able to analyse the creative vision of a director or artist, provide textual evidence to support your findings and link it to how you have been inspired and/or influenced in your own work.


Findings from Jonze case study:

1. Frenetic filming style; extreme mobile camerawork; shooting "from the hip"; use of slo-mo/fast-mo; reverse filming.  Hand-held, cinema-verite style of filming.  Extended narratives.
2. Very physical performances from artists; lots of performance to camera; lots of costume changes; sense of lots of different "characters" being created.
3. Emphasis on physical stunts
4. Surreal visual imagery - concern that we are not shocked by out of the ordinary (e.g burning man or talking dog) but by being shown the boring details of our every day life in a very different way.  This might be  through fantasy of a Hollywood dance sequence or by having Christopher Walken flying through the air.
5.  Lots of intertextual references to popular culture; literature; film; urban/street/skater culture.
6.  Repeated motifs - dogs; disguises;
7.  Sense of humour - not taking himself too seriously.

Task: Complete research into a director of your own choice.
Post a summary of your findings with a minimum of 2 full videos and 2 screen grabs plus an analysis. Explain how your chosen director illustrates the concept of being an 'Auteur'.

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