Shadows and Dust

A Look into Auteur Director

Ridley Scott

Orange light, a squinting face, red dirt smeared in sweat on a weathered brow. Clear, blue
sky, not a prayer of shade in sight. Feel the grit, the thick saliva struggling down the run of a
parched throat. The heavy chainmail blistering hatch work into the skin. An eastern voice gives a
melodic wail, humming dulls the senses and brings a haze to the scene. Words are not necessary;
the miserable heat is understood. It takes a true artist to set these strokes. A feast for the senses
washed down with a fizzing coke in a condensation-slick, Coca-Cola cup. For two hours, the
thinly padded seat is irrelevant and the popcorn gets staler when a Ridley Scott film is on the
screen.
Any film is hours and weeks of work, any Hollywood film is months and years of work
involving hundreds of bodies and minds. It would be difficult to attribute all the work to one
person. This being understood, some names stick out. Some grand names register wonder and art
in our imaginations. Spielberg, Scorsese, Hitchcock and Ridley Scott. What makes these men so
special, so identifiable? The fact that we can identify them. These men and many more men and
women are known for their unique style and signatures. The concept did not start with our
director. The idea that the director was the author came at the same time as the French new wave
of cinema with Andre Basins periodical Cashiers du cinema in the 1940s. The concept, in
English is called Auteur Theory, the author theory. Defined, basically means that the director,
through their use of camera angles, shot lengths, themes and set design are more the author of the
movie than the screenwriter. This may come as a slap to the writer. However, it can be argued
that the director is what makes the difference between a movie and a book. The screenwriter
brought the materials to the table, but the director set them in motion and created a world, and it
was good.

Andrew Sarris explains that there are three levels to auteur theory: the technical
competence of the director, the director's distinguishable personality and interior meaning. He
goes on to say that the outer level addresses technique, the next is individual style and the last is
interior meaning. [1] So we see that there is more to the job and yelling action. An auteur can go
beyond displaying simple concepts and bring a witness into the story. It cannot be taught, but it
can be nurtured.
Ridley Scott was born on 30 November 1937 in Northumberland England to Elizabeth
and Col. Francis Percy Scott, an officer in the Royal Engineers. He had two brothers, Frank his
older brother, Tony his younger. He moved throughout Europe and the UK as his father was
posted to different military bases. At an early age, Scott wanted to join the Army like his older
brother, but his father encouraged him to explore his artistic side. After high school Scott
attended the West Hartlepool College of Art and then Londons Royal College of Art, where he
founded the schools film department.
He joined the BBC in 1962 as a set designer and worked on several high profile shows, a
skill that he did not neglect in later years. While there he completed the directors course and got
his first directing job, an episode of the BBC series Z Cars in 1962. In 1963 Scott was the set
designer on the cult series Doctor Who and enjoyed it immensely. He stayed with TV directing
until he was angered at the lack of income while working for the BBC and went into advertising.
In 1967 Scott along with his younger brother Tony formed the advertising company
Ridley Scott Associates (RSA). Over the next ten years they made some of the most known and
best loved TV advertisements on British television. Scott says of the job, I was always amazed
at how much I could finally squeeze into a thirty second commercial. This is perhaps why Scott
is so good at show dont tell. A seasoned thirty second story teller

In 1970 he started to work with producer David Puttnam on ideas for the development of
feature films. Their first movie, The Duellists in 1977 won the Jury Prize for Best First Work at
Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Palm dOr, which launched Scotts film career.
Inspired by Star Wars, Scott returned to sci-fi and directed Dan OBannon movie Alien (1979).
This movie established Scott as a movie director. Blade Runner followed Alien in 1982, which
did not do as well as he had hoped. Over the years, Blade Runner became a cult classic, and as
the movies reputation grew, so did Scotts. In 2003 Ridley Scott was knighted for his
achievements in the British Film Industry. Scott has been the director of thirty four titles and
produced 97 titles. His trademark style excites and produces an expectation and buzz when new
films are made. There is no argument that there is a certain something, but lets get more specific
to get a better grade.
Immediately when asked what makes a Ridley Scott film great, many people said the
music, the epic stories or just theyre just super realistic. The only way to get the answers was
to sit down with the movies.
In the movie Prometheus there is a ship sent on a scientific expedition to find where
humans are originally from. The crew is put into a stasis for many their journey brings them to a
moon where there is much to be discovered. But as they uncover more of the planet and its odd
structures crew members start to die. One crew member, Charlie Holloway, is infected leading to
his death but not before having sex with his girlfriend Elizabeth Shaw. Which eventually leads to
her being pregnant and having to remove the alien from inside her. Which grows and attacks
Shaw and eventually an alien they encounter on the moon. The others died from alien attack.
Only one scientist survives, Elizabeth Shaw with the head of the android, David. From their
exploration of the moon and the aliens she has concluded that Earth is a target for extermination.

