1. How is Auteur Theory Relevant When
Analysing the Work of Matthew Dillon
Cohen?
Through my research into Matthew Dillon Cohen, I shall be exploring and discussing how the
Auteur Theory is present within his videography work, primarily his work alongside. To
further explore this, I will make use of a macro analysis of Matthew Dillon himself, this will
primarily be his work on getting into the industry and his early career. I will also micro
analyse his work (mainly with Gus Dapperton) to be able to understand how the auteur
theory will fit into his work which will then be applied to his creative style and technique
which is overlayed and textured within his work.
My chosen theory to relate to MDC’s work was auteur theory, I felt this was the most
suitable theory to use when analysing a director as its focus is how the auteur/artist uses
repetitive technique and how it is easy to attach pieces of work to their creator through
design and technique. Auteur theory describes the role of the person who makes the snap
decisions and suggest the outcome and style comes solely from them. ‘The word auteur is
used to describe a director who “should be operating at a high level across the board” and
be able to express their “unmistakable personality and style”. This theory suggests that
movies and pieces directed by the same director will be recognisable, such as in the films JJ
Abrams has directed usually will contain a lens flare in at least one scene. Another integral
part of the theory is the concept of the directors' choices being founded on deeper meaning
as its believed that they “make films that have layers of meaning and have more to say
about the human condition” and social structures than it first may seem it does on the
surface.
One of the earliest mentions of the idea of auteur was from a French cinema magazine
called “cahiers du cinema”, this idea was later refined and formed fully by American critic
Andrew Sarris. The main criticism of auteur theory is that not every director will be able to
fit into this category, as well as not all the choices directors make being based on deeper
and underlying meanings, it will occasionally be made purely for story or aesthetics.
Matthews early career within the media began with interviewing bands while at high school,
during this time he drew more interested to the idea of reporting and getting the interviews
from these artists and bands. He would try to get these A list and B list artists however he
soon realised it was borderline impossible with the little exposure he had had. After coming
to this conclusion, he focused on finding smaller and more under the radar artists who he
believed would become bigger names, his goal was to catch them early and hope to get
exposure of their success. He later branched off into the works of direction and helping to
create young and upcoming artists which he had always focused on to create music videos,
such as his videos with Gus Dapperton which includes music videos and a vogue piece.
Although he started his work focusing on small unheard-of artists in recent years, he has
worked with some of the most hyped and big names of the industry including directing
Olivia Rodrigo’s video for driver’s license, as well as this he has done many promotional
videos for massive brands like Nike, converse and Ralph Lauren which features Gigi Hadid.
2. How is Auteur Theory Relevant When
Analysing the Work of Matthew Dillon
Cohen?
I think his videos with Gus Dapperton best highlight what he is capable of as a videographer,
Post Humorous, World Class Cinema and his video for vogue are great examples of his skills
as they are all slightly unique in their approach. Post Humorous shows off his ability to tell a
story through visuals and movement. World Class Cinema shows a more short film style of
music video (even more so than the rest of Gus’ Videos) and his video of Vogue is much
more of a documentary style video/interview, all of which he excels at. While looking at
Matthews work, I am going to focus on two videos to talk about his style and conventions.
The main video is the one he made for Post Humorous which is one of Gus’ more recent
songs. The video itself is set within Vegas, the opening scene/setting is really the highlight of
the video. It shows Gus as an upcoming comedian in a Vegas comedy club. The usage of
backdrop lighting and overhead lighting to highlight Gus is phenomenal, the control of the
backdrop with the colours changing and being able to overwhelm the stage helps to create a
stunning shot. The way it's been set up and framed means that when the colour changes it
floods the shot with this vibrant light. The usage of lighting is one of the larger themes for
the video and I think it's something MDC is able to really make the most of. He is capable of
using especially artificial lights in order to create a scene and really emphasise the emotion
and story line of a piece. I think this is shown within the comedy club areas of post
humorous. His use of darker lighting is shown later in the video when the story takes a
darker turn, so again he uses his work of lights and lighting to help encapsulate the feel of
the video he wants to portray.
Something which MDC continuously includes in a lot of his work is work is framing and
bordering shots, in videos like Cold Blood he uses an overlayed frame for a majority of the
video as well as a couple separate occasions where he borders 4 videos next to each other
to create 1 shot. Another way in which MDC makes great use of overlays and creating the
frames is in the shoot for ’World Class Cinema’. A lot of different film references are made
with intertextual links to things such as James Bond. To create a more realist and accurate
shot he changes the frame/aspect of the footage to allow it to be more time represented.
Personally, I think this is a good example of him working to a” high level” to which an auteur
is required to be able to.
Another major feature in MDC’s work is his use of lights and lighting, whether its natural or
artificial. This is the most continuous factor of his work. He consistently involves some form
of work with light in nearly every single piece of his work. His most significant and in my
opinion is most impressive use of it was in his video for ‘Post Humorous’ which was one of
the main parts of my analysis of his work. I just found his use of it to be able to use the lights
to frame and allowing them to help create a sense of emotions within a shot is a great show
of his skill and his high level of work. The consistent use of this is also a depiction of
something which helps to define his work and leave his style and personality onto it which is
another key element of the auteur theory. Not only does he consistently make use of
artificial lighting he also comes back to use natural lighting a lot throughout his work
however this tends to be more centred around darker, mainly night shots. These shots are
3. How is Auteur Theory Relevant When
Analysing the Work of Matthew Dillon
Cohen?
all the same in which they are typically low focus and very grainy. This is something which
could be easily overcome by creating an artificial night but with the way it laid out makes it
at least seem extremely real if it is not real. It features in many different videos and shoots
so again this is a factor of his work which really defines it as an MDC piece.
The parts of MDC’s work I'd like to replicate for my own FMP stems away from his music
video work. The first aspect I'd like to take come from his shooting with Michelle Monaghan.
The transitions between shots I think are really well edited and help to move his piece along
while along it to still look clean, concise and with very simple edits to not make it look over
the top while keeping its style. Currently for my FMP I want to create a documentary type
video since doing it for the project so focusing my attention to copying aspects of his music
work doesn’t feel fitting, the same for his promotional and advertisement work, so it makes
sense for the next aspect I'd like to take is the interview styles from his documentary called
Bulldozer. It is his only traditional style documentary that he has done. The last aspects I'd
like to take from his pieces to work into mine is the style of the cutaways in both these
pieces. Both have some use of light with framing which is usual of him however i think the
Monaghan shoot has some of the most beautiful cutaways in the way he has used the
natural light in the shots.
In conclusion I think early signs of ‘auteruship’. I think it's safe to say it’s a relevant theory to
use when talking about MDC’s work, however I feel he needs to have more work to really
define himself as it's still very early in his career and we have seen him slowly branch into
more advanced styles and is slowly building up more experience on his road to auteurship.
MasterClass staff. (2021). Film 101: What Is an Auteur? Learn About Auteur Theory. Available: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/film-101-
what-is-an-auteur#influence-of-auteur-theory-on-world-cinema. Last accessed 9th sept 2021.
andre bazin. (1950s). Auteur theory. cahier du cinema. n/a (n/a), n/a
Andrew Sarris (1962). notes on the auteur theory in 1962. America: n/a. n/a.
