Authorship and Aesthetics in the Cinematography of Gregg Toland

Philip Cowan

doi:10.5771/9781793638960

Summary

In this three-part book-length study of the work of Gregg Toland, Philip Cowan explores approaches to co-authorship in collaborative filmmaking to propose new ways of identifying, attributing, and evaluating the creative work of cinematographers. In the first part of the study, Cowan challenges the dominant, director-centered auteur approach to film studies, critiquing the historical development of authorship theory and providing a contemporary analysis of the cinematographer’s authorial role in creating images that communicate meaning through content and construction. By synthesizing and updating the work of previous film theorists to define the complexities of composition, movement, and lighting in the second part of the study, Cowan develops a new, comprehensive taxonomy of functional and aesthetic elements of the moving image. Finally, by using the co-author approach and the analytical tools developed in part two of the book, Cowan provides an in-depth re-examination of Toland’s work, highlighting the historical neglect of the cinematographer’s artistic contribution to filmmaking and developing a fresh approach to the analysis of contemporary cinematography in film.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2022
ISBN-Print: 978-1-7936-3895-3
ISBN-Online: 978-1-7936-3896-0
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 338
Product type: Book Titles

1. Dedication No access
2. List of Figures No access
3. List of Figures No access
4. Acknowledgements No access
1. Part I: Film Authorship No access
2. Part II: Functional Aesthetics No access
3. Part III: Appreciation of Gregg Toland (1904–1948) No access
4. Methodology No access
5. Notes No access
1. 1. The Birth of the Author No access
  2. The First Movement: The Auteur Theory No access
  3. The Death of the Auteur No access
  4. The Conundrum of Collaborative Processes No access
  5. Summary No access
  6. Notes No access
2. 1. The Second Movement: Structuralism and Post-structuralism: No access
  2. Summary of the Second Movement No access
  3. The Third Movement: The Return of the Author No access
  4. Notes No access
3. 1. Is Collaborative Practice Co-Authorship? No access
  2. What is a Cinematic Author? No access
  3. Model of Collaborative Authorship No access
  4. Summary No access
  5. Notes No access
4. 1. The Role of the Cinematographer No access
  2. Collaboration with the Director No access
  3. Critical Context of the Cinematographer No access
  4. Three Conditions for Creative Contribution No access
  5. Notes No access
1. 1. Images as a Record, or as an Expression No access
  2. The Shot No access
  3. Degrees of Freedom No access
  4. Levels of Cinematographic Application No access
  5. Representational Treatment and Content-Style No access
  6. Intention and Interpretation No access
  7. Notes No access
2. 1. Shot Functions No access
  2. Shot Functions and Compositional Elements No access
  3. Defining Shot Functions No access
  4. Functional Aesthetics No access
  5. Notes No access
3. 1. Characteristics of the Medium No access
  2. Spatial Elements No access
  3. Lighting Elements No access
  4. Temporal Elements No access
  5. Functional Aesthetic Elements of Shot Composition No access
  6. Notes No access
1. 1. The Case for Reappraisal No access
  2. Toland in Context No access
  3. Approach to Analysis No access
  4. Survey of Toland’s Career No access
  5. Notes No access
2. 1. Characteristics of the Medium No access
  2. Spatial Elements No access
  3. Surface Composition No access
  4. Notes No access
3. 1. Keating and Shared Pictorial Strategies No access
  2. Toland’s Movement of the Camera No access
  3. Characteristics of Toland’s Lighting No access
  4. Visual Motifs No access
  5. Notes No access
4. 1. Toland’s Authorial Signature No access
  2. Collaboration with Hawks and Ford No access
  3. Collaboration and Authorship on Citizen Kane No access
  4. Notes No access
5. 1. Wyler’s Aesthetic No access
  2. The Little Foxes Revisited No access
  3. The Best Years of Our Lives Revisited No access
  4. Finding Authors in Collaborative Work No access
  5. Notes No access
6. 1. The Problem of Authorship in Film No access
  2. The Cinematographer No access
  3. Gregg Toland, ASC No access
  4. Future Research No access
  5. Notes No access
Gregg Toland Filmography No access Pages 299 - 302
Additional Filmography No access Pages 303 - 306
Bibliography No access Pages 307 - 316
Index No access Pages 317 - 336
About the Author No access Pages 337 - 338