More resources on Luhrmann as auteur

Six things that make Luhrmann and essential film maker.

This 2001 interview with Luhrmann also flags up some techniques to consider and look for>

3.9 Luhrmann as auteur assignment

Achievement Standard English 91480: Respond critically to significant aspects of visual and/or oral text(s) through close reading, supported by evidence (adapted from assignment resource 3.9B from TKI: http://ncea.tki.org.nz/Resources-for-Internally-Assessed-Achievement-Standards/English/Level-3-English)

Credits: 3

Achievement	Achievement with Merit	Achievement with Excellence
Respond critically to significant aspects of visual and/or oral text(s) through close reading, supported by evidence.	Respond critically and convincingly to significant aspects of visual and/or oral text(s) through close reading, supported by evidence.	Respond critically and perceptively to significant aspects of visual and/or oral text(s) through close reading, supported by evidence.

This assessment activity requires you to respond critically to visual excerpts from two different films by Baz Luhrmann, showing an understanding of Luhrmann as an auteur.

You may complete this assessment both in-class and out-of-class. Viewing of films will be done out of class.  You are welcome to use Moulin Rouge as one of your texts, but may not use the scenes where Christian meets the bohemians and when he first arrives at the Moulin Rouge, as we have studied these in class.

You will be assessed on how convincingly and perceptively you respond to the excerpts.

Due date: 9am, Friday 19 June 2015.  

Task

Two separate film excerpts need to be chosen for this activity. The excerpts need to be from two different films by Baz Luhrmann. Each excerpt should be of sufficient length to allow for a well-developed and critical response.

Select your visual text

Select two films by Baz Luhrmann.

View the films and select one excerpt from each that clearly shows the director’s concerns and style. Discuss your selection with your teacher.

Develop your critical response

Evaluate significant aspects of:

• the ideas
• the visual language features
• the oral language techniques
• the structure.

Make links within and between aspects. These links may be identifying a pattern of the aspect (for example, repeated shots, similar colour choices, or repetition of diegetic sounds) and/or between the aspects (such as linking the choice of cinematography to the overarching director’s concern or linking the soundscape to the way an audience is made to respond and the common style of the director).

Present your critical response

You will present your findings as a written report.  This can in turn be developed for submission as an oral presentation for 3.5 (speech assessment)

Developing a critical response

Below is a suggested process to help you to critically respond to each film:

• Read and make notes about auteur theory and Luhrmann’s auteur style.

• Make notes on the key ideas, significant style elements (for example, cinematography, mise en scène, sound), and the overall structure (such as order of scenes, editing choices, narrative perspective, treatment of time) of the film.

• Closely view your selected excerpts. Make detailed notes about the key choices that have been made by the director. Set yourself questions that will allow you to make evaluative interpretations and judgements. The following questions may help you:

• To what extent is the use of cinematography vital to our understanding of the key idea(s) or issues raised in the film?
• How does the role of the protagonist contribute to the audience’s understanding of the key idea(s)?
• What motifs recur in the films and how are they used?
• What is the purpose of the film and what makes it distinctive?
• How does the use of sound (both non-diegetic and diegetic) allow us to better understand the issues raised in the film?
• To what extent does the film rely on factual information to convince the viewer of the key idea(s)?
• To what extent does the style of the film give the audience a better understanding of their own society and the wider world?
• How successful is the film in ensuring that the audience gains a better understanding of themselves and the human experience?

• Compare the notes you have created on the aspects of both excerpts.
• Identify similar (or dissimilar) aspects and suggest reasons for this commonality/difference.
• Consider the aspects in relation to each excerpt’s purpose and targeted audience and evaluate their effectiveness.
• Ensure your interpretations and judgements include specific references from the excerpts.

