David Mamet is best known as a playwright, but he also has a thriving film career, both as screenwriter and as director. He has taken very seriously each of these roles, formulating theories that, he suggests, account for the creative choices he makes. Though Mamet sometimes contradicts himself, as when he suggests that viewers should have the satisfaction of constructing their own meaning of a work, but at the same time is devoted to montage, which works by juxtaposing images that lead to a single interpretation, he clearly sees the story as a critical avenue into the spectator's unconscious, where he hopes it will resonate with a truth that speaks directly to the individual. His films House of Games, Things Change, and Homicide clearly reflect his ideas on the best ways of conveying a story on film. In House of Games, Mamet draws on Bruno Bettelheim's theories to construct a fairy tale designed to act on adult viewers in the same way that fairy tales act on the child. In Things Change, he creates a fable that explores issues of friendship and honor within the milieu of the gangster genre. And in Homicide, Mamet uses the expectations viewers bring to the theatre in anticipation of a genre film to explore themes of loyalty and identity. In Oleanna, however, Mamet relies heavily on exposition and dialogue, rather than the visual elements that separate the film from drama, which renders the film the antithesis of his long-held philosophy of film narrative. Mamet's best film work, in House of Games and Homicide, has been innovative and thought-provoking, bringing depth to the new noir and redefining the cop film. His work in Oleanna, though it may prove to be an anomaly, may suggest a surrender of his principles of filmmaking or a reformulation of them to fit some new vision.

Cette thèse, qui croise l'oeuvre de Jean Cocteau avec la culture italienne, a un double but. D’une part, il s’agit de retracer les éléments qui ont contribué à donner vie à la partie italienne de l'imaginaire du poète, au cours de ses séjours dans la Péninsule. D’autre part, elle vise à faire connaître le point de vue italien sur sa présence dans le pays, en particulier pour ce qui concerne ses films et sa réflexion critique. Elle s'articule en trois parties. Dans la première, il s'agit de détecter comment l'imaginaire italien de Cocteau est né, ainsi que de retracer l'historique des relations qu'il a entretenues avec l’Italie. Dans la deuxième partie, elle aborde le domaine cinématographique dans sa spécificité, également sousun double aspect. D'une part, à travers l'analyse des commentaires que Cocteau a écrits après sa découverte des films italiens, pour pouvoir dégager sa conception de ce cinéma sous une forme générale, et comprendre son intérêt pour certains de ses protagonistes en particulier. D'autre part, elle retrace et analyse la place que la presse spécialisée italienne a accordé à son oeuvre dans l’univers cinématographique du Bel Paese. Enfin, la troisième partie examine les liens concrets que Cocteau a noués avec trois cinéastes italiens : Roberto Rossellini pour l’adaptation cinématographique de La Voix humaine; Luciano Emmer, pour la rédaction et la lecture des commentaires français de Venise et ses amants et de La Légende de Sainte Ursule; enfin Michelangelo Antonioni pour la réalisation de son Mystère d'Oberwald, adaptation de la pièce de théâtre L'Aigle à deux têtes. / This thesis which confronts Jean Cocteau's work with Italian culture has a double aim. On the one hand, it aims at exploring the elements which contributed to giving life to the Italian side of the poet's imagination during his various stays in Italy. On the other hand, it aims at giving a better understanding of the Italian point of view about his presence in the country, especially concerning his films and his critical thoughts. The thesis hinges on three parts. The first one deals with the ways in which Cocteau's Italian imagination originated and puts in a historical perspective the different stages in the relationshipswith the country. The second part is about Cocteau's cinema proper, in a twofold aspect as well .The first one analyzes the commentaries Cocteau wrote after his discovery of Italian films. This allows us to give a better view of the way he conceived this form of cinema in general, and understand his interest for some of its protagonists in particular. The second aspect analyzes the place the Italian press granted to his work in the film production of the « Bel Paese ». The third part looks into the bonds of friendship Cocteau built up with three Italian directors : Roberto Rossellini for the screen adaptation of La Voix humaine ; Luciano Emmer for the French written commentaries and their reading of Venise et ses amants and of La Légende de Sainte Ursule ; and last Michelangelo Antonioni for the direction of Le Mystère d'Oberwald, an adaptation of the play L'Aigle à deux têtes.

