Auteur Theory

An auteur director is a director who has a signature, normally original way for directing and has recognisable themes throughout their work.

Michel Gondry
is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He is recognised for his visual style and manipulation of mise en scene. He grew up in Versailles and moved to Paris to study at art school. It was here he joined a pop band called Oui-Oui. He played the drums and directed music video clips. Seen by Bjork on MTV, she admired his strange ideas and asked Gondry to direct one of her own music videos.

I will be looking at The Chemical Brothers-'Let Forever Be'
and Mia Doi Todd-'Open Hearts'

In both these music videos directed by Gondry, he has used similar themes to appeal o he audience. For example both have the use of well choreographed dancing by multiple dancers, creating an interesting image for the audience as they are all in time. 

The contrast of the urban areas and everyday settings with the unusual dancing and brightly coloured costumes work well.

In The Chemical Brothers video he uses special effects to create a trippy effect, almost hypnotising the audience. Although he does not use effects in Mia's music video, the use of costume as the t-shirts are different coloured on either side and the dances turn around regularly, this also creates a hypnotising effect.

Although both videos are not particularly slow paced, they do not use quick cuts and consist of longer takes, however to the the constant movement of the camera and dancing throughout, they appear to be much more fast paced.

Chris Cunningham

Born in Reading and growing up in Suffolk, Cunningham most commonly directs music videos for ambient music and electronica acts. Earlier work of his included film make up and contributing to the occasional cover painting for Judge Dredd strip.

Aphex Twin- 'Come to Daddy'

Madonna-'Frozen'

He has very dark images, with strange abstract themes.

There are a lot of close ups highlighting the almost supernatural elements he uses as they transform into something else.

An cool, almost blue tint overlayed to create a very cold looking image, making the audience also feel cold and uncomfortable.

He focuses on the artist or band's lead singer as the main character and there are not many other characters in the video, for example Madonna is the only person in the entire video even though the song is  a love song. Also, in Aphex Twin's video, although there are multiple characters, many have the face of the main singer.

He uses very technical, advanced special effects which add to the supernatural theme as well as making the videos very visually exciting.

He also uses slow motion to create a very dramatic and eerie feel.

Many of the shots are at a canted angle which which disorientates the audience and along with the entropic element of every thing falling into chaos, this confuses the audience.

Samuel Bayer

He was born in New York and is a visual artist, cinematographer, commercial, music video and film director. Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' was one of the first music videos he directed and won a MTV Music Award.

I will also be looking at Marilyn Manson's 'Disposbale Teens'.

In his music videos he commonly has a blurry or grainy overlay, so that it becomes blurry and harder for the audience to see what is going on. 

He also uses a fairly dark lighting to create a more rebellious and feel, which goes with the loud almost rock music.

Social stereotypes are also challenged in his videos as in Nirvana's music video he shows cheerleaders covered in tattoos- a much more grunged up rebellious version of what you'd expect normally. 

There are rarely still shots, as he continuously keeps the camera moving to create a chaotic feel, which also goes with the visuals of  moshing crowd. He does however stick to the convention in rock videos, of a performance element, however his take on it is much more unexpected as it is in a school.

Both Marilyn Manson's video and Nirvana's have fairly aggressive themes, with Kurt Cobain smashing up his guitar, highlighting his careless attitude and in Manson's, his angriness.

They also have a strong performance in them with both crowds being very wilds and crazy.

Favourite Auteur 

Overall I would say my favourite Auteur is Samuel Bayer. As my group  will be creating a music video for an Indie band, I feel the themes he uses are most appropriate for the song. For example Bayer's use of dark lighting to reflect the songs dark nature, would work well for our music video. I also like how the camera is never stationary which therefore makes it look much more chaotic and looks much more exciting. As we are using a lot of shots of the main character we don't want the audience to be bored therefore the movement will make  more visually appealing.