Abstract

Through reflections on my own creative work, this paper explores how theories of film authorship and genre can inform and influence the film production process and how those theories can be employed as an attempt to reconcile the artistic paradox between the director as the author of a film and the collaborative endeavor that filmmaking is in actuality. My filmmaking practice attempts to follow a singular artist methodology and although it has not proven to be a sustainable production model, the insights that serve as the substance of this paper have brought into focus the idea of identifying areas of production best served by an individual filmmaker and those where creative collaboration with other skilled artists and artisans may be more effective. With digital filmmaking, a skilled generalist filmmaker can seek collaboration not out of necessity but for meeting a creative objective. The Phoenix Agenda, the feature-length film that serves as the basis of my analysis and examination, was an actualization of these principals in my filmmaking practice and, an identification of areas of film production stages, from story development to marketing and distribution, that have a substantial influence on how films are read.