Callum Harrison

How Do We Analyse A Film

Genre analysis and Auteur Theory

When we study a film, two of the main types of analysis we can apply are Genre Analysis and Auteur Theory. Examples of the two different types are the films ‘Quantum of Solace’ and ‘Leon’. There is an obvious difference between the two films, The Director of Quantum of Solace (Marc Forster) follows the usual codes and conventions of the typical action film whereas, in the film Leon we are misled into believing that the film is following the codes and conventions and then all of a sudden the conformity breaks. The different types can be in any Genre film whether it is action, comedy, drama etc there will always be both conventional and unconventional films. The War Film Apocalypse was made in 1979 and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It is an example of an unconventional War Film. During the film we are shown that it doesn’t follow the usual codes and conventions. Being set in the Vietnam War, in one scene we see helicopters and soldiers. The soldiers are shown heading towards a village, we get cross cuts to and from the village and the helicopters. In the village the local men, women and children are shown running looking for places to take cover from the soldiers. This particular scene is portraying the soldiers as the ‘bad guys’ which isn’t following the conventions of a typical war film such as ‘The Green Beret’ which was directed by John Wayne and Ray Kellogg in 1968. This film is an example of a conventional film making it different to the Apocalypse film as the soldiers are the ‘good guys’ and rather than attacking the families like they do in the Apocalypse film they are the heroes and are fighting the war to save innocent people.

The films Quantum of Solace and Leon are of a similar genre but are very different films; this is because of the different styles of the directors. The film ‘Leon’ establishes the genre of the action thriller but then breaks it.

Genre Analysis follows the 7 key areas which are: Codes and conventions, Setting, Character, Themes, Narrative, Iconography and Ideological message. Conventional films will include most of these if not all of them.

The Codes in a film show meaning and the conventions are the usual accepted ways of doing something. The film Quantum of Solace is a good example of a film that follows the conventions of a Genre. The genre of the film is spy/action and is directed by Marc Forster in 2008. The film follows conventions as it includes the typical things you would see in this type of film. James Bond Is the protagonist in the film. He is a very well-known character and he always succeeds. The film uses props such as sports cars and guns which are often found in these types of films.

Themes: There are a number of themes that a film can have such as: Revenge, love, Friendship, Jealousy, Individuality and others. In the typical horror and Thriller films themes can include: Death, possession and survival. A good example of a Horror film that includes some of these themes is the film REC which was directed by James Balaguero in 2007. When we watch the film we notice that it is in a similar style to a reality TV show but afterwards the film slowly breaks the conformity of the Horror reality TV show and changes.

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Setting: The setting in films will usually depend on the theme of the film, and more often than not will have a few different settings, for example the film Mean Girls which was directed by Mark Waters. The film is set in a High School but we also have scenes at the parents’ house and shopping malls. The setting of films can also be different times throughout the day.

Character: Characters in films allow the audience to engage with the events of the narrative. Most films will have an Antagonist and a Protagonist regardless of the genre. The Protagonist is the hero of the film and the Antagonist is the bad guy of the film. Good examples where characters like this are used are in the films Quantum of Solace and Taken. Both of these Genres are Spy/Thriller Films but the same applies in other genre films such as Mean Girls. The main antagonist in mean girls is Regina and the main Protagonist is Cady.

Narrative: The narrative of a film is the story. The beginning, middle and end. If we look at the film Leon which was directed by Marc Besson in 1994 we notice that the film starts off introducing the main characters. We are introduced to Tony Leon and Matilda. When Leon makes his first appearance we see and hear him we don’t see his face. This is to create a sense of mystery to his character. Once the main characters have been introduced the next main event we see is the murder of Mathilda’s family. Her family is killed by corrupt drug enforcement agency officials. Leon rescues Mathilda. Afterwards she discovers from Leon that he is a Hit man and manages to persuade him to teach her to become an assassin herself to get revenge on Stansfield who murdered her family. Mathilda goes to kill Stansfield but is captured by him Leon again comes to rescue Mathilda and kills a lot of Stansfieds men. After a huge battle Mathilda manages to escape the building but Leon does not and disguises himself. Stansfield discovers Leon and shoots him. The building blows up killing both Leon and Stansfield. At the end of the film we have a scene with Tony and Mathilda, he helps her ‘find her roots’ the film has a very interesting storyline but manages to break conformity of the typical spy/thriller films a number of different times.

Iconography: This can be aspects of the mise en scene. It conveys representations of events, places, themes or characters. Iconography is something you expect to see in the film, an aspect that comes to mind. An example where this is used would be in the film Quantum Of Solace. In this film there is an Aston Martin This car has been used in previous James Bond films which gives us iconography and represents British Power or British Military another example could be in the film Rec where a crucifix is used. This instantly gives the audience the idea that the film has some relevance to hell. It also tells us that the genre for the film is horror. It does however break conformity as it is in the style of reality TV. We know this because of the microphones and the way the film is shot. Reality TV is not considered to be a part of the Horror Genre.

Ideological message: Ideological messages are the beliefs that people share and believe to be right and correct. Most films will have a Ideological Message For example the film Quantum of Solace which was directed by Marc Forster has two ideological messages one of them being ‘Good Triumphs over Evil’ and ‘All will end well’

Although over the years women in films have been given stronger characters they are still sexually objectified. In the case of the James Bond films this has always happened. The women in the films always have a perfect body and will at some point wear very revealing clothing. Although they are

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sexually objectified over time they have become smarter characters and actually help the main protagonist to save the day and even defeat the main antagonist. Regardless of their stronger portrayal in the films James Bond always gets the girl fitting the criteria as this has happened in the previous films.

In films such as Pulp Fiction which was directed by Quentin Torantino in 1994 the women are represented in a different kind of way this is because there is often ‘femme fetale’ which creates the different type of character as she is a mysterious woman with seductive charm. Uma Thurman’s Character Mia Wallace is a good example of this.

Auteur Directors

The films Leon and Napoleon Dynamite are films that are completely different, however, are similar in the way they break conventions, this is because of the films directors. Luc Besson and Jared Hess are two directors that are considered Auteur Directors. This is because of their style of breaking the usual conventions of film.

Napoleon Dynamite would seem to be the typical teen comedy; however, after watching it you can see that there is a very noticeable difference between Napoleon Dynamite and typical teen comedy such as Mean Girls. Mean Girls is a good example of a film which follows the conventions, whereas Napoleon Dynamite seems to break conformity. Firstly the main character of Napoleon Dynamite is Male, more often than not the character would have been female. Another thing we notice about the film is that it isn’t based around the popular kids; instead it is based around the unpopular kids in school. In Napoleon Dynamite there is also a female popular girl, who isn’t a main character but would have been if her character was in the film mean girls. Both of these films include some of the same themes including: Love, Friendship, Individuality and Acceptance. Along with the same themes they have similar characters for example Cady in Mean Girls and Pedro in Napoleon Dynamite are both new students in the school and have trouble fitting in.

Another Auteur director is Quentin Tarantino. He has directed a number of films and made appearances in some of them himself. An example of one of his films is Pulp Fiction, The narrative of the film is very unclear with the different storylines from different characters. Each character is introduced and throughout the film the characters develop and the audience begin to like these characters although when they commit acts of violence the s