Essay on The Romantic Notion of a Film Director - 2217 Words

The intention of this essay is to discuss the romantic notion of a film director who has etched their own cinematic vision into the body of their film work, and whether the theory and practice is dead and an infringement of the spectator’s imagination and is it the spectator who finds meaning in the film. I will be closely looking at critical material, primarily Andrà © Bazin and Roland Barthes and applying them to several case study films directed by Christopher Nolan including The Following (1998), The Prestige (2006) and Inception (2010), to examine whether Nolan possesses the qualities of an auteur and if so, does that imply an ideological view of what the auteur resembles or an artistic one. The term auteur theory arose in France†¦show more content†¦Barthes claims that the author is dead (Barthes, 1977: 208), a theoretical construction that perceives the director as an idea, whereas, Bazin’s principle method establishes cinematic realism. The romantic idea of the auteur is described by film theoretician, Andrà © Bazin, observing the film form as an idealistic phenomenon. Through the personal factor in artistic creation as a standard reference, Bazin primarily refers to an essential literary and romantic conception of the artist as central. He considers the relationship between film aesthetics and reality more important than the director itself and places cinema above paintings. He described paintings as a similar ethical creation to film stating a director ‘can be valued according to its measurements and the celebrity of the signature, the objective quality of the work itself was formerly held in much higher esteem.’ (Bazin, 1967: 250). Bazin contemplates the historical and social aspects that indeed hinder a director’s retribution to their own personalised film, thus en-companying their own ideological judgement upon the world ‘more so in cinema where the sociological and historical cross-c urrents are countless.’ (Bazin, 1967: 256) Critic Roland Barthes, on the other hand, disagrees with the romantic notion and concludes that the auteur is dead.Show MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Moby Dick By Herman Melville1276 Words   |  6 PagesMoby-Dick. Ron Howard, director and producer of the new movie â€Å"In the Heart of the Sea† told IMDB (Internet Movie Database) that it was always his dream to be a director. He thought that directing and producing â€Å"In the Heart of the Sea† was a lot of fun to create! Howard also said that he wanted to remain true to the story that inspired Moby-Dick. A basic tenet to Romanticism was that, natural law could not be found through human reason. 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The motion picture starts with a close up shot of a desk and hands that open up an empty book. The screen then changes to a picture of a cartoon kid and dog in a picture frame and we are told that this is a Tim Burton production early on as this is likely to engage the audience as he is rather famous for strange excellent films. The camera thenRead MorePoetry Is Not Just The Vision Of The Writer1036 Words   |  5 Pagesof the poem itself. The words are emotional viscera given form. Poetry is aesthetic and inspiring and its brevity extends it to forms beyond itself. The works of romantic poets have been recycled and reimagined as a result of our continued love affair with the ideas of the gothic and supernatural. The works of various authors, directors, artists, and musicians owe their inspiration partly to the poetic diction of gothic poetry. 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An Analysis Of Ernest Hemingway s The Old Man

Ernest Hemingway?s The Old Man in the Sea is one of his most memorable books. He was trying to send us all a message about the struggles of everyday life. He wrote the book with minimal amounts of characters but with many examples of symbolism. The way Hemingway wrote this novel he left it open for interpretation despite his claim that there no hidden messages. Hemingway?s use of symbolism was very evident in this book. Many of us can interpret each symbol differently. Some critics believe his symbolism reflected examples of Christianity while others interpret the symbols to be a reflection of his life struggles. In the book, Santiago?s struggles with the fish are used as a symbol of life?s every day struggles to success. Ernest Hemingway was born July 21, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. His parents were Clarence and Grace Hemingway. His father was a physician and his mother was a music teacher. He was one of six children. Ernest did not attend college. His family would vacation at Lake Michigan every summer, where he developed a love of nature that would later become evident in his books. Unfortunately, his father committed suicide in 1928 and he grew to blame his mother for it. Mental illness ran in his family.1 In 1922, he moved to Paris, where he learned how to write under many great novelists. Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and Tolstoy were just a few that he met during his time there. One of the more well-known writers, F. Scott Fitzgerald, ended up being very helpfulShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Ernest Hemingway s The Old Man And The Sea1845 Words   |  8 Pagesis in the dictionary† (Harvey Specter). Ernest Hemingway, an author, a journalist, and a true man’s man, was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1899. Hemingway enjoyed taking risks, and facing his largest fears, which to him made him a true man. One of his most popular novels written, The Old Man and the Sea(1952), related to his life. 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Despite being a fisherman, Santiago has not caught fish in 84 days and is faced by numerous dilemmas and shortcomings as things seem to always go wrong for him (Hemingway). This paper provides an analysis of the novel by interpreting it as a secular humanist epic. This paper hypothesizes that the character of Santiago is guided by

Mamma Mia free essay sample

Mamma Mia is a global musical phenomenon which is playing simultaneously around the world in more countries than any other musical. It has become a global entertainment experience and has brought back to life the tremendous writing talents of ABBAs Benny Andersson and Bjorrn Ulvaeus. ABBA Fans simply cant get enough of Mamma Mia! as tickets sales are always in demand and the musical continues to sell out to packed houses night after night. Mamma Mia’s claim to fame has been a long roller coaster ride. The show had its ups, downs, twists and turns. It had gained a lot of critics and fans. It had its fair share of controversies. But nonetheless, It made people get up on their seats and dance to the song â€Å"Dancing Queen† and made everyone sing along with â€Å"Thank You For The Music. † Love the show or hate it, you can’t deny the fact that it is a phenomenal feel-good musical. We will write a custom essay sample on Mamma Mia or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I. Main Issue Basically, the main issue is how did â€Å"Mammia Mia! † achieve success in musical theatre? The executive producer of the musical, Judy Craymer reflected on the recent failure and wondered about the factors that had contributed to Chess’s Broadway failure. On the other hand, how did the production team deal with the opportunities, options available and consequences in creating Mamma Mia. SWOT Analysis OpportunitiesThreats ABBA music is very popular among the people of London and Europe making them a likely market. There was a rescission and loss of tourism on the 11th of September causing many shows a loss of income. The bombing of the world trade center placed the city of New York in a state of depression. This posses as an opportunity for a show like Mamma Mia to step in and brighten the mood or lift the load. Only a handful of U. S. citizens know and or like Abba music making the U. S. a hard market to attain. This poses as a problem for launching on Broadway. Bringing Ulvaeus and Andersson into the world of theater, offering the duo a unique platform for continuing their love of composing while also offering them a fresh start. Some still continue to question whether the production team’s praises are reasonable since nothing new has really been created with an exemption of a story line around some old hit songs. Mamma Mia was not a Broadway branded production. Being compared with Broadway classics like â€Å"Les Miserables† â€Å"Miss Saigon† and â€Å"Cats† StrengthsWeaknesses The quality of the whole performance of Mamma Mia gained the loyalty of the audience. The better the show, the more compliments that it will get. Making it popular to other people because the viewers would disseminate the thought of how good the production was. The reputation of Judy Craymer may be brought down by her previous flop Chess. If this happens, people may have second thoughts on watching the show. One of the writers of the script, Catherine Johnson is a renowned script writer with a pedigree in London theatre and has worked with Tim Rice, Cameron Mackintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber on productions such as Cats and Phantom of the Opera. The production hired the great director Phillida Lloyd, a renowned director known for her work at Englands Royal National Theatre. Helped the project gather further momentum. Together with creative team of Mark Thompson (design), Howard Harrison (lighting), Andre Bruce and Bobby Aitken (sound), Martin Koch (musical supervisor) and Antony Van Laast (choreography). They have weak marketing strategies. They just depend on the word-of-mouth advertising. At first this may be effective for lowering cost and at the same time having enough viewers but it would be better to have concrete advertisements for more viewers and faster generating sales. On London theater, audiences see performances of the highest quality, made possible by conditions not often met in commercial theater: longer rehearsal periods, freedom to commit to new work and innovative approaches, support from expert voice coaches, the security of a firmly scheduled run and the devotion of seasoned British actors. II. Critical Factors †¢The production team is composed of credible experts in theater. The team is composed of known people in their fields that may be a huge factor in their