Esta pesquisa procura entender o trabalho do diretor cinematográfico brasileiro contemporâneo a partir da reconstrução do processo criativo de cinco longas-metragens realizados nos últimos anos e a compreensão das estratégias escolhidas pelos diretores para construir sua obra. Os filmes observados são: Antônia\" (Tata Amaral, 2006), Cama de Gato (Alexandre Stockler, 2002), O Magnata (Johnny Araujo, 2007), A Via Láctea (Lina Chamie, 2007) e Estômago (Marcos Jorge, 2007). Além disso, observamos também uma diária de filmagem de Amanhã Nunca Mais (Tadeu Jungle, em finalização) e o processo de realização do curta-metragem Gris (Iana Cossoy Paro, 2005), realizado em uma estrutura acadêmica controlada. É um estudo de Comunicação que considera o diretor como um agente que se relaciona com um processo que se desenvolve no espaço e no tempo, sofrendo influências de diversas origens: das questões sociais que detecta como de seu interesse na geração do projeto às condições materiais que consegue reunir para sua produção, passando por uma série de decisões sobre os seus métodos de trabalho para a construção da obra pretendida. Metodologicamente, optamos por utilizar-nos de instrumentos da Crítica do Processo, desenvolvidos por Cecília Salles (2006), para ler as obras como a construção no tempo de uma rede em movimento. Esse deslocamento libertou o trabalho da necessidade de centrar seus esforços sobre o filme terminado, como referência principal para análise da obra, propondo uma nova maneira de estudar a realização. / The aim of the research is to understand the work of the contemporary Brazilian film director through the reconstruction of the creative process of five feature films which were recently shot, and the strategies followed by the directors in order to build their works. The analysis focused on five films: Antônia\" (Tata Amaral, 2006), Cama de Gato (Alexandre Stockler, 2002), O Magnata (Johnny Araujo, 2007), A Via Láctea (Lina Chamie, 2007) e Estômago (Marcos Jorge, 2007). We also witnessed a day of shooting of the film Amanhã Nunca Mais (Tadeu Jungle, now in post production) and the making process of the short film Gris (Iana Cossoy Paro, 2005), shot in an academically controlled environment. This study on Communication regards the film director as an agent related to a process that evolves through time and space, with influences coming from diverse sources, from the social issues he considers of interest in the creation of the project to the material structure for the production, making decisions over the different working methods followed in the construction of the work. From a methodological point of view, we decided to apply concepts from Critica do Processo, developed by Cecília Salles (2006), in order to analyze the works as the construction of a moving net in time. This decision let our project free from the need of having to focus our analysis on the finished film as the main reference for the study, also suggesting a new way to study the process of filmmaking.

Cette recherche est une étude des conditions sociales, économiques, culturelles de la production cinématographique en Afrique de l’ouest francophone en général, au Burkina Faso et au Sénégal en particulier, dans un contexte de mondialisation des images et de difficultés structurelles de la filière cinématographique.Notre objectif est de mettre en exergue les pratiques et les stratégies en termes de solutions optimales des réalisateurs de films à travers une analyse institutionnelle, historique et socioculturelle des systèmes de contraintes qui leur donnent naissance et les dynamisent. Les systèmes de contraintes sont une combinaison d’un ensemble de variables (paramètres et inconnues) et de contraintes, à prendre en compte par le réalisateur de films burkinabé et sénégalais car pouvant influencer, déterminer ou optimiser les solutions mises en place.Le point de départ de notre réflexion a été de considérer que l’analyse de ces pratiques et stratégies de réalisateurs de films burkinabés et sénégalais – acteurs rationnels évoluant dans un contexte contraignant sous l’angle boudonien – est indissociable de l’analyse des conditions sociales et du système d’interactions quiparticipent à leur mise en oeuvre et les légitiment. De ce fait, afin de cerner notre objet dans ses multiples facettes, plusieurs domaines sociologiques ont été mobilisés tout au long de cette recherche qui s’inscrit, d’unepart, dans la sociologie des professions, et d’autre part dans la sociologie des arts. Notre démarche emprunte ainsi son épistémologie et sa théorie à la sociologie des acteurs notamment les principes de la théorie générale dela rationalité. Nous avons, par ailleurs, fait appel accessoirement à la sociologie du cinéma, à l’économie de la culture et à la politique culturelle.Cette approche socio-anthropologique s’inscrit dans une démarche monographique et comparative entre deux pays de traditions cinématographiques différentes à savoir le Burkina Faso et le Sénégal. Un corpus exhaustif de45 réalisateurs de films a été établi par rapport à trois critères d’inclusion et de circonscription à notre population d’enquête afin d’offrir une comparaison, en termes de trajectoire ; de parcours biographique ; de conditions de travail ; de structures de références et d’activités hors-travail. Un premier niveau de comparaison a été effectué entre les réalisateurs de films de chaque pays, puis un deuxième sur l’ensemble de population afin de mesurer les similitudes et les divergences de parcours et de carrières.Notre approche donne lieu à une analyse qualitative du discours de notre population d’enquête afin de rendre compte des conditions de production. Elle s’appuie également sur une interprétation quantitative dans la mesure où nos données ont été utilisées comme des outils statistiques. Nous avons eu recours aux donnéesstatistiques de seconde main et établi un corpus filmique, qui comprend essentiellement les films de notre population d’étude, ils ont été utilisés en complément à l’éclairage de notre analyse.Et pourtant, derrière la rhétorique de la crise de la cinématographie ouest-africaine francophone, ils tournent !Notre thèse montre qu’en dépit de ce contexte de rareté, de précarité et de contrainte, les réalisateurs de films burkinabés et sénégalais mobilisent les ressources, établissent des coopérations pour continuer à exister en tantque groupe professionnel. Ils développent des plans d’organisation à travers des modèles économiques leur permettant de proposer une offre pertinente, tout en leur garantissant la viabilité de leurs activités