Auteur Theory comes from the word ‘author’ in French. It is introduced in 1954 though a film director and a film critic, Francois Truffaut. He suggests that the auteur’s distinct creative voice breaks through the studio interference and the collaborative process; proclaiming the Director as the main influence in filmmaking, similarly to the European Union law regarding film as a work of art and the creator of the film is the original copyright holder. This theory has been advocated to ever since it was published. It was originally associated with the French New Wave, due to it’s prominence the theory has been developed a few years later in the states through the writing of a film critic, Andrew Sarris in his work ‘The Village Voice’ in which he analyses his respected directors and filmmaker ‘serious work’. Other than the misconception of the screenwriter claimed by prominent screenwriters and overrating the director’s importance, there are also those who saw this theory as valid and in term supports it. Cashiers du Cinema stated that film should reflect director’s personal vision through the use of Mise en Scene; this view is future supported by Alexandre Astruc comparing director’s camera as writer’s pen, he suggested that these tools should be guarded against hinderances. Furthermore Adre Bazin and Roger Leenhardt express that directors who brings film to life uses their thoughts and feelings about the subject matter; which, further shows their perception of the world through usage of lighting, camera angle, composition and key lightings. Francois Truffant has further emphasized this point in his essay “Une Certain tendency du Cinema Francais” (A Certain Tendency in French Cinema) as he uses a phrase “la politique des auteurs”, politique meaning ‘policy’ or ‘program’ he suggests that directors make conscious decisions to make and look at films a certain way. He later criticized those directors who lacks originality and rely mostly on the literary classics as he stated “there is no good or bad movie, only good or bad directors.”, as he regarded these types of director would just add performers and pictures to the given screenplay. Directors who are namely in favour of Francois Truffant who would regard them as an auteur are Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Akira Kurosawa. However I strongly feel that auteur theory could also be applied to any directors involved in forms of art, because art forms are expressions of the artist. It is arguable that the music video turned film director such as Spike Jonze can be called an auteur. 

After observing Spike Jonze’s four most famous work in directing music videos there are patterns that Roger Leenhardt would express as bringing life to the music video as Jonze applies his perception of the world and his feelings to this subject matter. Jonze started his career filming skateboarders, his initial start to his prominent, star studded career life is still prevalent in his work. He uses very distinct camera movements; for example in Beastie Boy’s ‘SABOTAGE’ instead of cutting from the the mid-shot to a long shot he zooms in and out instead. Jonze likes his shots to always be moving, there are rarely static shots with no movements, when shooting a static object such as the building or arrows on the road he would move his camera instead; for instance the building scene where he rotates his camera around making the building spin and also the arrow on the ground when he both spins and zooms into it. In contrast with these extreme camera movements even a chilled song and theme for Weezer’s ‘Island in the Sun’ he still uses panning to shoot the static scenery and the pan to the right when the artist moves to the left. Jonze is a fan of long cuts but he never bores the viewer by using the movement in the foreground which keeps the long shot interesting; in Byork’s ‘It’s Oh So Quiet’ the mid shot of her walking out of the toilet into the middle of the shop only lipsyncing was kept interesting by the use of moving foreground of different objects as she walks past. Also in Fat Boy Slim’s ‘Praise You’ in addition to the wonderful dance performance which would definitely light up the mood, candid pedestrain walking past, the crowd’s head bobbing or the cars that drove pass the camera kept the audience’s interest. Unlike other directors instead of cutting through the beat Jonze use the occurrence in the scene to play with the beat such as the smoke that came out in ‘It’s Oh So Quiet’ or the cat’s paw moving in ‘Island in the Sun’ or the dancer’s movement in ‘Praise You’. His approach to music video is visually different from other videos as it is more vouyeristic; in ‘Praise You’ the handheld camera among the audience was as if it was shot in the point of view of the audience. Moreover Byork’s ‘It’s Oh So Quiet’ happens unexpectedly with a nearly candid pedestrains who then started dancing with her for example the ladies with umbrellas and the post box. Most of his work evolves around pedestrain life and something that is relatable in an everyday life making the artist look more down to earth and approachable. His tone is very similar in every music video it is warm and yellowy tone. The composition is always very busy, every shot he puts into the music video has movements and something is always happening; ‘Island in the Sun’ the bear falling from the tree, monkey thrown in the sky with overlapping of the scenery. Spike Jonze certain applied his presumably quirky personality and creativity in his work which clearly reflects his perception and feelings of each song in his very own style. 

In conclusion, Spike Jonze can be regarded as a music video auteur as he has his own distinct style. I strongly feel that music video directors can be more expressive in their work since everyone takes in the same song differently. Different expereinces shapes who we are and how we associate lyrics with our life would definitely be very different from one another. Therefore for Spike Jonze he has a very quirky way of expressing the songs into a music video, he favors long shots, foreground movements, busy compositions and he hates anything that is static. I would name Spike Jonze as a music video auteur as his creativity and idea shone through even though he works with different artist but the artist’s representation comes out similarly; quirky, cute and comical.