Film Paper, Final Draft
This is my first paper i had due for my Film Theory and Criticism class. I'm really happy about this paper. Its about five pages long and i'm not really sure if some of yall will understand the Autuer Theory but i thought I would share it anyways.
The presence of the director as an “author” can be studied through careful examination of various films. Take for example Baz Luhrmann and his current three movies of the Red Carpet series: Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, and Moulin Rouge. Through the study of these three movies we can view the director as an artist through their similar styles and themes. To understand the style behind Luhrmann’s work lets take a look at Baz himself.
Baz Luhrmann was born in New South Wales, Australia and went on to attend the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA) in Sydney. While attending the NIDA he was approached by Peter Brook to assist in the production of the epic play “The Mahabarata.” Then in 1986 Baz devised and staged the original “Strictly Ballroom,” which began as a thirty-minute play that Luhrmann directed (Fox 1996). The play went on to win awards for Best Production and Best Director. After graduating from NIDA Baz went on to produce various original and classical opera scores such as Puccini’s “La Boheme.” It’s through these past works which set the stage for Baz’s theme and style for his next three movie productions.
The Red Carpet trilogy can be defined by four specific characteristics to stimulate audience participation. The first of these is that the audience knows how the movie will end from the start, next is a thin and simple story line (mostly about love), third is a world created of a heightened reality, and lastly is a specific device to drive to story such as dance, iambic pentameter, or song (Vanessa 2007).
Strictly Ballroom portrays the story of love through the medium of dance. The opening of this movie is set in the style of a documentary with the interview of Scott Hastings’s parents and dance instructor telling us briefly how the movie is going to end. Strictly Ballroom will also set reoccurring themes that we will see in his later two movies such as wide camera shots of the actors performing on a stage, in this case a ballroom dance floor. With Baz Luhrmann as the original author and director of the brief stage production, Baz has a complete understanding of how this movie is to be moved from stage to film. Luhrmann’s next film will show us the director working from an original source of work.
The full title of Baz’s next film is William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet. This movie is titled this way as if to give credit to the original author of this production. Like the play and Baz’s first movie we are given a prologue to the film telling us exactly what is to happen and how the production is to end. The main medium to drive the story of love in Romeo + Juliet is through Shakespeare’s original use of poetry. It’s through the use of the Elizabethan language and Baz’s direction that we receive our first real taste of Baz Luhrmann the auteur. In Courtney Lehman’s essay she argues that in Romeo + Juliet, in both its dramatic and filmic incarnations, crystallizes what we might call the blank parody function of early and postmodern authorship (Lehman 2001). Lehman later argues that there appears to be no such thing as “William’s Shakespeare’s” Romeo + Juliet, but in practice there are opportunities to articulate new or emergent “structures of feeling” toward authorship and authority.
Baz takes it upon him self to use his authority as an author to spin Romeo + Juliet into a postmodern style while still keeping with the original language. Using music and the camera as a stylus or pen Baz uses the rhythms of whip pans, lightening cuts, super-macro slam zooms, static super-wide shots, and tight-on point-of-view shots, keeping in the name of Luhrmann’s production company - the “Bazmark” of his cinematic language (Lehmann 2001). As seen before in Strictly Ballroom, we view another wide angle shot of our actors performing on a stage, in this case a derelict version of the Globe Theater. Baz also introduces a new theme of drugs producing the love affect which is shown through the montage of dance, music, vibrant costumes and overall chaos. Romeo + Juliet will set the bar for Baz’s latest production bringing his cinematic style full circle in the all out musical Moulin Rogue.
This original screen play written and directed by Baz Luhrmann may borrow from other sources but is still defiantly in the style of our author. Like his previous two films Moulin Rogue opens with a prologue telling us of the unfortunate events to come. We also have a story of love this time using the medium of song. This love could be enhanced through the use of drugs (absinthe), much like in Romeo + Juliet, which then leads into another mashed-up montage of crazy dance sequences, musical remixes and similar camera techniques found in the opening scene of Romeo + Juliet. Finally we see the actors playing their part not only on the screen but on a stage which mirrors the current love story that is unfolding. The film is distinguished primarily by its humorous audio pastiche: a promiscuous poaching of familiar words and music from a diverse mélange of songs from different decades that acquire new meaning within this new narrative context (Kinder 2002). This practice was not all uncommon and can be traced back to opera ballads of the 18th century in which Baz Luhrmann has had previous experiences with. With the study of these three films we are able to easily understand Andrew Sarris’s note’s on the auteur theory.