dans le temps.Cette thèse offre, en définitive, une réflexion sur les enjeux de la production cinématographique et les mutationsau sein du groupe professionnel des réalisateurs de films burkinabés et sénégalais. Elle entend aussi reconceptualiser le cinéma ouest-africain francophone. / This thesis is a study of the social, economic and cultural conditions of the filmproduction in the West French speaking part of Africa, more particularly in Burkina Faso and Senegal in a world of images globalization facing structural difficulties of the film industry.Our main objective here, is to emphasize both customs and strategies regarding optimal solutions offered by the film directors threw an institutional, historical and sociocultural analysis of the constraints systems who create and empower them. Constraints systems are a combination of a set of variables (parameters and unknown) and constraints that can influence, determine or even maximize the solutions the film director work.The starting point of our reflexion was to consider that the analysis of the practices and strategies made by the senegalese and burkinabé film producers - rational actors evolving in a restrictive environment according to Boudon’s point of view - cannot be isolated from the social conditions and system of interaction who help their implementation and legitimate them. Therefore, to better understand our subject, several sociological areas were mobilized throughout the research which is forming part, first, of the sociology of the professions and then, of the sociology of arts. Thus, our approach is using its epistemology and theory of the sociology of actors, particularly the general theory of rationality principles. Furthermore, wedid use secondarily the sociology of film, the economy of culture and the cultural policy.This socio anthropological approach is part of a monographic and comparative processbetween two countries with different film custom namely Burkina Faso and Senegal. Acomplete body of 45 film producers was established based on three criteria of inclusion and district to the survey sample in order to make a comparison between biographical sketch, working conditions, reference bodies and non-working activities. A comparison was first made between the film producers of each countries and secondly on the overall population so as to bring out their journey and career similarities and differences.Our approach results in a qualitative analysis of our survey sample’ speech to report on the production’s conditions. It also rely on a quantitative interpretation considering the fact that our figures were used as statistical tools. We had recourse to second-hand statistical data and established a corpus of film mainly made of the survey population’s movies. We used them as a complement to contribute to the analysis.However, behind the rhetoric of the west african french-speaking cinematographic crisis, they still need quiet on the set! Our thesis shows that despite the context of scarcity, precarity and constraint, the burkinabé and senegalese film directors are still mobilising resources and establishing cooperation to keep on existing as a occupational group. They are developing organisation plans throughout economic models to make their offer more relevant by ensuring their activities viability over time.Ultimately, this thesis is a comprehensive analysis on the film production stakes and transformations within the burkinabé and senegalese film director occupational group. It also intends to reconceptualize the west african french speaking cinema.

Esta pesquisa procura entender o trabalho do diretor cinematográfico brasileiro contemporâneo a partir da reconstrução do processo criativo de cinco longas-metragens realizados nos últimos anos e a compreensão das estratégias escolhidas pelos diretores para construir sua obra. Os filmes observados são: Antônia\" (Tata Amaral, 2006), Cama de Gato (Alexandre Stockler, 2002), O Magnata (Johnny Araujo, 2007), A Via Láctea (Lina Chamie, 2007) e Estômago (Marcos Jorge, 2007). Além disso, observamos também uma diária de filmagem de Amanhã Nunca Mais (Tadeu Jungle, em finalização) e o processo de realização do curta-metragem Gris (Iana Cossoy Paro, 2005), realizado em uma estrutura acadêmica controlada. É um estudo de Comunicação que considera o diretor como um agente que se relaciona com um processo que se desenvolve no espaço e no tempo, sofrendo influências de diversas origens: das questões sociais que detecta como de seu interesse na geração do projeto às condições materiais que consegue reunir para sua produção, passando por uma série de decisões sobre os seus métodos de trabalho para a construção da obra pretendida. Metodologicamente, optamos por utilizar-nos de instrumentos da Crítica do Processo, desenvolvidos por Cecília Salles (2006), para ler as obras como a construção no tempo de uma rede em movimento. Esse deslocamento libertou o trabalho da necessidade de centrar seus esforços sobre o filme terminado, como referência principal para análise da obra, propondo uma nova maneira de estudar a realização. / The aim of the research is to understand the work of the contemporary Brazilian film director through the reconstruction of the creative process of five feature films which were recently shot, and the strategies followed by the directors in order to build their works. The analysis focused on five films: Antônia\" (Tata Amaral, 2006), Cama de Gato (Alexandre Stockler, 2002), O Magnata (Johnny Araujo, 2007), A Via Láctea (Lina Chamie, 2007) e Estômago (Marcos Jorge, 2007). We also witnessed a day of shooting of the film Amanhã Nunca Mais (Tadeu Jungle, now in post production) and the making process of the short film Gris (Iana Cossoy Paro, 2005), shot in an academically controlled environment. This study on Communication regards the film director as an agent related to a process that evolves through time and space, with influences coming from diverse sources, from the social issues he considers of interest in the creation of the project to the material structure for the production, making decisions over the different working methods followed in the construction of the work. From a methodological point of view, we decided to apply concepts from Critica do Processo, developed by Cecília Salles (2006), in order to analyze the works as the construction of a moving net in time. This decision let our project free from the need of having to focus our analysis on the finished film as the main reference for the study, also suggesting a new way to study the process of filmmaking.