4. Auteur Theory
Author Robert Conley
Book Title The Auteur Theory: Tarantino’s Blood
Page Reference(s) 77
Summary of Theory
• This theory is about how specific
people within the creation of a
project have a noticeable impact on
the outcome/style of the project, such
as a director, having a specific
style/trademark that can be seen
throughout the majority of their work.
Quotes
• “Basically it’s the highest praise any
filmmaker could receive, saying that
the director is the “author” of their
films, more or less that the director is
the only real factor behind their films’
success.”
5. Reception Theory
Author Start Hall
Book Title Reception Theory
Page Reference(s) 1
Summary of Theory
• How a specific person responds and
interprets what they're
reading/watching/part of an audience
for.
• The producer encodes messages and
values into their media which are
then decoded by the audience.
However, different audience members
will decode the media in different
ways and possibly not in the way the
producer originally intended.
Quotes
• “It is unnecessary that the audience
will decode the message encoded by
the author just the same”. – Stuart
Hall
6. Hypodermic Needle Model
Author Brett Lamb
Book Title The Hypodermic Needle Theory
Page Reference(s) 1
Summary of Theory
• This theory is the idea that a passive
audience will take on the film's ideas
and ideologies without even realising,
resulting in a vast audience/group
residing with the same opinion/point
of view on a specific topic/idea.
Quotes
• “From a propaganda point of view it
was a matchless performance, for
Wilson brewed the subtle poison,
which industrious men injected into
the veins of a staggering people, until
the smashing powers of the Allied
armies knocked them into
submission.”
7. The Male Gaze
Author Laura Mulvey
Book Title Visual and other pleasures
Page Reference(s)
Summary of Theory
• This theory refers to the idea that
some women in media are seen as
almost objects as they're over
sexualised by heterosexual men.
Quotes
• “In a world ordered by sexual
imbalance, pleasure in looking has been
split between active/male and
passive/female. The determining male
gaze projects its phantasy on to the
female form which is styled accordingly.
In their traditional exhibitionist role
women are simultaneously looked at
and displayed, with their appearance
coded for strong visual and erotic
impact so that they can be said to
connote to-be-looked-at-ness.”
9. Auteur Theory
Author
Book Title
Page Reference(s)
Summary of Theory
• The Auteur theory is all about how specific
people within the creation of media have a
noticeable impact on the outcome/style of the
project. This could be people such as directors,
cinematographers for example, who could then
leave their mark on the film they're working on,
but this theory mainly relates to directors in film.
This could then be recognised throughout the
majority of their previous and current work. Of
course, there are people who disagree with this
theory and believe that the director has all the
influence on the outcome of the movie and can
add and cut parts from the film as and when they
see fit, causing people to believe that the
director is the only person who can have an
impact on the outcome of the film.
Quotes
• “Basically it’s the highest praise any filmmaker
could receive, saying that the director is the
“author” of their films, more or less that the
director is the only real factor behind their
films’ success.”
• "I always argued against the auteur theory; films
are a collaborative art form. I've had some
fantastically good people help me make the
movies." - Alan Parker
• "There are no good and bad movies, only good
and bad directors" - Francois Truffaut
10. Auteur Theory
Author
Book Title
Page Reference(s)
Summary of Theory
• Early filmmakers showed the world that a movie
director could be an artist. But not every movie
director. Because part of auteur theory is
knowing how to define auteur directors. Before
auteur theory, Directors were important, but the
other factors were still more significant. Stars.
Studios. Producers. For example, Quentin
Tarantino is extremely well known for his over
exaggerated use of blood in his films as well as
his iconic trunk shot. He is also extremely well
known for his unique dialogue used in his films
and books which is very naturalistic and
conversational, this type of dialogue is almost
named after him because of his persistent use of
it.
Quotes
• "A director is the captain of the ship; he gets the
vision of the film much before anyone else can."
• "A good director creates an environment, which
gives the actor the encouragement to fly."
