Stylistic Patterning as a Methodology to Establish the Co-author Status of the Cinematographer: A Case Study of Gregg Toland

Can the authorial contribution of the individual cinematographer to classical, collaborative, narrative-based film, be identified and attributed?

Film authorship remains a contentious field of study. Starting with the basic assumption that single-author theories in collaborative filmmaking are redundant, the challenge for the theorist is to navigate a complex matrix of creative contributions in order to identify and attribute any authorial traits to any individual collaborator. Within this context I elected to examine the co-authorship status of the cinematographer, as they have been historically neglected and sidelined by the dominance of 'director as a single-author' theories. By selecting Toland as the subject of my analysis I intended to highlight this historical neglect, and present a methodology by which the cinematographers' authorial contribution can be determined.