Post Two - Auteurship

"A filmmaker whose individual style and complete control over all elements of production give a film It’s personal and unique stamp."

Auteur is derived from the word author. The auteur policy was started by an article written by Francios Truffaut who critisised filming in the 1950's. Various film critics have had input to the auteur policy but Andrew Sarris was the man who turned it into a theory. Sarris claims there are 3 levels of Auteurship: 

• Technical competence.
• Distinguishable personality such as recognisable camera shots and script. 
• Director as a person, meaning the directors own personal views

"The auteur theory values the personality of a director precisely because of the barriers to its expression."

Sarris explains that whether directors are from Hollywood or Europe the films made will be shaped by the conditions and culture at the time. Meaning films made are affected by external factors.

Although Auteurship originates from Europe in the 1950's and great Auteurs include Jean-Luc Godard and Ingmar Bergman the auteur theory can be applied to famous Hollywood directors such as Quentin Tarantino.

Quentin Tarantino has been writing and directing films for the past 20 years. He shot into the limelight with his first film Reservoir Dogs in 1992 and since then has been involved in making some of the biggest films in Hollywood to date.  His films are very recognisble but to understand how Tarantino can be described as an Auteur a selection of his finest films need to be looked at. 

Tarantino's films tend to follow multiple storylines which all tie up at the end. Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill and Inglorious Basterds all pursue various storylines following different characters but all link in to each other at the end. This is a recognisable trait on Tarantino's part and makes his films interesting to watch.

Another identifiable trait of Tarantino is the extreme use of blood and gore in his films. Whether its gun shots in Pulp Fiction, Samurai Fighting in Kill Bill or WWI slaughter in Inglorious Basterds no expense is spared. They certainly aren't for the faint hearted.

Tarantino is also credited for his strange choice of word choice in his films such as the famous clip in Pulp Fiction when Travolta and Jackson discuss Big Macs even though they are cold blooded hitmen, it always adds a sense of humour even through the blood and gore.

One last most noticeable trait is Tarantino's choice to have the movie credits at the beginning of his films instead of at the end.This is a rather old fashioned but makes Tarantino's films distinguishable from the rest.

Tarantino’s films are extremely recognisable from the opening credits to the end scene when you figure out Tarantino's multiple storylines, and for these reasons Tarantino can definitely be called an Auteur.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/auteur

http://www.filmreference.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS_ROi0iiZw

http://www.bullz-eye.com/entertainers/quentin_tarantino.htm

http://passionforcinema.com
http://www.onlygoodmovies.com/blog/good-movies/quentin-tarantino-movies/