Auteur Theory: Francois Truffaut

History of Auteur Theory

Auteur Theory is originated from French after Andre Bazin wrote an article in a French magazine called “Cashier du Cinema” (Cinema Notes), article entitled “On the Auteur Theory” (A Nose of Film, 2012). According to that article, the term auteur is means the director who can convey life through their film and that represented what they see and their personality (A Nose of Film, 2012).

Then in 1954, Francois Truffaut wrote an article titled “Une Certain Tendance du Cinema Francais” (A Certain Tendency of French Cinema) which criticize the French cinema and said that auteur is the director of a film (Pickering. S, 2010). According to Pickering. S, Truffaut said “There are no good and bad movies, only good and bad directors.”

S, in 1962, Andrew Sarris introduced Auteur Theory to America by publishing an essay titled “Notes On Auteur Theory in 1962”. In the essay, he proposed three criteria of being an auteur which are the technician, style and personal (Pickering. S, 2010). It has been presented in a 3 concentric circle, technician is the outer circle, style is the second circle then personal it the inner circle. For technician, every director should have accomplished technician competence in their film to make it attractive and interesting enough to catch the attention of the audience, for example the camera angel and framing. Then for the style of the director, the style that the director used in their film can make the audience easily to recognize them out as the style of the director is hardly to be copy by others and it will be seen in the other film production from that director as well, which turning that style as the significant of the director. Lastly, the personality of the director should be recognized in their film product as well. This also known as the interior meaning that appear in the

He was brought in by Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson as they worked together previously and they find Edgar the right person to direct this series. Spaced became a huge hit in British television and they won two British Comedy Awards and was nominated in BAFTA Awards and an International Emmy Award.

After the huge success of Spaced, again, it was served as a pathway for Edgar to achieve something bigger. This time, a full feature film. Edgar directed ‘Shaun of the Dead’ in 2004, a ‘rom-zom-com’ film which was very well received around the world. With the help of Simon co-writing while Simon and Nick Frost (from a cast Spaced as well) acted in the film, they earn two awards for best screenplay, one from the British Independent Film Awards and another from Bram Stoker Awards.

After ‘Shaun of the Dead’, Edgar went full time on the big screen. His second instalment would be a police action comedy titled ‘Hot Fuzz’. Edgar was the director again while co-writing with Simon Pegg, who also again partner up with Nick Frost to play as the leading characters in the film. The film won Best Comedy in National Movie Award and Empire