Auteur Theory

The word Auteur comes from the french word for author and in film criticism, the Auteur theory states that a director's film reflects his/her personal creative vision. The theory was brought about by Francois Truffaut in 1954, and has been influencing film criticism ever since. However the film the theory was more famously developed a few years later through the writings of 'The Village Voice' by Andrew Sarris. Sarris used auteur theory as a way to further the analysis of what defines serious work through the study of respected directors and their film.

When the auteur theory was being developed, Alfred Hitchcock was frequently acknowledged as the exemplar for the theory. Hitchcock's film are mark by is mastery in mystery and suspense, with his use of camera views, elaborate editing and us of music to build suspense. Other key elements of his style are: cameo appearances in his films, elongated suspense scenes and representations of the psychological.




Clip from Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' (1960)

The Auteur theory now appears to apply to music 
videos as well as films:

Harold/Hype Williams born 1970 in Queens New York is a music video director.

Hype Williams has created many music video's for artist within the R'n'B community such as Jay-Z, 2Pac and Missy Elliott.

A signature style used by Williams throughout the vast majority of his videos (shot mostly with cinematographer John Perez) was the Fisheye lens which distorted the camera view around the central focus.

Another "signature style" involves placing shots in regular widescreen ratio, while a second shot is split and placed in the upper and lower bars.

Since 2003, Williams has adopted a signature style combining a center camera focus on the artist or actor's body from the torso upward and a solid color background with a soft different-color light being shown in the center of the background, so as to give a sense of illumination of the background by the foreground subject.

Examples of Hype Williams work...
1:' I Wonna Know What Love Is' Mariah Carey 2009

2: 'So Sick' Ne-Yo 2006

3:'Getting Jiggy Wit It' 1997 - Example of early work.

Goodwins Theory and 'Gold Digger' case study

Goodwin's Theory:

Goodwin's Theory on music video's is based on 8 principles:

1. Link between Lyrics and visuals

2. Link between music and visuals

3.Genre Characteristics

4.Inter-textual references

5.Notions of Looking (objectification of women)

6. Voyerisium (insight into artist life usually with mirrors, reflection ect...)

7.Demands from record label - representation of the artist

8.Performance based, narrative based or concept based

'Gold Digger' - Kanye West and Jamie Foxx: Case Study.

Lyrics And Visuals:

In the lyrics of the song Kanye West and Jamie Foxx  are discribing girls that they believes iare only interested in them because of their money as assumed from the song title 'Gold Digger' At the beginning of the song wear Jamie is singing 'she take my money when im in need...oh she a gold digger' it is here Goodwin's theory is bought into view. Through the use of the close up shot of the attractive girl who appears to be very materialistic with her hair in rollers and her face all done nicely with make up with pearls hanging around her neck, allowing the audience to see on the screen the kind of girl Kanye is singing about in the lyrics.

Reply from artist

Email to artist for permission to use audio

Inspirational video 3: Alone- Heart

I find the performance element of this music video absolutely incredible, the live aspect to this music video when the artists are performing on the stage really gives the video and in turn the song. a great element of excitement. in addition the face passed shots help to bring this atmosphere into life when the power ballad finally kicks of into the big chorus in contrasted to the slow zoom in's and close ups in the beginning during the slow verse.

Insirational music video 2: Oops!...i did it again - Britney Spears

I like this music video because i think it has a very fun narrative. Although Britney is singing about an everyday relationship. The video creates this whole other fun atmosphere around the song. also in this video the performance element is very strong with a dance routine and lots of close up shots of her lip sinking.

plus GOOD outfits

Track Choice.

By Track that i have chosen for my music video is called 'Honey Don't Leave Me' by Connor Johnson. The track is a pop song with a country and 60's retro influences driven by guitar riffs. Whilst the track has other influences i will be working on the song as a country pop track and that will be the influence that drives my music video.

Conventions of the pop genre

From conducting some research i can conclude that the list below are some of the common features and patterns of a pop genre music video...

. Men and Women portrayed in a modern way
. Often singing about and portraying emotion
. Often show Women hurting men 
. Sex presented in modern light: Sexual content usually shown
. Performance is usually more dominant that the story line
. Location: Black and white studio screens and abandoned settings

 The genre of my track also has some very strong country influences so i also researched the conventions of country music in order to also take country conventions into account when forming my music video...

- Instrument is usually visible within video
- Strong narrative
- Outdoor, old fashioned settings i.e woodland, barns and small towns, victorian setting

The research that i have conducted will help me in achieving an authentic music video that takes into account both of these genres.

Inspirational Music Video 1: I'd do anything for love- Meatloaf

The production and detail put into the costumes and setting is very inspirational and correlate very well with the song as the costumes and surroundings are very dramatic which suit the song because the song is also very dramatic.

Timeline of Music Video History.

1960 - The 60's was know as the musical revolution and the time of freedom. Recordings of live music performances were the only music videos seen.  The Beatles, Elvis Presley and The Supremes where among the first bands to create these music video's

1980- The 8"s was a significant time period for music videos beginning the age of 24 hour music television with the launch of MTV. 'Video killed the radio star' was the first video shown on the channel. MTV would grow to become and important tool in music marketing- allowing artists to create their own image through videos and also promoting their music.














1983- Michael Jackson 'Thriller' released This 14 minute long video was the most successful and influential in music video history.



1995- SCREAM: Janet and Michael Jackson , is still today  the most expensive music video ever made. The video cost $7 million.


2003- Youtube allows you to watch music videos whenever you want. It also allows the public to upload their own videos.

AS Task:

My coursework task this year is to create a music video. Magazine advert and digi pack for an original artist of my choice. I am quit excited about this task, as music is something that I am really interested in and I feel like if you enjoy something you will always do better at it. I have a piece of music to use for my music video and have a few ideas of things I would maybe like to do and after I have done my initial research, cannot wait to get started on the task.