She escapes to find more about what and who they have found and how to prevent Earth from
being destroyed. It was only fitting that Scott did this movie as he began the series in 1979 and
only he could create such a believable world. A beheaded Ash is covered in a slime type of
substance, making him dirty. With his head on a table detached from his body and covered in a
dirty substance it gives the impression that he is weak and dishonest. Powerful imagery and
storytelling.
A tremendous example of epic story and super realistic style is The Kingdom of
Heaven. The film stars Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, and Martin Csokas. Scott says that he
received some raised eyebrows with the Orlando Bloom as a star in a movie about the crusades.
He just smiled. We see immediately in the film the dramatic living conditions of our characters,
something Ridley Scott never forgets. We are greeted with the chill of a frozen landscape,
gravediggers cutting at solid soil. The thin clothing and cloudy breaths take us from our
comfortable places in the theatre. Later in the film, we go from frostbite to heatstroke as the
characters travel to the Holy Land. Kingdom of Heaven paints a very human story of a very holy
war. Balian [Orlando Bloom's character in "Kingdom of Heaven"] is an agnostic, just like me. I
am not fighting another holy war here, I am trying to get across the fact that not everyone in the
West is a good guy, and not all Muslims are bad. The tragedy is that we still have a lack of
understanding between us, and it is 900 years since the Crusades. We have never truly resolved
our differences.
Conflict in character and history is another aspect of storytelling that Scott knows well.
Audiences are less intrigued, honestly, by battle. They're more intrigued by human relations. If
you're making a film about the trappings of the period, and you're forgetting that human
relationships are the most engaging part of the storytelling process, then you're in trouble. His

ability to single out the building blocks of events is what keeps the bore-able engaged. The
contrast of the bleak surroundings of battleground and the vividness of the American soldiers
turn the film Black Hawk Down into a film about people, not a film about war. Grey air, think
with ash and dangerous silence do not make this a typical adventure. The cringe worthy action
and constant motion brings a feeling of camaraderie with the characters and the audience.
Far from the scrape of metal and chaotic yelling, his fighting scenes are full of
expression, emotion and pain, not one-cut-dead syndrome. In the movie Gladiator, we see quite
a bit of fighting but more than that, we see struggle and strategy. The human relationships are
there to engage, as per his plan. The film is a favorite not only for action buffs but for the
intricate weaving of relationship and fear. Scott manages to make you forget the doomed
characters and witness their missions. Scott uses symbols, motion and color to SHOW us the
story. But Gladiator is one of my favorite adventures because I really loved going into the
world. I loved creating the world to the degree that you could almost smell it. The rich are
surrounded by wealth while the poor stand in rough cut shifts. We see his gift for contrast again.
His ability to inform status with an image. The smell of the marketplace, of the cells, the feel of
the sweat. Scott uses all five senses. The reality in his films conjure a feeling of intrusion rather
than welcome. People say I pay too much attention to the look of a movie, but for Gods sake,
Im not producing a Radio 4 Play for today, Im making a movie that people are going to look
at. Commercials are designed to make you emotional about something, whether it be happiness,
sadness, self-confidence, embarrassment, or excitement, they want you to feel something in a
short amount of time with minimal talking. Scott uses all the space, every opportunity to show
the story. In Gladiator, every crane shot is filled with movement, birds in the sky, flower petals,
leaves, smoke, steam more birds. Every crane shot but the last one. As the movie closes and ends

are tied, we have one last look at the sky above the city and nothing disturbs the shot of the
sunset; resolution.
The realistic look of his films in undeniable. However, we have come a long way since
The Jazz Singer and Scott knows it. He enlists the aide of incredibly talented artist for haunting
scores that stay with the audience after the door of the theater slams behind them. He does not
however just assign jobs out, he teams up to create the sounds of the world he has created. Only
the best will do, the arm of Hans Zimmer, Harry Gregson-Williams and German-born Marc
Streitenfeld are to thank for the melodies woven throughout the experience. The beautiful
melodies are another powerful element that allows experience rather than observance.
The theory that the director is the author of the film is not always the case though in the
instance of a Scott film, there can be only one. The relevance of this theory has been discussed in
essays and articles. We hold with the idea that we are viewers will be the decision makers of
what is and is not relevant. It was phrased perfectly in Kingdom of Heaven. The world will
decide, the world always decides.

Work Citied:
Sarris, Andrew. "Notes on the'Auteur'Theory in 1962." Kwartalnik Filmowy 59 (2007): 617.
Bernink, Mieke. The cinema book. Ed. Pam Cook. London, 1985.
www.directessays.com/viewpaper/33702.html (unsigned essay)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000631/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
http://www.biography.com/people/ridley-scott-9477021#in-recent-years
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/44609/auteur-theory
Quotes were taken from various interviews with Mr. Scott