Polymathism and Indie Film

On one hand, some of the most important intellectual work of our civilization was done by great, creative thinkers not bound to one area of specialization. Da Vinci was "a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer"; Newton a "physicist, mathematician, astronomer, theologian, natural philosopher". Modern society is built upon work by polymaths.

On the other hand, one of the most oft cited (and very valid) criticisms to auteur theory is that filmmaking is a collaborative process. However, I have already discussed how current economic conditions now allow for the entire industrial side of filmmaking to be executed by teams as small as one. So how could a creative, intelligent individual perfectly execute every step in the filmmaking workflow to create a film of unified vision, high art and quality?
Yes, filmmaking is a very industrial process. It has many integral parts that must be executed at a high level to achieve a certain amount of quality. Writing, directing, editing are just some of the more sexy rolls that must be strong to make a movie good, but there is many subtle things that must happen in between too. I believe if one was creative, talented and systematic enough, they could hone skills across the filmmaking workflow and create a tight, cohesive and quality movie worthy of auteur study.

Shane Carruth and Robert Rodriguez may one day achieve this modern day Renaissance Man/Auteur/indie status. Carruth's very first movie won two awards at Sundance. Rodriguez's first picked up one prize at Sundance. Not bad for ~$10K in productions costs, combined.

Carruth reversed engineered the process of filmmaking, keeping costs down by doing as much himself as possible (writer, director, producer, actor, editor, composer. Does this list remind you of anything?). Rodriguez has spent most of his life honing every facet of production. If one day either of these filmmakers has the body of work to study in the context of auteur theory, it would be interesting to see what the effects of the "one man crew" method might have on the subject. Additionally, the free/powerful animation tool Blender, putting Pixar (circa 1994) power in the hands of every potential auteur, making possible things like this:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUPcimeiqLE

and this:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUPcimeiqLE

In the mean time, I believe this approach to filmmaking could produce some of the most original work in decades, and would be the perfect laboratory for developing a modern day auteur school.