The document discusses how the Auteur Theory is relevant to analyzing the work of filmmaker George Lucas. It provides background on Lucas' career and the films he directed, notably Star Wars. While Lucas' films exhibit some consistency in themes and style that align with the Auteur Theory, not all his films are similar. Overall, the theory helps explain Lucas' strong creative control and ability to express his vision, particularly in the Star Wars films, but may not fully apply to his whole body of work.

1. How is the Auteur Theory relevant
When analysing the work of George
Lucas?
I conducted my research on George Lucas. George is an American film writer/director who
also produces as well as being an entrepreneur. In my essay I will be delving deeper into
George and the history behind his work and upbringing. I will then plan to discover whether
the Auteur theory can be applied to George Lucas’s work, I will do this by looking at
George’s previous work and will compare his to other Auteur Theory directors. For example,
I went to look in detail at a scene from a film that he has directed and create a micro
analysis, when creating this I depicted certain shots from a scene and made an analysis on
what I can see in these specific shots.
The Auteur theory is when a filmmaker/director has a recurring theme with most of their
work, this theory is also the idea that the director is almost the author, this is because they
are impacting the creative force behind films. One quote that is related to the Auteur
Theory is, “There are no good and bad films, only good and bad directors”. This quote
suggests that directors play the biggest role in the film industry which is why it’s important
from directors to have their own unique creative style. Sometimes the auteur theory could
become repetitive for some viewers as they are seeing the same style of film all the time
from the director.
George Walter Lucas Jr was born on May 14th, 1944, and is an American film director,
screenwriter, producer and entrepreneur. Lucas will be best known for his involvement with
Star Wars. Lucas was the one who created the whole franchise therefore he is credited in
everything Star Wars related. Lucas is also responsible for founding Lucasfilm’s however he
later sold it to Walt Disney in 2012. George to this day is still one of the most financially
successful filmmakers in the world.
Lucas also is involved with the creation of Indiana Jones which has become one of the
largest film franchises still to this day. Around the 1970’s sci-fi was traditionally a poor office
box performer however after Lucas released American Graffiti, he was financially stable
afterwards to then be able to finance a new project which was ‘dear to his heart for some
time’, this was Star Wars (1977). Star Wars was a massive hit, however not everything was
smooth sailing as the production ended up being $3 million over budget due to multiple
delays, this would be things such as certain crew and cast members not fitter their role well
enough which led to many disruptions. Despite all the disruptions and setbacks George still
managed to make Star Wars the highest grossing film ($550 million) until 1982 when E.T.
the Extra-Terrestrial surpassed Star Wars.

2. George Lucas released his debut feature film THX 1138 in 1971 alongside the launch of
Lucasfilm's. This was the first insight of Georges director influence in film, THX 1138 was
science fiction film set in a dystopian future with police that were androids that drugs
people to supress their emotions. This film got mixed reviews and there has been claims
that the film suffers from a simple story line, which is something that is essential in a sci-fi
film, however considering this was George’s debut film and was only 25 years old at the
time some would say its impressive.
George was always interested in the science fiction side of movies and wanted to make his
impression on the genre with the Star Wars franchise. Star Wars is still one of the most
successful film franchises to this day, this could be because of the creative vision behind this
masterpiece. Lucas put in so much effort in the postproduction of Star Wars which ended up
causing him constraints within his marriage with Marcia which then finally ended after the
first trilogy of Star Wars. With the success of Star Wars Lucas had a lot of attention that he
wasn’t used to beforehand, this resulted in both positive and negative comments on his
work and even received threats. This could all be because of how popular he became after
Star Wars and people wanted Lucas’s financial backing.
George Lucas decided to stop writing on Star Wars as he wanted to focus his life on his
family and spending quality time with them. It is known that George regrets selling Star
Wars off, as we are aware that he had multiple ideas for other movies that would of
changed the world of Star Wars. Before the success from Star Wars George was worth
around $4 million due to his global box office hit American Graffiti however this $4 million
has risen to $5 billion which shoes the huge success of Star Wars.
A few of the films that he created was, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2020), Strange Magic
(2015) and Rouge One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
A few of the films that he was an Executive Producer was, Red Tails (2012), Willow (1988)
and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
George was raised on a walnut ranch in Modesto, California. During his time at High School,
he was very much interested in drag racing and planned to make that his profession.
However shortly after he graduated, he was in a ‘terrible’ car accident which changed his
view on life and that accident ended his dream of becoming a professional driver.
In 1975 Lucas created/founded ILM (Industrial Light % Magic) which was used to create
visual effects for Star Wars. ILM has created visual effects for over 350 feature films. ILM is
one of the most advanced digital effects pipelines in the entertainment industry with
creating the likes of completely digital characters within some of the most popular box
office hits, some examples of these characters are Yoda, Davy Jones, Transformers etc. ILM’s
success is partial to its ability to merge live action photos with photo-realistic digital images,
this was something that wasn’t done before George created this company, which therefore
spiralled the company into success.
After Lucas released American Graffiti the profits, he made from the film could of easily kept
him from having to work again however George wanted to make an impact on the