In Sarris’s essay, “Notes on the Auteur Theory 1962,” Sarris argues that the auteur theory is the technical competence of a director as a criterion of value (Sarris 1969). Not saying that Baz Luhrmann is a bad director of his three films, but if they were bad movies there is still plenty to talk about in regards to the music, acting, photography, costumes and so on. Granted the Red Curtain Trilogy movies are not for everyone but if you can survive the first 15 minutes of jarring cut scenes, loud costumes, and intrusive music in each film you have a pretty engaging story with characters you can relate to.
Sarris goes on to his second point of his film saying how the theory only works if there is a distinguishable personality of the director over a group of films. In refrence to Baz Luhrmann, his current three tittles serve as his signature trademark and style. The third premise Sarris mentions is the interior meaning, cinema as an art and the tension between a director’s personality and his material. Sarris says that this is very hard to pinpoint unless we are on the set with the director caught up in the moment of working his craft with the actors, cameras, and other outside influences.
Although Baz’s first two films were taken from original works the auteur theory demonstrates that the director is not simply in command of a performance of a pre-existing text (Wollen). There are other factors influencing Baz’s work such as the editors, costume designers and actors working with the director to influence the final product. This is what Wollen considers ‘noise,’ generating a multiplicity of factors, the sum total of a number of different contributions.
Baz Luhrmann’s current titles fit the auteur theory today, but like most artist and theories they are in constant flux. Being a fairly new director in the cinema world we are able to study the body of Baz’s work rather than individual pieces. We see how the Red Curtain trilogy relates to the auteur theory providing a constant theme and style. Baz Luhrmann is currently filming a new movie called “Australia” and it will be interesting to see if he keeps a holding pattern in his theme of work, or if he breaks free from the his current auteur mold to pursue a new pattern of work.
The presence of the director as an “author” can be studied through careful examination of various films. Take for example Baz Luhrmann and his current three movies of the Red Carpet series: Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, and Moulin Rouge. Through the study of these three movies we can view the director as an artist through their similar styles and themes. To understand the style behind Luhrmann’s work lets take a look at Baz himself.
Baz Luhrmann was born in New South Wales, Australia and went on to attend the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA) in Sydney. While attending the NIDA he was approached by Peter Brook to assist in the production of the epic play “The Mahabarata.” Then in 1986 Baz devised and staged the original “Strictly Ballroom,” which began as a thirty-minute play that Luhrmann directed (Fox 1996). The play went on to win awards for Best Production and Best Director. After graduating from NIDA Baz went on to produce various original and classical opera scores such as Puccini’s “La Boheme.” It’s through these past works which set the stage for Baz’s theme and style for his next three movie productions.
The Red Carpet trilogy can be defined by four specific characteristics to stimulate audience participation. The first of these is that the audience knows how the movie will end from the start, next is a thin and simple story line (mostly about love), third is a world created of a heightened reality, and lastly is a specific device to drive to story such as dance, iambic pentameter, or song (Vanessa 2007).
Strictly Ballroom portrays the story of love through the medium of dance. The opening of this movie is set in the style of a documentary with the interview of Scott Hastings’s parents and dance instructor telling us briefly how the movie is going to end. Strictly Ballroom will also set reoccurring themes that we will see in his later two movies such as wide camera shots of the actors performing on a stage, in this case a ballroom dance floor. With Baz Luhrmann as the original author and director of the brief stage production, Baz has a complete understanding of how this movie is to be moved from stage to film. Luhrmann’s next film will show us the director working from an original source of work.