12. Topic Research 1
Details about topic/Quotes
• I will be researching the treatment of visual effects artists within the film industry. I have decided to
research this topic as this is the career that I want to enter after finishing college and university so it's very
important to me and for me to understand. Recently, quite a lot of artists that have worked for Marvel in
the past or are currently working for/with Marvel, have come out to bring some light to the treatment of
themselves and their peers whilst working under this huge company. Marvel is a huge company that
started by creating comic books about characters and superheroes under the name of Marvel Comics
which was Marvel's first producing company created in 1939 by Martin Goodman. Marvel Comics was
home to one of the Marvel Fanbase's most beloved writers: Stan Lee. Stan Lee was an American comic
book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called
Timely Publications which would later become Marvel Comics. Over time, after creating hundreds of
different comic books and seeing a large amount of success and growth, the film industry started to form
causing Marvel to create Marvel Studio's in 1993 which was Marvel's television company. This company
oversaw producing films based on famous characters from Marvel's comic books that had seen great
success over the years. It wasn’t until 2008 when Marvel Studio's final released their first film "Iron Man"
which was an instant success and has kick started the Marvel Cinematic Universe that is now known
worldwide.
13. Topic Research 2
Author Chris Lee
Source A VFX Artist Explains What It’s Like
Working for Marvel (vulture.com)
Details about topic/Quotes
• Alongside the massive success of the Marvel films and its characters universe, the studio itself has gotten
much larger as budgets have expanded. Most recognisably in recent years, visual effects within the film
industry has had a much higher demand in big budget films as it helps blend fiction into reality helping
directors create the movie that they want to create within the fictional Marvel Cinematic Universe. As
Marvels visual effects team has grown and expanded over the last few years at an accelerating rate, films
have been able to be completed in a much shorter time frame, providing the audience and fans with more
frequent content and further boosting Marvel's success. However, this is partially the issue. Because of
this high demand of visual effects artists in recent years and the much smaller time frames for films to be
completed to such a high standard that Marvel possesses, many visual effects artists at Marvel have come
out over the last few years to shed light on the conditions at Marvel as a VFX artist. "Some of the
problems I mentioned are universal to every show and project. But not every client has the bullying
power of Marvel". This comes from a visual effects artist at Marvel and describes the micromanagement
issues that visual effects artists their often encounter as producers and supervisors at Marvel constantly
push artist to work in such a limited amount of time to produce something that feels almost impossible.
14. Topic Research 3
Author Chris Lee
Source A VFX Artist Explains What It’s Like
Working for Marvel (vulture.com)
Details about topic/Quotes
• “To get work, the houses bid on a project; they are all trying to come in right under one another’s bids.
With Marvel, the bids will typically come in quite a bit under, and Marvel is happy with that
relationship, because it saves it money. But what ends up happening is that all Marvel projects tend to
be understaffed. Where I would usually have a team of ten VFX artists on a non-Marvel movie, on one
Marvel movie, I got two including myself. So every person is doing more work than they need to.” This
in my eyes is one of the main causes of the issue at Marvel Studios regarding their relationship with VFX
houses. This relationship uses Marvel’s fame and success in order to exploit VFX artists and get the work
they need for a much lower cost. This has an extremely negative effect on individuals in the VFX
community working under Marvel as well as the VFX houses as a whole. Individuals are over worked and
under paid and the VFX houses are being paid less for a high quality project, as well as competing against
other VFX houses to get the work, creating a hostile relationship.
15. Topic Research 4
Author Jennifer Bisset
Source Marvel's VFX Artists Are Suffering -- and
Starting to Speak Out - CNET
Details about topic/Quotes
• "Working on Marvel projects ends up being incredibly stressful, and this is a widely known issue
throughout the VFX industry, it's not specific to any one VFX house,” This shows again that Marvel’s VFX
workforce is being overworked and that’s it’s a commonly well known issue within the VFX community.
This to me, makes me feel that Marvel is purely getting artists due to their desire to make it big within the
industry and Marvel’s fame and success seems like a pathway to that goal for many VFX artists. "I have
worked on several projects for Marvel and other tentpole films, for many years, I did work long hours,
mostly unpaid.” This further shows how poor Marvel’s Visual Effects artists are treated and paid. Artists
are coming forward and bringing light to how little they get paid for their work and as a matter of fact, a
lot of the time, they're not even being paid at all. Marvel are also treating their long time staff within the
VFX department the same way, the artist that came forward, providing this quote stated that they have
worked at Marvel “for many years” and were still being underpaid.
