M.Night Shyamalan

1. Director, Producer, Writer and Actor. M.Night Shyamalan Is he an Auteur?

2. Background History • Manoj Shyamalan was born on the 6 August 1970. • He is an Indian born American Director who grew up in a Hindu Household. • Both his parents are professionals in medicine and his father wished for him to follow the family pursuit. • He grew up in Pennsylvania and spent most of his education in Private schools of Catholicism.

3. My research I ask my focus group what films had they seen that was directed by M.Night Shyamalan and I tallied which ones were the most popular and chose them as my three focus films, which consisted of : Unbreakable, The Sixth Sense and Signs. I did mostly secondary research by looking at reviews and critics opinions on Shyamalan, his films, and his style of film-making. The primary research consisted of watching my focus films and identifying trends and patterns within them. My focus group consisted of 14 young people of both genders. When I asked if there was any noticeable traits within his films the overall answer seemed to be that he made eerie and thriller style films.

4. My 3 films: This film was created in 2000. The genre is a super-hero thriller. The film grossed just over $248 million Notable Actors: Bruce Willis Samuel L. Jackson This film was created in 1999. The genre is a psychological thriller. This film made over $672 million. 4. Notable Actors: Bruce Willis Haley Joel Osment Created in 2002 Science Fiction Thriller Worldwide Signs made $408 million Notable Actors: Mel Gibson Joaquin Pheonix

5. Collaborations • The style of M.Night Shyamalan could be down to his use of the same crew members in his different films. Cinematographer: Tak Fujimoto Signs, The Happening, Sixth Sense Music Composer: James Howard Every film since the Sixth Sense. Actor: Bruce Willis Sixth Sense, Unbreakable Actor Joaquin PhoenixSigns, The Village

6. Target Audience • I did two different focus groups: My first one was with my college friends, my second one was with family members. Demographically I have ranged the age between 16 and 55. • The one criticism I have on my own research is that I didn’t consider different religions in my focus groups, which could have been very helpful considering the nature of the research was on a Director who explores religion and spirituality.

7. Demonstration of his work • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBRWeI9bUKU • This compilation of his finest work enforces my assessment of his work. Shyamalan loves playing with the human uncertainties of the unknown, the afterlife, the supernatural and the capability of evil in humanity. • Working with his cinematographer, a trend can be seen that Shyamalan is extremely good at showing the emotion of his characters through close ups and powerful music composition.

8. The extent of an Auteur • Shyamalan has shown through his films to have intelligent and brilliant twists within his films. The twist in Sixth Sense put his name on the big screen. His ability to generate ‘classy suspense’ and leave a real impression on audiences has established him as a notable Director. • Shyamalan likes to explore the unknown, mainly spirituality. He tends leans more to a contemporary supernatural style. This is reinforced in nearly all his films. In The Happening the protagonist is cut off from main-stream society and the biggest fear is the unknown. Sixth Sense, the main influence is life after death. In Signs; similar to The Happening, the main characters are cut off from the rest of the world, and left fearing the unknown. • Shyamalan has starred in almost all of his own films, with an exception to Wide Awake, Stuart Little and Devil. • One of the biggest criticisms against Shyamalan is the same reasons that make him an Auteur. One particular critic called him a ‘one trip pony’, believing that Shyamalan can only produce highly suspenseful thrillers, and over the years audiences have become accustom to them, so instead of engaging the film naturally, audiences wait for the big thrill at the end, which leaves little attention to the narrative.

9. Conclusion • Despite the heavy criticisms of his more recent work (The Last Air bender), I personally fully appreciate his directing abilities, but I do agree with the overall public opinion that his Screenplay writing capabilities are not as strong as his Directing. • My focus group and review searching reinforces the point that his work is very powerful and intelligent, with mostly positive feedback, but I think that to fully establish himself as a true Auteur, consistency in his Auteur characteristics needs to be applied to future film productions.