Caméra-stylo

   Caméro-stylo is the name given to a theory of filmmaking articulated by Alexandre Astruc in an article titled, "Naissance d'une nouvelle avant-garde: la caméra stylo," which appeared in L'Écran français in 1948. Essentially the theory consisted of the idea that a truly artistic filmmaker used the camera in the same way a writer uses a pen in order to author his or her film, and that there were, therefore, certain stylistic particularities that could be identified in the work of every truly gifted filmmaker. The theory implicitly and explicitly invited experimentation and a break with classical narrative form. This is one of the theories that contributed to the development of the notion of the cinéma d'auteur or auteur cinema.

   Historical Dictionary of French Cinema by Dayna Oscherwitz & Mary Ellen Higgins