Auteur Theory

Auteur Theory is a theory of filmmaking that holds a film reflects the director's personal creative vision. It came about in France in the late 1940s as the cinematic theories by Andre Bazin and Alexandre Astruc became outgrown and dubbed by the 'Auteur Theory' by American Film critic Andrew Sarris. It focuses on:

1. Individual stylistic features
2. How texts are determined by artists' creativity
3. How texts emerge as part of an artists body of work

When the Auteur theory was being developed, Alfred Hitchcock was frequently acknowledged as the consummate exemplar, and his name evokes immediate expectations in terms of themes and techniques. Some elements of the Hitchcockian style consists of:

• Climax plot twist
• The cool platinum blonde
• The presence of a domineering mother in her child's life e.g. Psycho
• An innocent man accused
• Restricting the action to a single setting to increase tension
• Characters who switch sides and/or who cannot be trusted

Another well known Auteur is Brian De Palma. He directed many infamous films some being Scarface, Carrie and The Untouchables. He did many psychological films and had a theme of graphic violence which was very influential in Dressed to Kill and Body Double, this sparked a lot of controversy with film critics and the viewing public. He is also known for quoting and referencing other directors' work through his own pieces. For example 'Dressed to Kill' was a homage to 'Psycho' by Hitchcock in which he lifted the idea of a surprise death of the lead actress and exposing the the psychiatrist at the end. De Palma was also noted by film critics throughout his career for his unusual camera angles and compositions. One of his trademarks is framing the character using a canted angle against the background and he's been known to use the split-screen technique to show two separate events happening at the same time. 

Francois Truffaut who played a part in the origins of the theory expressed that directors should use the mise-en-scene to imprint their vision on their work. Truffaut was a film director, screenwriter, producer, actor and film critic. He headed the group of French New Wave Cinema which was group of French New Wave Cinema which was a group of French filmmakers. He remains an icon of the french film industry as his career lasted over a quarter of a century and worked on over 25 films. Truffaut wrote an article called 'Une certaine Tendance du Cinema Francais' which translates to 'A Certain Trend of French Cinema' in which he talked about the state of French films and, certain screenwriters and producers. The article sparked a lot of controversy as Truffaut didn't talk positively of all the aspects and wasn't accepted. From this the Auteur Theory was born which simply stated that the director was the 'author' of his work.