y4th

1. Essay
How is the auteur theory relevant when analysing the work of the Duffer brothers?
Through the work of duffer brothers, I plan to discover how the Auteur Theory is present in
their work.
My theory is the Auteur theory which is essentially where the directors are the primary
force for creative decisions. Auteurism originated in the French film criticism of the late
1940s as a value system that derives from the film criticism approach of André Bazin
and Alexandre Astruc—dubbed auteur theory by the American critic Andrew Sarris.
The theory found its official name in 1955 articles by François Truffaut.
The Duffer brothers are directors from North Carolina, USA. They made a few less noticed
projects before but what they are most known for is Stranger Things
Matt and Ross Duffer formally known as the Duffer Brothers are American writers, directors
and producers, who are known mostly for their roles in creating the popular Netflix show
Stranger Things. Fans from all around the world have become obsessed with this
science-fiction horror which is set in the 80’s. The Duffer Brothers have
openly said they are largely inspired by Stephen King’s books and movie
adaptations such as The Goonies and IT; and you can easily tell that when
watching Stranger Things, with it being nostalgic for people who lived in the
80s and even people who aren’t (like me), still feel a sense of nostalgia. Here
is a quote from Cameron Flew, a writer for which in my opinion, really captures how big
Stranger Things is: “The Netflix phenomenon which first aired in 2016, is the platform’s most
watched show?
dominating the streaming world with its monsters, super-high production values and
endless stream of 1980’s nostalgia"
Matt and Ross attended Charles E. Jordan High School. They also graduated from the Dodge
College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University. As well as their role in Stranger
Things, 8Matt and Ross wrote and directed the 2015 horror film Hidden, wrote episodes
for the Fox mystery science-fiction series Wayward Pines, and have produced
many short films at their time in Chapman University. Stranger Things was also
a big hit with film critics with a Rotten Tomato approval score of 95%. One
critic was quoted saying "Exciting, heart-breaking, and sometimes scary,
Stranger Things acts as an addictive homage to Spielberg films and vintage
1980’s television. After three successful seasons of Stranger Things on
September 30, 2019, Netflix greenlit the fourth season of Stranger Things was coming and
it’s up for debate whether it will be the last season. In addition
to this the Duffer Brothers have signed a 9-figure deal for additional films
and television shows over multiple years. In contrary to the Twins success it
did not come easy as it widely known that The Duffer Brothers got rejected 15

2. times by Netflix and film schools before getting their big break.
“There really is a kind of sophisticated genius behind Stranger Things, and while others may
try hard to imitate what the Duffers are doing, it's harder than it may seem. If the game
forward in the second season by making the show scarier without losing the wise innocence
of the 80’s as embodied by a bunch of kids, riding around Indiana on bikes in the middle of a
real mad adventure" - another quote about the Duffer Brothers from film and TV critic of
the San Francisco Chronicle.
After a little research I found out that the series was shot on the Red Epic Dragon
with Leica Primes by Tim Ives. He did a fantastic job capturing the images
necessary to create such a wonderful piece. Frankly I was a little surprised that they
didn’t shoot on film to stay true to the image acquisition of the 80’s (although they did
add a layer of scanned 35mm grain over the image).
The series was coloured beautifully by Skip Kimball at Technicolor. From my
observation, the way the colour was approached had a lot to do with the production
design and lighting that was used to mimic the 80’s. Some of the images captured in
camera set the tone for the grade
The scene is dominated by browns and oranges; all very warm colours. The wood,
the carpet, the lights, pretty much everything is similar colours visually.

3. Here you get connotations of a social outcast because of his hairstyle; as it’s a hairstyle
that’s never been in trend even back then. You can tell he's American because of his classic
US style. If you pay close attention, you’ll notice that all the scenes in Mike’s (the main
character) house are warm, even in the direst circumstances. This is a conscious decision
made by the filmmakers to give a sense of togetherness and family (an underlying theme
throughout the series).
In this scene the darkness makes you more scared as you don’t know what is in his
surroundings adding to the characters vulnerability. This is a classic example of
where the Duffer Brothers tend to use shots where there is a main object is
enveloped and surrounded by darkness as to emphasise the feeling of fear,
apprehension and tension.

