The Auteur Theory

1. What is the Auteur Theory?

The auteur theory, which is French for author, holds that a director's film follows the director's personal creative vision and that they will have a signature style.


2. How can Hitchcock be regarded as an auteur? (What was his style?)

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was an English film director and producer. He was born on the 13th August 1899 and he died on the 29th April 1980 of kidney failure.

Hitchcock pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. You can tell a Hitchcock film in a variety of ways. For example he made cameo appearances in all of his films. He liked to use Grace Kelly, he was considered the master of suspense, as he elongated suspense as much as possible, to play with the audience's nerves. Many of Hitchcock's films have twist endings and thrilling plots featuring depictions of violence, murder and crime. This basically means that anyone could tell that a film was an Alfred Hitchcock film.

3. Who is Hype Williams and what videos has he directed? (Give 3 videos with YouTube clips)

Harold "Hype" Williams, previously known as "HYPE," is an American music video and film director.  He was born in Queens, New York and is of African and Honduran descent. Williams first displayed his work by tagging local billboards, storefronts and playgrounds using "HYPE" as his graffiti tag. Williams' big break came when he began working with Classic Concepts Video Productions. Lionel "Vid Kid" Martin and VJ Ralph McDaniels created Williams' first opportunity with the "Filmmakers With Attitude," which was Williams' first video company.

Hype Williams has directed many music videos by artists such as Beyonce, Ne-Yo, Busta Rhymes, Kanye West and many more. Here are three examples of music videos Williams has directed:


Check On It by Beyonce Ft. Slim Thugh:

All Of The Lights by Kanye West Ft. Rihanna and Kid Cudi:

Empire State Of Mind By Jay Z Ft. Alicia Keys:

3. If Hype Williams can be consider an auteur, what is his signature style?

A signature style used by Hype Williams throughout the vast majority of his videos was the Fisheye lens which distorted the camera view around the central focus, giving it a sort of circular look. This was used in "Gimme Some More" by Busta Rhymes and "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" by Missy Elliott. However it was dropped by 2003, when he experienced his lowest level of production activity since the beginning of his career as a music video director. These are two examples of "The Fisheye Lens" that Williams used in two of the music videos that he directed.

Another signature style used by Williams involves placing shots in regular widescreen ratio, while a second shot is split and placed in the upper and lower bars. Videos that use this style include "Diamonds On My Neck" by Smitty, "I Ain't Heard Of That" by Slim Thug, "So Sick" by Ne-Yo, "Check On It" by Beyonce and many other music videos. These are two examples of this type of shot that Hype Williams has used in two of the music videos that he has directed.

Additionally another signature he frequently utilises aerial and tracking shots which often move backwards and forwards, some techniques which can often be seen in "Rock The Boat" by Aaliyah, "Not Myself Tonight" by Christina Aguilera and "Only U" by Ashanti. This method  is often used by Hype which allows his videos to be dynamic, multi-dimensional and atmospheric.

Since 2003, he has adopted a signature style combining a centre camera focus on the artist or actor's body from the torso upward and a solid colour background with a soft different colour light being shown in the centre of the background, so as to give a sense of illumination of the background by the foreground subject. This has been displayed in "Gold Digger" by Kanye West Ft. Jamie Foxx and "Video Phone" by Beyonce Ft. Lady GaGa.

Applying Goodwin's Theory to Gold Digger

When looking at Goodwin's theory of music videos I looked at the music video Gold Digger by Kanye West Ft. Jamie Foxx, which was released in 2005 by Rock-A-Fella Records. I looked at Goodwin's six features and applied it to this music video, listing them below:

1. The lyrics are linked to the visuals:

In the music video when Kanye West is rapping he says "18 years, 18 years, she got one of your kids got you for 18 years, I know somebody paying child support for one of his kids." As he raps this part of the song a little boy appears on screen in a red/pink devil costume. This use of mise en scene is representative of evil.

2. The music is linked to the visuals:

At the beginning of the video, the editing is more fast paced and the tempo is more upbeat, creating a booming earthquake sort of effect. As this occurs a collection of images of women with minimal clothing come up on screen and are shown really quickly as there are a number of the images. One of the images is of a woman's eyes and she is wearing green eyeshadow, which symbolises envy and wealth. The fact it symbolises wealth emphasises the fact that Kanye West is rapping about "gold diggers,"- people who scrounge off others for their money.

3. Genre characteristics are established by music videos:

The genre of "Gold Digger" is R&B/Hip Hop, but more on the side of R&B, as you can tell by the rapping and the style of singing. The conventions of R&B is associated with parties and dancing, women and their body parts, and sexual references.

4. Intertextual reference:

Throughout the music video, clips of all the women on the front of male magazines are shown frequently in between Kanye's rapping.

5. Demands of the record label:

In the music video Kanye West can be recognised through other media outlets as at one point you see a mid shot of him dancing and you see that half of the white shirt he is wearing is tucked into his trousers and half of it is hanging out. He does this in a lot of his music videos and this shows that he can be noticed.

