Briefly explain why it’s easier to consider the director of a film an “auteur” as opposed to the director of a stage play

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer: The ideal answer should include:
1. On the stage, the director is essentially an interpretive artist. If we see a rotten production of King Lear, we don’t dismiss Shakespeare’s play, but only a specific interpretation of the play. True, the stage director creates certain patterns of movement, appropriate gestures for actors, and spatial relationships, but all of these visual elements take second place to the language of the script, which is created by the playwright. The theatrical director’s relation to the text is similar to the stage actor’s relation to a role: He or she can add much to what’s written down, but what is contributed is usually secondary to the text itself.
2. The stage director is a kind of a go-between for the author and the production staff. That is, the director is responsible for the general interpretation of the script and usually defines the limits for the other interpretive artists: actors, designers, technicians. The stage director must see to it that all the production elements are harmonized and subordinated to an overall interpretation.
3. The stage director’s influence is stronger during rehearsals than in the actual performance. Once the curtain opens before an audience; the director is powerless to control what then takes place.
4. On the other hand, screen directors have a good deal more control over the final product. They too dominate the preproduction activities, but unlike the stage director, the filmmaker controls virtually every aspect of the finished work as well.
5. The degree of precision a film director can achieve is impossible on the stage, for movie directors can re-photograph people and objects until they get exactly what they want. Because films communicate primarily through moving images, it’s the film’s director who determines most of the visual elements: the choice of shots, angles, lighting effects, filters, optical effects, framing, composition, camera movements, and editing. Furthermore, the director usually authorizes the costume and set designs and the choice of locales.
6. Even today, the most admired movies—from whatever country—tend to be director’s films. To refer to a movie as “good except for its direction” is as contradictory as referring to a play as “good except for its script.”