4. They play DND and the things they use has links to characters later in the show for
example like the Demogorgon. This clever way of foreshadowing future events and
characters was a brilliant directorial decision. Additionally, it makes the audience feel
as though every element of this show, from the mise en scene to the camerawork, is
important as often the Duffer brothers hide things in the finer details.
I think in the lab seems they really use more cold colour tones to really bring home
the isolation Eleven was feeling, so they use a lot more blues.
They really go for that 80s feel as it’s intended to be set there, they do this by
wardrobe, blander colours, I think they did this exceptionally well and you get lost in
the 80s because of how well they stuck to achieving this look.

5. It’s not a stretch to consider the Duffer Brothers as “auteurs,” given the wealth of
coverage around Stranger Things positioning them as the ultimate creative
While the Duffer Brothers don’t perfectly fit the mould of fanboy auteurs, it’s not a
stretch to consider them “auteurs,” given the wealth of coverage around Stranger
Things positioning them as the ultimate creative authorities. Even profiles like the
“Spotlight” video above, which reveal how deeply collaborative a medium like
television is, ultimately serve to reinforce the Duffer Brothers as the supreme
authorial figures. And it’s not difficult to think of them as fans when they repeatedly
and deliberately represent themselves as such in interviews and profiles.
They reference that they ‘get 5 other nerds writing on a white board’, so they are
collaborative with their ideas. However, they have been referenced as ‘the fathers of
stranger things’, ‘the project is their baby’. This shows that they are the founders of
the project they created it like a father would their child. In addition, it backs up the
idea that they are the ultimate creative authority of stranger things as the phrase ‘the
project is their baby’ also shows how much care they have put into the show as they
care for the project like they would their baby child, that’s how devoted they are ad
how much effort they put in to making the show entertaining and a success in their
own creative direction.
‘That whether it’s a good film or bad film, every film is in some way key to the
director, if he has any signature at all. Otherwise, He’s a craftsman and no more’
This quote is basically reinforcing what an Auteur is.
As auteurs they have a very clear view of what they want to do, they constantly
reference different media from the 70s and 80s, like the goonies, ghost busters and
many others.
Personally, I wouldn’t consider the Duffer brothers as auteurs because they have
many helps with their idea generation but yes, they are also the main creative outlet
for their work which is technically an Auteur however I don’t think they would one
consider themselves as an auteur and personally I think they are not they listen to
everyone’s ideas; but the end of the day they will have final say on the decisions. I’m
basing this belief on the video ‘Spotlight’, where they were talking about how they
have at least 5 people working on ideas together. Some people believe there is no
such thing as a Auteurist filmmaker seen in this quote from lee Yoon Ki; ‘There’s no
such thing as an auteurist filmmaker, every film director is an auteur. We only make
films that we do because we cannot put on clothes that don’t fit us.’ In a way I do
agree with aspects of this because I feel like the director should be the main point
when it comes to making a film.
The duffer brothers normally share their ideas and get feedback and develop what
they had before, this I something I will incorporate into my work; I will do a survey
about parts of my concept I’m not fully sure about and things I want to improve. I will
also just talk to friends and family about it and ask and tell them about stuff to do with
my project directly and I’ll put all what I find into my research document. For my FMP
the plan is to do a documentary so it’s a lot different to what the duffer brothers do,
however I might do similar things they do as they put grain over the video of stranger
things, and I might do that possibly as I’m doing my projects of ghosts and it might fit
the style. I think however use an auteur style with my project as I normally do this

6. anyway and most people in my class will to. Every creative decision will be me if I do
get feedback ill have to consider it first, like ill take my control about my work. The
duffer brothers put so much of their time with stranger things even people consider it
as their child, so for my fmp I will be way more on it, putting more time into creating it
as before maybe I slacked on how much time I put into it as I did mainly all my work
in class.
In conclusion I have found out from my research that the Auteur Theory is relevant in
The Duffer Brothers work, but maybe in all director’s work. Is a director really much
of a director is he isn’t the main creative force of his piece? Personally, for me there
is no Auteur theory, all directors surely are auteurs. If your project isn’t ‘your baby’
and you are not ‘the father’ of your project I’m not sure how you would go about
directing, unless the whole project was contributed on, and there was no definite
leader coming up with the main ideas and has final say on everything.
Bibliography
https://www.flowjournal.org/2021/07/duffer-brothers-fanboy-auteurs/ July 8th,
2021.