David Fincher as an auteur

Director as auteur
Watch David Fincher’s earlier, more mainstream film, "The Game" (1997); you can begin by reading about it on Wikipedia or fan-sites devoted to David Fincher.

David Fincher's "The Game" (1997) on Wikipedia
What similarities in themes and style can you identify with Fight Club?

Here's a trailer from the film
The trailer for "The Game"
What similarities in themes and style can you identify with "Fight Club"?

Producer as auteur
Art linson was the producer of Fight Club; look up his filmography on IMDB.

To get a clearer sense of the work of a Hollywood producer read Linson’s book “What Just Happened?” which includes material on Fight Club.

Here are a few interesting reviews from Amazon USA

Amazon US Reviews of Linson's book

Genre as a critical framework to question and assess film - "Stagecoach" from 1939

If you prefer assessing John Ford's "Stagecoach" using a genre approach you could focus on some of these points and view several scenes to decide whether Ford consciously focuses on, say, various forms of social prejudice, or whether these issues simply emerge out of the time in which the film was made. Perhaps there is something to be said for each approach. Clint Eastwood said that in "Josey Wales" (1975-6)he was not particularly conscious of his theme of social unity which could be seen as the need for Americans to unite after the Vietnam War. (See earlier posts). Yet in retrospect that is what he seems to have reflected in his film - Josey Wales is supported by the different types who, through his help, have banded together into a social group, suggesting that there is strength through social unity. Ford's film also mirrors an American society that was divided by the Depression and, perhaps, still feeling the after-effects of the Civil War from 65 years earlier.

Click on this image to enlarge.

John Ford in Wikepedia

For interesting points on John Ford as an auteur skim for Ford's cinematic style and for references to Monument Valley, etc. It's a good read and helpful for FS6'Auteur and Genre unit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ford

A brief essay on John Ford's "Stagecoach" from "30 Great Westerns" by Images Journal

A publicity photo from "Stagecoach" with George Bancroft, John Wayne and Claire Trevor.

Here's an insightful analysis of John Ford's "Stagecoach" from Images journal's "30 Great Westerns".

Once there click on the film's title near the top of the left column.

http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue10/infocus/default.htm

Propaganda and American Values in "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon" ( 1949 ) by John Ford

"Propaganda and American Values in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon"
by Laurel Westbrook

Westbrook's insightful essay examines the message of "unity" in the film at the time the film was made (1949), when American leaders feared the further encroachments of communism around the world. China had its communist revolution and Russia had developed its own atomic bomb. Westbrook also examines why the American values of "independence", "manliness" and "intelligence" are present in Ford's film and why these attributes still persist in Hollywood films several decades afterwards.

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/duke1.html

Perhaps someone may write about the representation of women in this and other westerns by Ford at a later date?

"How did auteurs develop after the studio system? And how have they contributed to the cinema of today?"

An academic article on how a director might be known as "an auteur",  focusing on Stanley Kubrick as its main example.

http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/History/Sixties/Film/auteur.htm

What is meant by "auteur" and the context of this term

This is a useful Powerpoint presentation about the use of the term "auteur" and how the term originated. Using the US director, Robert Altman, as an example there is also advice on what to look for when researching and producing your own studies on auteurs.
Uploaded on authorSTREAM by Estelle
Click on the white box to enlarge.

The Director, Billy Wilder, as auteur

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/wilder.html

Martin Scorsese - God Among Directors - a link to his acceptance speeches

Very helpful for anyone doing an FS4 small scale research project on Scorsese as an auteur. The links also include an essay on "Taxi Driver".

http://www.godamongdirectors.com/scorsese/index.shtml

"Spirited Away" as an exemplar for FS4

This is a trailer from the Japanese auteur Hayao Miyazaki's film, "Sprited Away". We'll use the film as an exemplar and jumping off point for your own studies into your own small scale research projects. (FS4) for either:

• auteur
  
• genre
• technology
• Star/performer
• Social, Historical and Political Contexts
• Institutional (a national cinema, particularly one that is directly controlled and sponsored), a studio context or a body of work produced institutionally such as the films of the Empire Marketing Board.
  

David Lynch as an auteur - a study

http://www.britishfilm.org.uk/lynch/index.html