16. Topic Research 5
Author Matt Roembke
Source Marvel Studios Takes Action Following VFX
Work Controversy (thedirect.com)
Details about topic/Quotes
• “It’s famously the third act in most Marvel movies. If you have the third act, you are in for the most
pain. Everything will change in a very drastic way, which means the most amount of work. And if one
studio had more than just the third act, you’re in for it.“ This highlights one of the main issues at Marvel
for the Visual Effects artists. It is stated that the 3rd act is something the producers and directors at Marvel
want to have perfect, this causes a lot of revisions and starting from scratch for a lot of artists to produce
the exact vision that management has for the shot. In addition to this, houses bid on these shots and
those within the 3rd act are often the highest bid meaning that more work is needed as Marvel provides
more shots to these VFX houses. “Now, it seems like they’ve kind of split things up in a more logical
way… Divvying up the work that way gives people a better chance to succeed. That’s one thing that’s
been positive.“ Marvel has finally taken action regarding the statements coming out from their artists, it
seems that they have tried to split up the third act much more, having more artists working on this part of
a project, meaning less work is needed by each individual artist, splitting up the work.
17. Topic Research 6
Author Logan Plant
Source Pressure, Crunch, Blacklist Fears: The
MCU's Visual Effects Artists Speak Out -
IGN
Details about topic/Quotes
• "I am quite frankly sick and tired of working on Marvel shows. Marvel has probably the worst
methodology of production and VFX management out there.” This shows where the issues lie within
Marvel regarding their Visual Effects pipeline. The management’s way of thinking. Marvel’s management
seems to show no regard for the well-being of the visual effects staff at Marvel and don’t care about
overworking them. "It's pretty common to have people break down from the pressure of these shows.
Even like the calmest people, I've had them call me on the phone just having full-on anxiety attacks
because it's not work they can finish, and they don't know how to get over that hump… It's not a fun
thing to be at work at night and having to console people.“ Completely disregarding all the lack of
physical rewards for their hard work on Marvel projects, the visual effects artists also take a massive tole
on their mental health whilst working on these projects as many artists state it feels almost impossible to
finish requests from the client on time.
18. Micro Analysis
Source Marvel’s ‘She Hulk: Attorney at Law’
Analysis
• Recently there was a pretty big controversy
regarding Marvel’s VFX which highlights the
issues there that have previously been brought
to the spotlight by anonymous artists. The first
image on the left shows Marvels first trailer for
their new TV show project, titled ‘She Hulk:
Attorney at Law’. Upon release, there was huge
disappointment from the Marvel fanbase
regarding the CGI of the main character from this
new show. Complaints claimed that the
character doesn’t look real and that the skin
looks too smooth. The second image shows the
same frame from a later trailer. This just goes to
show how little time Marvel’s management is
providing the VFX team as all complaints from
the first trailer were fixed by the VFX team
provided more time to work on the character.
Picture/Screenshots
19. Micro Analysis
Source Marvel’s ‘Black Panther’
Analysis
• Another well known issue within Marvel’s VFX
that can be seen within completed projects is the
final fight scene in Black Panther. This goes back
to the anonymous artist commenting that
management teams at Marvel put a lot pressure
on the final act and often request last minute
changes a long with unrealistic and unfair
expectations for the VFX teams. Complaints for
this scene were that the characters felt
completely animated without any actors
performance and therefor felt as if forces that
make things feel realistic just weren’t there as
the characters seemed to be flying through the
air. This is likely down to last minute changes
from Marvels Production management and the
VFX team having to make the best of the
situation.
Picture/Screenshots
20. Micro Analysis
Source Marvel’s ‘Black Widow’
Analysis
• I believe this is one of the most noticeable CGI
issue in any of the Marvel Projects. I believe this
issue comes from Marvel’s management team
changing plans towards the end of a project
meaning footage was adapted to a new purpose
than it was shot for. Because of this, the VFX
team had to use and alter the footage they had
already been given and use it for the new shot
that the management team wanted. Because of
this, things were rushed towards the end of the
production stage and caused a weirdly obvious
green screen effect that was picked up by many
unhappy fans.
Picture/Screenshots