Assessment schedule: English 91480 Through their eyes

Evidence/Judgements for Achievement	Evidence/Judgements for Achievement with Merit	Evidence/Judgements for Achievement with Excellence
The student responds critically to at least two significant aspects of two films through close viewing. This involves: selecting at least two significant aspects for detailed exploration and consideration such as: ideas (for example, preoccupation with the American dream) language features (for example, the use of subjective camera shots) structure (for example, narrative viewpoint adopted throughout the film) audiences and purposes (for example, young women are targeted – women have choices and can be both mothers and career women) making evaluative interpretations and judgements about how meaning is created by the significant aspects and interpretations in the selected films supporting their interpretations and judgements with specific and relevant details. To achieve this the student could: show a personal appreciation of the text (for example, “The clever use of repeated symbolism allows us to see how the environment has been destroyed.”) link the different aspects together (for example, “The extreme long shot distancing us from the protagonist is complemented by the wailing operatic music, together showing both the isolation and the grief.”) discuss how the reader is positioned (for example, “The use of the jarring hand-held camera places us in the same position as the protagonist – feeling afraid and scared.”) The examples above relate to only part of what is required, and are just indicative.	The student responds critically and convincingly to at least two significant aspects of two films through close viewing. This involves: selecting at least two significant aspects for detailed exploration and consideration such as: ideas (for example, preoccupation with the American dream) language features (for example, the use of subjective camera shots) structure (for example, narrative viewpoint adopted throughout the film) audiences and purposes (for example, young women are targeted – women have choices and can be both mothers and career women) making discerning and informed interpretations and judgements about how meaning is created by the significant aspects and interpretations in the selected films supporting their interpretations and judgements with specific and relevant details. To achieve this the student could: show a personal appreciation of the text that demonstrates an ability to evaluate the success of the director (for example, “The clever use of repeated symbolism allows us to see how the environment has been destroyed. The visual symbolism of the burning cattle is successful as it represents both the waste of the regime and also the brutal nature of this society.”) link the different aspects together and evaluate the success of how these work together (for example, “The extreme long shot distancing us from the protagonist is complemented by the wailing operatic music. The distance reinforces the isolation of the protagonist from the audience, and the lone voice of the soprano shows us that this world is one where human connection is dangerous. It is how these work together successfully that effectively conveys the grief and desperation of this moment.”) discuss how the reader is positioned through the use of the specified aspect and make a judgement about why the viewer has been positioned in this way (for example, “The jarring hand-held camera places us in the same position as the protagonist – feeling afraid and scared. We must feel what our protagonist feels to allow us to see just how frightening the regime is.”) The examples above relate to only part of what is required, and are just indicative.	The student responds critically and perceptively to at least two significant aspects of two films through close viewing. This involves: selecting at least two significant aspects for detailed exploration and consideration such as: ideas (for example, preoccupation with the American dream) language features (for example, the use of subjective camera shots) structure (for example, narrative viewpoint adopted throughout the film) audiences and purposes (for example, young women are targeted – women have choices and can be both mothers and career women) making sophisticated and insightful and/or original interpretations and judgements about how meaning is created by the significant aspects and interpretations in the selected films supporting their interpretations and judgements with specific and relevant details. To achieve this the student could: show a sophisticated personal appreciation of the text that demonstrates an ability to evaluate the success of the director (for example, “The clever use of repeated symbolism allows us to see how the environment has been destroyed. The visual symbolism of the burning cattle is successful as it represents both the waste of the regime and also the brutal nature of this society. We reflect on these elements in our own world and ask, is our current wasteful use of resources an indication of our selfishness and inability to care for our fellow man?”) link the different aspects together and evaluate the success of how these work together to help us better understand ourselves and the world (for example, “The extreme long shot distancing us from the protagonist is complemented by the wailing operatic music. The distance reinforces the isolation of the protagonist from the audience, and the lone voice of the soprano shows us that this world is one where human connection is dangerous. It is how these work together successfully that effectively conveys the grief and desperation. We question our own human connection in modern society and the slow erosion of our care for fellow human beings. Will we have to feel our grief alone like our protagonist?”) discuss how the reader is positioned through the use of the aspect and insightfully make a judgement about why the viewer has been positioned in this way (for example, “The jarring hand-held camera places us in the same position as the protagonist, and for one moment we share his fear. This fear is both of the world he must survive in and also of what comes next. Our position is vital. To enter this alienating, dystopic world, we must have a connection – a clear affiliation with the protagonist acts as this connection as the plot progresses.”). The examples above relate to only part of what is required, and are just indicative.

Final grades will be decided using professional judgement based on a holistic examination of the evidence provided against the criteria in the Achievement Standard.

Luhrmann as auteur: comparing trailers

Watch the movie trailers of each of Luhrmann’s movies jot down what you can pick up about his directorial style under each of the headings:

	Cinematography	Costumes	Soundtrack	Narrative Structure
Strictly Ballroom (1992)
Romeo + Juliet (1996)
Moulin Rouge! (2001)
Australia (2008)
The Great Gatsby (2013)

Strictly Ballroom:

Romeo and Juliet:

Moulin Rouge:

Australia:

The Great Gatsby:

Adjusted course outline: valid from Thursday 21 May 2015

Resources for critically responding to Luhrmann's Red Curtain Trilogy

If you haven't watched Moulin Rouge for the second or even third time by now, it's really urgent that you do.  This week you will receive the assignment for 3.9, and by next week you will be watching (in your own time) an additional Baz Luhrmann film so you can explore the idea of Baz Luhrmann as an auteur through close analysis and critical response to two scenes (one in each of two Luhrmann films).

The folder on Moulin Rouge which I have shared with you via google drive has lots of additional material to help you make sense of the idea and examples of auteur theory.  I've also put some links up here, with a comment on which texts are more difficult and which are great beginners texts.

This video (click on the image) is a great starting place to understand the concept of auteur theory.

Picspammy's blog post, a quick and visual summary of Five Themes in Luhrmann's Red Curtain Trilogy is very accessible.

Cinema Fanatic has written a positive and easily read review of Luhrmann's Red Curtain films and Australia. Her awareness of the techniques which make the films so wonderful for her (she does gush a little), make it another good place to start.

The first part of Rebecca Coyle's article on Baz Luhrmann's Eclectic Musical Signature in the Red Curtain Trilogy may be off putting in terms of complex sentences and vocabulary, but the charts and the discussion of the films following the introduction are less difficult to read, and very very useful for the upcoming assignment.

Reel Club has a short blog post exploring narrative in the Red Curtain Trilogy films.

Have you watched Moulin Rouge again?  If you haven't, it's urgent!  You have to have formed your own critical response to the film, with supporting evidence, in order to make sense of reading about someone else's critical response.

Using an early scene in Moulin Rouge to build up critical response skills

We are looking at a very small clip when Christian first goes to the Moulin Rouge, from 10:10 to 10:30 in the film.  As we collect information about the scene, we are going to move our skills from level one "understand" through to level two "analyse" and then level three "critically respond to".

Task one:
Describe Christian's experiences as he enters the Moulin Rouge.
Explain how film techniques (visual and verbal) are used to portray Christian's experiences.

Task two: Analyse how the director evoked a multi-sensory experience for both Christian and the viewer.

Task three: "The arrival of Christian at the Moulin Rouge for the first time is a trademark Luhrmann assault on the senses."  Discuss.

Questions post first viewing of Moulin Rouge

What happens in the middle?
What is the littel green fairy?  It is absinthe, a spirit associated with the bohemians in late nineteenth century Paris.  More info here.
Why does she have an elephant?