6. Notions of looking:

In this music video women are used as a sexual reference and used as a symbolism of sex which aims to increase the promotion of the music video to a male audience.

Goodwin's Theory of Music Videos

Andrew Goodwin is a theorist who believes that there are six features which occur in music videos. These are:

1. The lyrics are linked to the visuals- there is a direct link between the lyrics of the song and what is being shown on screen for the audience.

2. The music is linked to the visuals- this has a link with editing as well, as the tempo of the music can be linked with what is happening on the screen.

3. Genre characteristics are established by music videos- meaning the visual material (genre or style of the music video) has a connection with the music.

4. Intertextual reference- the intertextuality could indicate to other music videos/films/magazines/newspapers or textual references. This could be for humorous gratification of the audience or to benefit the artist.

5. Demands of the Record Label- this allows an artist to be recognised in future music videos or even through other media outlets. E.g. Kanye West wears belts saying "KW" on them or has half of his shirt tucked into his trousers and half of it is hanging out.

6. Notions of looking- there are a number of ways of looking in a music video whether it being through a mirror or directly through the camera. This helps constitute the artist through their lip sinking like they are narrating in a story. Also women can be used as a symbolism of sex which aims to increase the promotion of the music video to a male audience mainly.

Inspirational Music Videos

1. The One That Got Away by Katy Perry

This music video was released in 2011 and has over 100 million views on YouTube. I think that this is one of my all time favourite music videos, since it has a very inspiring story to it. I also like how jump cuts are used as it goes from the past to the present. Furthermore I find the story very sad yet moving.

2. Everytime by Britney Spears

I really enjoy watching and listening to this song as it is very unique and eye catching, it is similar to my other example of an inspirational and memorable music video. This music video was released in 2004 and was very popular at the time. Moreover I think it is brilliantly filmed and edited and would have cost a lot to make. I also like how the camera cuts from the narrative to her singing.

3. We Found Love by Rihanna Ft. Calvin Harris

This music video was released in 2011 and had over 200 million views on YouTube. I really love watching this music video because the atmosphere is so carefree, fun and party-like. There is also something happening all the time and I like the fast pace of it. Furthermore it has a lot of fast and jump cuts which gives it a more entertaining feel to it for the audience.

Timeline of Music Video History

First Example of Illustrated Song: Little Lost Child
-1894 - still images are projected onto a screen simultaneous to a live performance of 'Little Lost Child.' The Little Lost Child was a popular song by Edward B Marks and Joseph W Stern which sold more than two million copies of it's sheet music following it's promotion as the first ever illustrated song, an early precursor to the music video.

Talkies
-1926 - Many musical short films were produced featuring many bands, dancers and vocalists. 'Spooney Melodies' in 1930 was the first true musical video series. Shorts were usually six minutes long and featured Art Deco- style backgrounds and animations combined with a film of the performer singing.

Screen Songs

-1926-1959 - Animation artists introduced a series of sing along short cartoons called Screen Songs, which caused audiences to sing along to popular songs. The sing along concept is still used today, especially with younger audiences such as High School Musical. Early 1930s cartoons featured popular musicians performing their hit songs on camera in live action segments during the cartoons.

Musical Films
-1930-1959 - Musical films were a noter important precursor to music video, and several well-known music videos have imitated the style of classic Hollywood musicals from the 1930s to the 1950s. One of the best known examples is 'Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend' from the film 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.' Musical films were a film genre in which several songs were interwoven into the film.

Promotional Clips
1940-1949 - Another form of music video were one song films called 'promotional clips.' These were short films of musical selections, usually just a band on a movie set bandstand, made for playing. These were made mostly of jazz musicians such as Frank Sinatra, but also of torch singers, comedians and dancers.

Television
1956-1960 - The television was created and by the late 1950s most people owned one. The rise of popular music was ted with the rise of televisions as the format exposed new stars such as The Beatles. This was a good opportunity for them as they could perform on national television where people from all around the world could watch them.

MTV launched
1981 - MTV showed their first music video which was 'Video Killed The Radio Star' by The Buggles. They created a 24 hour broadcast meaning music videos began to play a central role in music marketing by the mid 1980s.

Scream
1995 - Michael and Janet Jackson's music video for their hit 'Scream' was released costing seven million to produce, being the most expensive music video ever.

YouTube
2005 - YouTube was created allowing people to watch videos online and watch artists' music videos and songs.

iTunes
2005 - iTunes opens allowing music videos and songs to be downloaded from the internet.

A2 Promotional Music Video Task

Task:  To create a promotional music video using an unknown artist and song, also to create a CD cover and a magazine advert/ poster (digipak.)

I feel very excited to create my own music video with an unknown artist. I think it will be very beneficial for me, as I would possibly like to edit or create music videos as a career in the future. I enjoyed using Final Cut Express for my coursework last year, and I am looking forward to using Photoshop for the first time and I am interested by it. Furthermore I am looking forward to filming my artist, and creating my magazine advert and digipak.