Task 2 – Auteur

Auteur

What Is An Auteur?

An Auteur is a film director who influences the film(their work) creatively and has a strong personal style.

The Origin of Auteur is from 1960’s France ‘Auteur’ meaning ‘Author’. An auteur is a director that sees pass the money and the fame, they are an artist, making every detail how the director envisioned it, which makes films amazing to watch. In addition, visual elements are key such as Camera positioning, lighting, scene length and the choice of actors. The Auteur (the director) keeps an eye on all the visual and the audio elements of the film, the most cinematic/successful films will always have the personal stamp of the director.

There are many successful auteurs Michael Gondry, Guillermo Del Toro, Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino, Tim Burton and many more. However, the auteur I have chosen is Andrew Stanton.

Andrew Stanton (Andrew Christopher Stanton Jr.)

The Director/Auteur I have chosen is Andrew Christopher Stanton. He is 49 years of age and he was born on the 3rd of December 1965. Born and raised in Rockport, Massachusetts, studied character animation at the California Institute of Arts in Los Angeles and graduated in 1987.

He began a writer working on Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures in  1987 he can be identified for writing other animations since then such as Toys Story in 1995, Toys Story 2 in 1999 and Toys Story 3 in 2010. Furthermore, he has written and directed worldwide phenomenons such as WALLE, Finding Nemo, and A Bug’s Life as well as being awarded an Annie Award for Outstanding Directing in Animated Feature production for the movie Finding Nemo.

Movies that he has directed

Finding Dory

Andrew Stanton will directing the new movie Finding dory. Unfortunately, I can not write much about the animated movie Finding Dory because it has not come out but it is a continuation of Finding Nemo but from another character, a spin-off (in this case it is about Dory).

I predict that this movie is going to be as amazing and as creative as Finding Nemo because it is directed and partly written by him. The reason why I say that is because I have the movies he has directed and they have turned out to be worldwide phenomenons connecting with people everywhere, one of the reasons that I think he is an auteur and clarifies at he is.

John Carter

John Carter is about a soldier whose family died, and as he is looking for treasure comes across a pendant that teleports him to Mars etc. John Carter is an amazing film with special effects used to create fascinating war ships and animated creatures.

In this clip, it shows Andrew Stanton in his element, directing the actors and cast members, adding his creative opinions, which an auteur is supposed (obligated) to do, otherwise I do not think you are an auteur.

Even in his interview with The Hollywood reporter he talk about how tailored it should be and the way he talks about the movie with confidence and pride as well as the tone of voice he uses.

WALL-E

WALLE is about a robot who is left on Earth by himself (alone) and is then visited by another robot looking for this plant which will prove that life on Earth is sustainable. This movie is an emotional movie based the themes of Friendship and Love as well as a bit of power. The movie WALLE portraying a message (morals). After watching this film, I think Andrew Stanton and crew were trying to send out message through many ways for example, the way they all came together, overpowering the ship and the plant in the boot I think it implies self discovery as well as the journey you need to take to achieve something. I think that Andrew Stanton because though tout all the movies he has directed and writing etc I feel that it makes you think about what is right and what is important.

This interview further supports my opinion on why I think that Andrew Stanton is an Auteur, comment how he find creativity in the strangest places and how people inspire his idea when creating the main character WALLE, he didn’t jut say that he came up with the image by himself, crediting other people who I admire. Also, working with famous cinematographer Roger Decan, which benefited the movie.

Finding Nemo

Finding Nemo is about a father who pushes his son away by being to overprotective, making his son go beyond the reef and then captured, which means the father travels the seas searching for his lost son. This movie takes you on a journey through the sea. Straight of the bat, bright colours and lighting are used as well as a special glow, it males the scene warm and I think it adds more depth to frame. The animation looks so realistic, which is what think Andrew Stanton and his team were going for.

Here is an interview with Andrew Stanton.

Bug’s life

A misfit ant, looking for “warriors” to save his colony from greedy grasshoppers, recruits a group of bugs that turn out to be an inept circus troupe.

A Bug’s Life is an amazing movie, after watching this movie I have found that Stanton uses his strong belief on family being more important than anything, which makes him a good auteur, The use of bright colours are used this films and others such as Finding Nemo. The camera work is great there are a lot of tracking/panned shots and close ups as well as shots that show everyone together which makes a look great. I think music compliments the movie really well.

Reoccurring Themes/elements 

• All the movies he has directed are Disney and Pixar incorporated.
• The movies he has directed has been animated.
• He does revolutionary movies (movies that fight for what’s right, the people versus government type movies).
• Films about unity.
• The main character saves the day.
• Movies that include love (Romance).

There may be many reoccurring themes/ element but these themes are most common after researching a watching the work Andrew Stanton has done. Working on John Carter, Walle and Finding Nemo points out that he is a romantic and he portrays it really well in these movies evoking different emotions. Also, he has to make films dark so that the audience can see the lighter side, which bring the emotion.

Furthermore, the linear narratives storyline and the recurring theme that presented in each the films he has directed are about Conformity (and rebelling against it). John Carter had to conform but then later went against the authority, so did Flick. Also, Andrew Stanton films directs, produces and writes are Family Oriented which means that his has a specific type of film he works on proving once again that is an Auteur. In addition, he has two men that you uses repeatedly (the go to guys) when in need of musical scores for films Randy Newman and Thomas Newman. Thomas Newman composed music for Walle and Finding Nemo as well as the new movie Dory whilst Randy New composed music for A Bug;s Life, Toy Story 11 and 2 and many more.

In addition to that he uses actor and actresses who have already done quite a bit of voice record acting for example, Albert Brook he had done many voice over acting before being casted in Finding Nemo as Marlin. Here are a few examples, Hot Wheels (TV Series) as Mickey Barnes and Kip Chogi, Terms of Endearment as Rudyard’s Voice (voice, as A. Brooks) and Doctor Dolittle as Jacob the tiger who is a memorable character in Doctor Dolittle. However, he has not done a numerous amount of animation/film to have fixed characters that he calls.

Conclusion:

I think that Andrew Christopher Stanton is an auteur, my decision is based on the movies he has directed, making them memorable and movies you can reminisce about as well as being proud that you have watched them and maybe still work. He may not have specific actors but he does have music composers that uses repeatedly, all the research that I have found and written proves in my opinion that he is an Auteur.