The full title of Baz’s next film is William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet. This movie is titled this way as if to give credit to the original author of this production. Like the play and Baz’s first movie we are given a prologue to the film telling us exactly what is to happen and how the production is to end. The main medium to drive the story of love in Romeo + Juliet is through Shakespeare’s original use of poetry. It’s through the use of the Elizabethan language and Baz’s direction that we receive our first real taste of Baz Luhrmann the auteur. In Courtney Lehman’s essay she argues that in Romeo + Juliet, in both its dramatic and filmic incarnations, crystallizes what we might call the blank parody function of early and postmodern authorship (Lehman 2001). Lehman later argues that there appears to be no such thing as “William’s Shakespeare’s” Romeo + Juliet, but in practice there are opportunities to articulate new or emergent “structures of feeling” toward authorship and authority.
Baz takes it upon him self to use his authority as an author to spin Romeo + Juliet into a postmodern style while still keeping with the original language. Using music and the camera as a stylus or pen Baz uses the rhythms of whip pans, lightening cuts, super-macro slam zooms, static super-wide shots, and tight-on point-of-view shots, keeping in the name of Luhrmann’s production company - the “Bazmark” of his cinematic language (Lehmann 2001). As seen before in Strictly Ballroom, we view another wide angle shot of our actors performing on a stage, in this case a derelict version of the Globe Theater. Baz also introduces a new theme of drugs producing the love affect which is shown through the montage of dance, music, vibrant costumes and overall chaos. Romeo + Juliet will set the bar for Baz’s latest production bringing his cinematic style full circle in the all out musical Moulin Rogue.
This original screen play written and directed by Baz Luhrmann may borrow from other sources but is still defiantly in the style of our author. Like his previous two films Moulin Rogue opens with a prologue telling us of the unfortunate events to come. We also have a story of love this time using the medium of song. This love could be enhanced through the use of drugs (absinthe), much like in Romeo + Juliet, which then leads into another mashed-up montage of crazy dance sequences, musical remixes and similar camera techniques found in the opening scene of Romeo + Juliet. Finally we see the actors playing their part not only on the screen but on a stage which mirrors the current love story that is unfolding. The film is distinguished primarily by its humorous audio pastiche: a promiscuous poaching of familiar words and music from a diverse mélange of songs from different decades that acquire new meaning within this new narrative context (Kinder 2002). This practice was not all uncommon and can be traced back to opera ballads of the 18th century in which Baz Luhrmann has had previous experiences with. With the study of these three films we are able to easily understand Andrew Sarris’s note’s on the auteur theory.
In Sarris’s essay, “Notes on the Auteur Theory 1962,” Sarris argues that the auteur theory is the technical competence of a director as a criterion of value (Sarris 1969). Not saying that Baz Luhrmann is a bad director of his three films, but if they were bad movies there is still plenty to talk about in regards to the music, acting, photography, costumes and so on. Granted the Red Curtain Trilogy movies are not for everyone but if you can survive the first 15 minutes of jarring cut scenes, loud costumes, and intrusive music in each film you have a pretty engaging story with characters you can relate to.
Sarris goes on to his second point of his film saying how the theory only works if there is a distinguishable personality of the director over a group of films. In refrence to Baz Luhrmann, his current three tittles serve as his signature trademark and style. The third premise Sarris mentions is the interior meaning, cinema as an art and the tension between a director’s personality and his material. Sarris says that this is very hard to pinpoint unless we are on the set with the director caught up in the moment of working his craft with the actors, cameras, and other outside influences.
Although Baz’s first two films were taken from original works the auteur theory demonstrates that the director is not simply in command of a performance of a pre-existing text (Wollen). There are other factors influencing Baz’s work such as the editors, costume designers and actors working with the director to influence the final product. This is what Wollen considers ‘noise,’ generating a multiplicity of factors, the sum total of a number of different contributions.
Baz Luhrmann’s current titles fit the auteur theory today, but like most artist and theories they are in constant flux. Being a fairly new director in the cinema world we are able to study the body of Baz’s work rather than individual pieces. We see how the Red Curtain trilogy relates to the auteur theory providing a constant theme and style. Baz Luhrmann is currently filming a new movie called “Australia” and it will be interesting to see if he keeps a holding pattern in his theme of work, or if he breaks free from the his current auteur mold to pursue a new pattern of work.