success. †¢Bringing Ulvaeus and Andersson into the world of theater featuring 22 of their best songs. The ABBA music in the production could bring several advantages. One is bringing fans of Ulvaeus and Andersson as additional audiences in the show. Another is that the two could be the upper-hand of Mamma Mia compared to other productions. But, bringing the two singers in the world of theater could be a risk since they are known as singers not actors, and there may be conflicts with people who do not appreciate their music. †¢The productions story line is non-traditional. Mamma Mia built its plot around the songs, different from classic productions wherein the songs are only complimentary to the storyline. The story is feel-good and not much thinking is required. It may be considered as innovative although it may cost the audience who prefer the traditional theater. III. Alternatives/Options 1. Opportunity: ABBA Music popular in the market Action: Emphasizing or featuring ABBA music in marketing the production. People who are considered fans of ABBA could be a great addition to the viewers of Mamma Mia. 2. Opportunity: Gloomy mood due to the bombing of world trade center Action: Allot a percentage of benefits to the victims of the bombing so the audience would have a dual purpose n attending the show: for entertai nment and for social responsibility. 3. Opportunity: Entrance of Andersson and Ulvaeus in theaters Action: Provide proper training for them because it is different when they just sing on television or record their songs but in theater they should know how to express their feelings. 4. Threat: Rescission and loss of tourism Action: They could do new dance choreography for each song. They could add more stunts and redesign costumes. They could reinvent the stage and props. 5. Threat: Only a handful of U. S. citizens know and or like Abba music Action: The team could partner up with radio stations to play up their songs. In exchange, the radio station will be given complimentary tickets to the show and they can raffle it up for the listeners. 6. Threat: Being compared with Broadway classics like â€Å"Les Miserables† â€Å"Miss Saigon† and â€Å"Cats† Action: Improving the script, choreography, giving the audiences something new to expect while retaining the â€Å"good-time feeling† Our group has chosen the main alternatives to help improve the show. One is to improve their strategies. Marketing is too important to be left only to the marketing department. Marketing contributes directly to achieving the show’s objectives, which is to entertain, survive, earn profit and grow as a company or a business. So what more can they do to improve their marketing strategy? They can make a deal with radio stations, let them play ABBA songs and have a commercial to promote the show. To entice the people more, they could have a buy-one, take one promo. They could also give out free tickets to the radio to be given as prizes for a contest or so. Another thing that they could do is to partner up or be sponsored by a big-time company such as Coca Cola, which is a company that has popularity over the people. For example, Coca Cola has been producing limited edition cans and bottles with a partner such as McDo. Mamma Mia could do the same. Another marketing strategy would be to spend a bit of money in advertisement. It may be costly but it would be helpful and effective. Lastly, the Mamma Mia show being a benefactor of the victims of the bombing of world trade center to attract more viewers, IV. Recommendations a. Change the advertising and marketing strategy of Mamma Mia Since Mamma Mia relied on the â€Å"word-of-mouth† approach on getting the production known, many could not have known about it. The corporation should invest on advertisements and other promotions. They should feature both having ABBA music and being a benefactor to the bombing victims in their campaigns. Fans of ABBA would be a great addition to the target market. Also, being a socially responsible corporation would entice many to support the production. The production should also schedule more show dates in theaters in Europe or in the places they are more popular in. b. Implementation: Ulvaeus and Andersson should host a promotion campaign. The campaign could include press-conferences, autograph signing and other promos. The group is not too popular in the United States so they should partner up with radio stations to play their songs. In exchange, they could provide complimentary tickets or pay a fee which they can get from partnering up with another sponsor. Publishing printed-ads that indicate that the production would give benefits to the bombings could help spread the word. The corporation could get help from the government, TV networks, Radio stations and other large companies since Mamma Mia is supporting a cause. If approved, free commercials, announcements, printed advertisements could be obtained. c. Possible what ifs? 1. ) What if the victims of the bombings are fully recovered in the next few years? 2. ) What if Ulvaeus and Andersson become less popular in the next few years? 3. ) What if the Mamma Mia productions had reached its maximum audiences? Would they form a whole new production?