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In your introductory paragraph,
Explain auteur theory in your own words and why this is a useful approach to the study of film.
Tip: review Chapter 8.3 in Film: From Watching to Seeing for a clear definition of auteur theory and why auteur theory is one useful approach to the study of film. Do you think the director is the sole owner of a film’s success or its failure?
Describe, using Chapter 8 of the text as a reference, the criteria for what makes a director an auteur.
Tip: review Chapter 8.3 in Film: From Watching to Seeing for a clear guide to Andrew Sarris’s criteria for auteur theory. Remember to evaluate specific examples from your chosen director’s films to decide whether or not they meet the criteria.
Identify a director who meets the criteria posed by auteur theory.
Example: you will identify one director and two of that director’s films: for instance, Sofia Coppola and her films The Virgin Suicides and Marie Antoinette.
Summarize briefly the ways in which this director meets the criteria using examples from at least two of the director’s films.
Example: you have evaluated specific examples from your chosen director’s films to decide whether or not they meet the criteria. Now, name those examples: costuming, mise-en-scène, light and color, actors, and dialogue.
Develop a thesis statement that focuses on how your chosen director and their films meet the criteria posed by auteur theory and advances the possibilities of storytelling through the medium of film.
Tip: visit the Writing a Thesis Statement resource from the UAGC Writing Center.
Example: In her films The Virgin Suicides and Marie Antoinette, Sofia Coppola demonstrates that she belongs among the list of auteurs for her elaborate costuming, consistent use of light and color, her reliance on actor Kirsten Dunst in the lead roles, and telling stories that focus on young women coming of age amidst formidable obstacles.
In the body of your paper (at least three paragraphs),
Apply the lens of auteur theory in breaking down the director’s technical competence, distinguishable personality, and interior meaning using specific examples of their work (e.g., particular scenes or plot components).
Tip: use at least one paragraph for each criteria (or two paragraphs for each criteria, one for your analysis of each of two films) to analyze specific techniques and themes that demonstrate how your director meets the three criteria of auteur theory.
Analyze the specific ways in which filmmaking techniques, consistent themes, and storytelling distinguish your chosen director as an auteur among their peers.
Example: the elaborate costumes in Coppola’s Marie Antoinette help to establish the period in which the film is set, and go beyond it by drawing particular attention to the extravagance and excess of Pre-revolutionary France. The ornate and colorful dresses worn by Kirsten Dunst’s Marie Antoinette allude to the equally colorful cakes, for which she is infamous, having said, “let them eat cake.”
Evaluate your chosen director’s ethos, that is what they have to say about complex social and cultural issues.
Tip: the ethos is the director’s characteristic spirit, evidenced by their beliefs and aspirations. A director’s ethos is directly connected to the type of stories they tell and what they intend to communicate in telling those stories.
In the conclusion of your paper,
Connect each element of your analysis to show how your chosen director meets the three criteria of auteur theory and what this director’s body of work has to say about social and cultural issues.
Tip: your conclusion should restate your thesis and remind the reader which specific examples demonstrate how your chosen director meets—or doesn’t meet—the criteria of auteur theory and remind us why auteur theory is a valuable tool for film analysis.
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