A-Level Film Studies - Daniel Kallin

Billy Wilder: Auteur or just an author? To understand if Wilder ticks off the boxes for the complicated job that is auteurship, we must define what being an auteur entails. First and foremost, auteurs tend to be characterised by their distinctive styles, being instantly recognisable by a familiar audience. This is usually achieved by a stylistic synthesis of colour, lighting, mise-en-scene for a consistent visual appearance, along with characters and themes that are similar throughout an auteur's filmography. An example of this would be Wes Anderson who's use of bright colours, symmetry and characters who don't act their age makes each of his films instantly recognisable. Recurring actors, cinematographers and composers help an auteur keep consistent. Wilder can be seen as an auteur in some ways but not others. When comparing Sunset Boulevard and Some Like It Hot - arguably his two defining films - there is a clear difference in tone, lighting and style. However, each is di...

Sunset Boulevard (Wilder, 1950) References to the star system and the Golden Age of Hollywood: Hollywood producers went for easy-to-sell, accessible stories - didn't care for quality Depend on writers but writers depend on them Transition from silent to talking pictures left many stars behind - they were great at silent acting but not dialogue Stars that aren't wanted anymore are left behind - at a young age - with wealth and prestige but nothing else Older women aren't valued in cinema Female stars don't have films and genres built around them, so                                                                                     are seen as disposable almost Norma Desmond represents both the forgotten star from the silent era but, also, th...

Some Like It Hot (Wilder, 1959)   The film reflects upon the time of the 1920s in several ways. Firstly, the use of mise-en-scene to depict certain activities which are regularly associated with the 1920s, such as bootlegging alcohol and gangs, immediately sets the time and tone of the film which is important because society had progressed a lot over thirty-to-forty years. This is further exemplified through the use of costume with typical clothing for men with suits and spats and also typical clothing for the more liberated woman - "flappers" - who would wear revealing dresses. Lighting is quite bright - even with darker themes like gangsters and prohibition - to create a light-hearted and comedic atmosphere so the more "controversial" themes of identity and sexuality would be taken comically rather than seriously - as such not violating the Hays Code. Female identity: Female identity is presented in an atypical manner for the time, having men act like women. Focus...

   Key elements of film form:    As with all film scenes, film form is the most important element to making them work, or fail. As the camera acts as the camera for the spectator, and sound and lighting create mood and atmosphere, film form is essential to engage the spectator. In Some Like It Hot, film form is used in a variety of ways to engage the viewer, many of which can be duly noted whilst watching this scene.   Starting with  cinematography,  the camera takes lots of long-shots at medium close-up to focus the spectator's attention on the dialogue and chemistry between the actors. The camera uses angles to focus on one actor in particular or stays directly centered when focused on both actors. Quite simply, the camera goes where the spectator's attention is needed. To add to this, the use of distance can act as a demonstrator of the level of comfort and intimacy between the two actors, standing back slightly in the beginning as Sugar is nervous ...