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Summary A Level WJEC Eduqas Film Studies Notes - Auteur Theory, Alfred Hitchcock, Ridley Scott $11.27
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Summary A Level WJEC Eduqas Film Studies Notes - Auteur Theory, Alfred Hitchcock, Ridley Scott

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  • Course
  • FM4 - Varieties of Film Experience - Issues and Debates (A670QS)
  • Institution
  • WJEC

2500-word summary and essay-style analysis of Andrew Sarris Auteur theory, applied to Vertigo (1958), Rear Window (1954), Blade Runner (1982) and Alien (1979). These notes were used to revise for Film Studies WJEC A level in 2019 for which I achieved a high A* grade. Detailed and succinct analysis,...

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Document information

  • May 17, 2020
  • 13
  • 2019/2020
  • Summary

Subjects

  • film studies
  • film theory
  • film
  • auteur theory
  • ridley scott
  • alfred hitchcock
  • hitchcock
  • scott
  • french new wave
  • andrew sarris
  • blade runner
  • vertigo
  • rear window
  • alien
  • 2019
  • a lev
  • film studies new specification

Written for

  • A/AS Level
  • WJEC
  • Film Studies
  • FM4 - Varieties of Film Experience - Issues and Debates (A670QS)
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WJEC Eduqas GCE A LEVEL in FILM STUDIES
2019 New Specification

Auteur Theory Notes: Alfred Hitchcock and Ridley Scott


In film criticism, Auteur Theory refers to a director’s film that reflects their visible and

distinctive signature. ‘Auteur’ is the French term meaning ‘author’, dictating that the director

creates the film based on their personal artistic perspective. Auteurs base their films on

artistic merit as opposed to commercial value. The concept originated during the French New

Wave period (1958-1962) from a group of influential filmmakers, led by Francois Truffaut.

Truffaut first published the defining article for Auteur Theory ‘A Certain Tendency of French

Cinema’ in the magazine ‘Cahiers du Cinema’ (1954). This theory was developed and named

by Andrew Sarris in 1962 in his essay ‘Notes on Auteur Theory’. Throughout this essay,

Sarris defined Auteur Theory as three elements including technical competence, personal

style and interior meaning. These elements can be found in both Hitchcock and Scott’s films,

allowing a deeper understanding due to the conventions within genre and narrative.



Hitchcock is an irrefutable Auteur, known as the “master of suspense” due to the

psychological nature of his films. Hitchcock was known to explore taboo areas throughout his

work, from a patriarchal view point, as well as basing his films on his own life, for instance

his film "Vertigo... is alarmingly close to allegorical autobiography," John Russell Taylor

(1978). Rear Window, a “masterpiece of voyeurism” Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment

Weekly (2000), reveals Hitchcock’s critique of the audience’s obsessive paraphilia and

interior meaning that the auteur director explores throughout several texts including Vertigo

and Rear Window. Lisa’s introduction is an example of the voyeuristic objectification of

women and the male fear of emasculation, a key interior meaning that Hitchcock portrays

throughout many of his films. The first shot, the shadow slowly moving across Jeff’s face, is

, 2


a lighting convention of the horror genre. As the audience discover that the figure is Lisa,

Hitchcock establishes Jeff’s castration anxiety due to the compulsive male gaze and the fear

that the woman will resist objectification.




This use of cinematography demonstrates Hitchcock’s technical competency, as

subtle meanings can be delineated. The following long take is a point of view shot (an

element of cinematography that Hitchcock frequently utilises, demonstrating his technical

competence and personal style), from Jeff’s perspective, encouraging the audience to

sympathise with his fear. The shot then changes to a close up two shot, connoting intimacy

between the two characters. From the beginning of this sequence, it appears that Jeff and

Lisa’s relationship is fulfilling the stereotypical male and female dynamic of the patriarchal

1950s, as the audience are forced to reduce Lisa to an object of the male gaze by witnessing

the scene through Jeff’s point of view. Another example of the reduction of Lisa’s role is the

long shot, further objectifying her. However, this dynamic shift as we learn Jeff is a more

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