PR4 – How do we analyse film?

There are a number of ways a film can be analysed. