Auteur is a film made by individuals who also control all aspects of the production. This gives films uniqueness. Auteur means author in French. The auteur theory which emerged in1950’s that can be used to further define the context of this type of film. The auteur theory says that a director reflects his creativity. Other than directors, producers are also referred to as auteurs. In this essay, auteur refers to film a maker who is either a producer, director or scriptwriter. The essay also covers some famous Canadian filmmakers and their impact on the auteur industry.
Canadian filmmakers have observed that Canadians do not watch Canadian movies. In fact, in English-speaking Canada, less than 5% of movies in the annual box office are Canadian. Hollywood movies have dominated the Canadian channels. Many producers and people who work in the film industry work outside Canada; they prefer working in United States. Canada has been credited for having natural settings. This caused an increase in number of films called rural revenge films made in natural settings. Famous rural revenge films include Straw Dogs The Hills Have Eyes and Deliverance.
One famous auteur is David Cronenberg, he has turned stomachs and heads using gruesome exploration of body. Cronenberg made his first film called Shivers in 1976.the scenes contained violence and sex scenes. He was heavily criticized for this. His later movies were also horrors Rabid in 1977 and The Brood in 1979.His movies have been categorized as classics. The making seasons of 1970s and 1980s have been called the tax shelter films.
Another famous auteur is James Cameron, he has directed several famous works this includes avatar and titanic. His works have made over 5.7 billion dollars worldwide and 1.89 US dollars in North America. The highest amounts have come from Titanic and Avatar. He taught himself matters of film though he studied natural science. He would go to the University of California and read thesis on optical printing, dye transfers and other topics related to film technology. His creative mind was sparked by reading the book Screenplay by Syd Field. The book mixes science and art. He then used his science background and mixed it with art by writing a 10-minute script of Science fiction. He started a small studio that operated on low budget. He was the art director of Battle Beyond the Stars in 1980 (a science fiction movie). He is also the brains behind the famous titanic movie which is still one of the world’s most expensive movies by 1997. Cameron has a love for action pact movies starting from terminator which made him famous, Rambo and the most recent being Avatar.
Quebec has become a center for production of films.It has seen the first production of children’s film called The Christmas Martian by Bernard Gosselin in 1971. The films are also produced in both English and French. Although film production rose, certain problems were identified with the film boom in 1970s or tax shelter period. First, investors would inflate budget prices after which only a small percentage being used to make the actual film. Others used expensive budgets for movies that did not intend to release to the audience. The misuse of film funds came to an end in 1980. There was a discovery that more than 50% of the films produced in 1979 had not been released to the audience.
The film industry started to pick up again in mid-1980s. A revival brought by the young generation. Thriller movies such as Bedroom Eyes in 1984 started being produced. There was a re-birth of movies that had been forgotten these include the rural revenge and teen sex comedies. Science fiction also came to a renaissance. Entrepreneurs started co-producing with US and Europe. One of the movies co-produced with US is Millennium, a movie that featured Kris Kristofferson investigating future aliens. This co-production was brought about by the ease of laws hence allowing individual innovation and creativity.
In recent times, the economic recession experienced in the world has affected the Canadian auteur industry especially the small and mid-size productions in Canada. One producer based in Toronto (Danny Iron) who produced Away with her, has complained that he has to put more than fifty percent of funds to make a 5 million film he then ends up with nothing. He says it has become unprofitable to make movies.
In conclusion, because of the problems caused by the recession the idea of reviving the tax shelter program is a good method of propelling the auteur industry. This will create more employment and encourage the number of people going into the film. Also, many producers have complained about the distribution of movies. This is a hindrance to the movie industry because no matter how good a movie is with the right distribution channels it is useless. Filmmakers and the government should come up with effective and innovative ways of film distribution.