3. entertainment history and make a difference. His diligence costed him his marriage with his
wife and had affected his overall health however this didn’t stop him from keeping himself
in the industry because he knew how much of an impact he was making. George was
changing the meaning of cinematography however this was not only visually but mentally,
even theatre owners were changing their sound systems, this was because Lucas was
bringing life to sound in his movies and made people change the way they looked at sounds
and visual effects.
In the opening scene to Star Wars: A New Hope, immediately there is conflict because in the
first shot there is a fighter aircraft shooting another aircraft, Lucas will have done this to
gain the attention of the viewers and he will continue to portray conflict throughout the
introduction to therefore retain the viewers’ attention. We are then introduced to 2
characters, the assumptions that viewers will be able to make on these characters is that
they are main protagonists of the story this can be seen using colour. The colour on the
characters is bright and vibrant which has strong connotations to peace. Viewers will also be
able to make this assumption due to the humour surrounded by the characters, this is done
using sound and script to make the characters seem vulnerable and makes the viewers
immediately have sympathy for them.
After the introduction to these characters there is a change of pace when things slow down
with camera movement. Within the first shot there was lots of camera shakes used to make
the scene feel more surreal and intense, however after the opposition is introduced things
slow down and become more moderate. This type of shot is used to create suspension and
make the scene intensified. The variety in shot types during this scene is being used to make
the scene more engaging, for example the close face shots on the troopers are useful
because you can see the different expressions regarding the situation, they are in. The pace
of this scene is then ramped up again once smoke and fire are visible which has
connotations towards evil and destruction. George will have decided to include some form
of evil in this scene to make the entire experience for engaging for the viewers. For example,
as a viewer you will easily be able to tell what characters the opposition are based on their
costumes. The stormtroopers are dressed in a white and black uniform with a helmet/mask
covering their head, because we cannot see their faces it creates that sense of mystery as to
who these people are and what they look like behind the mask. Darth Vader is another
example of how costume plays a part on how we view certain characters, Vader is dressed
in all black and wearing a menacing helmet to cover his face, this again is representing the
‘dark side’ because of costume.
The Auteur Theory is apparent when analysing the work of George Lucas as it allows us to
look at his films and see how his personal style and vision has been expressed throughout
his body of work. By examining his films, we can see how his signature touches are present
in each of them, from the use of special effects to the themes of heroism and redemption.
This theory also allows us to appreciate how Lucas has been able to create a consistent style
and vision across his films, and how his films have become iconic and beloved by audiences
around the world.

4. I would say that the Auteur theory does apply to George Lucas to some respect, meaning
that through his filmmaking you can see that he has become the writer through his visual
storytelling. However, during the time when Lucas was realising films a lot of the
‘Hollywood’ films were focusing on the women getting treated differently to the men that
were always dressed in expensive clothes. A lot of films featured heavy use of make-up for
all actors, and this was something that nearly every film had so when Lucas directed Star
Wars: A New Hope it was a breath of fresh air at the time and people started notice his work
for standing out from the rest by focusing more on storytelling. Throughout the Star Wars
series there is a clear resemblance through all of them, this will be because of Lucas’s
involvement with him being the director. When watching his films people can immediately
see that he is the filmmaker due to recurring themes within his work. George was heavily
impacting the creative impact on his movies mainly focused on Star Wars.
Lucas was extremely interested in sci-fi and wanted to create something unique to him
while also including the sci-fi elements. Star Wars was something that allowed him to create
something new for viewers to enjoy, people started to recognize the style behind Star Wars
and is directing allowed him to almost become the author for Star Wars.
However, I do not think that the Auteur theory directly applies to Lucas as not all his films
that he has directed link or somewhat similar. For example, he directed and wrote American
Graffiti which was a film that was set in the past and not in the future and the way that this
film is shot is different with a variety of camera angles and shot types. People however did
start to realise his specific artistic approach, and this can be seen through his films.
There will be specific elements that I will take and include in my FMP from my research into
George Lucas. For example, when looking into his special effects company ILM, it gave me
inspiration on what different types of effects I could use when making my FMP as I will be
doing something film related so I feel like this is has helped me a lot to gain a better
understanding on what types of effects and ideas I could use in my final project. Another
aspect of Lucas’s work that will help me gage a clearer idea on where I want to go with my
FMP is his unique filmmaking. By looking into his work and mainly Star Wars I can see the
clear difference from other director/filmmakers back in that era. I like the use of different
camera angles and movements and how the actors are directed to react to them this is
something that I will be implementing into my FMP as I think it will look more professional
In conclusion the auteur theory is relevant when analysing the work of George Lucas
because he is the sole writer and director of his films. This means that he has a strong
creative control over his work and can express his personal vision through his films. This is
evident in the Star Wars films, which are heavily influenced by Lucas' own interests and
experiences. The auteur theory suggests that Lucas was not only creating work that was not
only his, but also that work must have been created before then. This theory may help to
explain why some elements of his work seem to be more natural or organic than others.

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 Park Chan-wook. (2012). Top 8 Auteur theory quotes.
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https://www.azquotes.com/quotes/topics/auteur-theory.html
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 Jourdan Aldredge. (2022). What Does Auteur Theory Mean for
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https://www.soundstripe.com/blogs/what-does-auteur-theory-
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 Alan Parker. (2017). Best Auteur Theory Quotes. [Online].
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