favorite Favorite auteur?

droowl

droowl

Its probably the best way to create a film that is truly yours. I really get into all aspects of the filmmaking, and I get uneasy at the thought of someone else doing sound editing or cinematography when I know I'm perfectly capable of doing it all. A painter doesn't have someone else mix his colors or put the brush to the canvas for him, he does it all himself. So why shouldn't a filmmaker do the same?

So who is your favorite auteur? Personally, I like Jean-Luc Godard.
 
That's not the definition of an auteur (doing it all). Check out the auteur theory. It's using film as a medium for personal expression, yes, like canvas to a painter, but that's just an analogy. A film needs a crew. Much different than one painter and a canvas. It has more to do with injecting your personal beliefs, political views, and any other ways you choose to express yourself.

Godard had a film crew. ;)

Doing everything yourself, not sure what that would be called. DIY filmmaker I guess.
 
Michelangelo also had a crew for the Sistine Chapel. Undoubtedly his work, but he had help mixing the paint and had a crew of assistants to outline the figures on the wet plaster before he would paint them.

I call doing it all "one man band filmmaking."
 
indietalk said:
That's not the definition of an auteur (doing it all). Check out the auteur theory. It's using film as a medium for personal expression, yes, like canvas to a painter, but that's just an analogy. A film needs a crew. Much different than one painter and a canvas. It has more to do with injecting your personal beliefs, political views, and any other ways you choose to express yourself.

Godard had a film crew. ;)

Doing everything yourself, not sure what that would be called. DIY filmmaker I guess.
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I didn't mean EVERYTHING. I'm sure rolling the camera and then running around to act as three people would get a little tiring, haha. I meant that the best way of expressing your vision is to get involved with/doing everything. I know what an auteur is, and I believe the best way to become an auteur is not letting anyone else hinder your creative flow. By doing as much as you can, your film will absorb your "flavor", and thus reflect your vision better.
 
What you just described is a director. The director has creative control, and carries the vision of the film from start to finish.
 
droowl said:
Fine you win.
But nobody as answered my question yet.
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LOL
Godard rules man. What's your favorite film? I kind of love them all equally... Contempt, Alphaville, Breathless, Pierot Le Fou. I really like Raoul Coutard's cinematography, the "machine gun" tracking in Vivre Sa Vie has stuck with me since I first saw it. I need to watch that again. Possibly could be my fave.
 
Definitions of auteur on the Web:

a filmmaker who has a personal style and keeps creative control over his or her works

In film criticism, the 1950s-era auteur theory holds that a director's films reflect that director's personal creative vision, as if he were the primary "auteur" (the French word for "author"). ...

An artist, often a film or theatre director, whose complete control over all aspects of a production gives the end result a recognisable feel
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"Auteur" is a word very close to my heart. I think of John Sayles, Hal Hartley, John Cassavetes, David Lynch, John Waters, etc. My biggest influence was John Carpenter (70's - 80's). I credit him as the main reason that I bought my first synthesizer, in 1984. Carpenter's music setup inspired my synth setup.


Not so much his style, but I've tried to emulate his process where he donned many hats (writing, editing, scoring, directing) to keep costs down. DARK STAR budget $60,000 and released theatrically. HALLOWEEN budget $300,000 and held the record of "Highest grossing independent," until THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT.

Hitchcock didn't write his movies, but he storyboarded them and inserted his vision. Love his work. I like John Dahl's early movies (REDROCK WEST, THE LAST SEDUCTION) a few of David Cronenberg's (VIDEODROME, SCANNERS), early Don Coscarelli (BEAST MASTER, PHANTASM), Paul Verheoven (ROBOCOP, STARSHIP TROOPERS).

Christopher Nolan (THE DARK KNIGHT, INCEPTION, MEMENTO) is having a pretty successful reign.
 
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Truffaut (the Nouvelle director who actually thought the audience was a worthwhile part of the cinema equation to consider), Terry Gilliam, Kubrick, Hitchcock... those are my favorites... I dislike Goddard due to his vocal contempt for the audience.
 
For me probably Jarmusch. That was one of the reasons I interned for him at one time.
 
I've been discovering Traffaut lately - Small Change and The Last Metro.

Others go without saying: Coppola, Kubrick, Polanski, Hitchcock, Park Chan Wook, Almodovar.

And Mike Leigh.
 
danjama said:
I've been discovering Traffaut lately - Small Change and The Last Metro.
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Watch the 400 blows, then Small Change back to back sometime to see what becoming a parent will do to your perception of the world ;)

The titles are idomatic french expressions, BTW:
les Qatre-Cents Coup (the 400 blows) refers to the scoldings one gets when growing up and
la Change au Poche is actually better translated literally as "Pocket Change" and refers to the little tidbits of kindness that children get growing up from adults... both speak to how children are treated by adults.
 
knightly said:
Watch the 400 blows, then Small Change back to back sometime to see what becoming a parent will do to your perception of the world ;)

The titles are idomatic french expressions, BTW:
les Qatre-Cents Coup (the 400 blows) refers to the scoldings one gets when growing up and
la Change au Poche is actually better translated literally as "Pocket Change" and refers to the little tidbits of kindness that children get growing up from adults... both speak to how children are treated by adults.
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I keep meaning to watch The 400 Blows - just yesterday I was close to picking it up, but went for Au Revoir Les Enfants instead - they were right next to each other in the shop.
 
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