Samantha Rogan

How do we analyse film?

When analysing films there are certain areas to take into consideration. There are two ways to go about film analysis these are genre analysis and auteur theory. In this essay i will be showing my understanding for both of these. Genre analysis is where you analyse the film by its genre using 7 key areas. who there are examples of generic films such as reservoir dogs which is a crime thriller, cowboys and aliens which is a western/sci-fi and war of the worlds which is a sci-fi/thriller. Auteur theory is French for author it refers to a filmmaker making films with an individual style; these different styles will often appear in different films/genres by the same director. Examples of films made by auteur are Quentin Tarentino who has made such films as Kill Bill, Reservoir Dogs and Pulp fiction. And another example is Stanley Kubrick he produced such films as, a clockwork orange and the shining.

When analysing a film using genre analysis there are 7 keys areas; codes and conventions, location, character, iconography, narrative, themes and ideological method. I am going to analyse the film Leon using these 7 key areas. Leon is a film directed by Luc Besson in 1994. Besson is an auteur because he adds his own sense of authorship. The film uses the conventions of the crime thriller genre but throughout the film there is a lot of action. The film starts off with a camera going through little Italy New York this instantly shows the viewer the location of the film. This is different to other action thriller films; it hasn’t started with a chase scene or action scene. The beginning of Leon is peaceful and makes little Italy New York look like a nice place. After the opening scene is then goes into Leon being given a job, then the action begins. In leon there are the usual characters; police men, corrupt police officers, assassins, and innocent people. The narrative of the film is an assassin which is leon who isn’t the typical assassin you would find in an action film. There is a young girl called mathilda who lives in the same apartments as leon, she lives with her family

Samantha Rogan

and her father hides drugs in his apartment for a corrupt policeman, one day the corrupt policeman Norman stansfield takes revenge on her father for stretching the drugs and kills the whole family whilst mathilda is out shopping so she survives and takes refuge in Leon’s apartment. She soon realises leon’s profession and seeks his help in taking revenge for her little brother. The policeman soon realises mathilda is living with leon after she herself tries to kill him. The climax of the film shows 100’s of policeman going into an apartment to kill leon. Mathilda escapes but leon dies. Throughout the film leon drinks glasses of milk this is very different to James Bond drinking his martini. I think this is an iconic part of the film and makes you think of Leon. The themes that are used in Leon are; revenge, sex, corruption and death. Throughout the film mathilda has an inappropriate crush on leon and thinks she ‘loves’ him. The public have different views on Leon and mathilda’s relationship; some see it as sexual and others as a father and daughter relationship. From my point of view I see Leon being a father figure to mathilda but because she’s so young and leon shows her affection which she probably isn’t used to. She mistakes her feelings for something else. The revenge theme takes place throughout leon as that is what the film is mainly about mathilda taking revenge on Norman for her little brother. As leon is an assassin we continuously see death in the film and also corruption as Norman takes part with things that are against the law.

I am going to analyse the beginning sequence of an action movie using genre analysis. The film I am analysing is the Italian job. The Italian job is a film about

a man called Charlie Croker (Michael Caine) and his fellow gang members. Charlie has just been released from prison he finds out one of his friends has attempted a high risk job in Italy under the noses of the mafia. Charlie’s friend doesn’t get very far so he takes over the ‘job’. He acquires a very talented and well equipped gang. They create a large traffic jam which gives them time to pull off a theft of gold bullion; they all get away using three mini coopers, a couple of jaguars and a bus. The beginning sequence starts with roger Beckerman who has just left

Samantha Rogan

Turin driving a Lamborghini Miura through the Italian alps, with plans of an Italian heist but the mafia stops him when he drives into a tunnel the car explodes and they get rid of the remains of the by using a bulldozer to get rid of it down the side of a cliff. They use typical codes and conventions for this action ‘heist’ movie. They have the fancy car which is a Lamborghini Miura, a beautiful location which is the Italian Alps, a team of experts which in this case is the mafia who use explosives to kill him. And there is a twist at the end of the first scene; you don’t expect roger Beckerman to be killed straight away. But all these codes and conventions are typically used as they would be for an action movie. I am now going to compare the Italian job with reservoir dogs. Reservoir dogs (1992) written and directed by Quentin Tarentino is a film about six criminals who are strangers to eachother are hired by a crime boss to carry out a diamond robbery. They are all given false names so they don’t get too close, some of the names are; Mr. Blonde, Mr. Pink and Mr. White. They go ahead with the robbery and think it all goes well until the police show up; they are all told to meet at the premeditated rendezvous which is a warehouse they then think there might be a rat in the group.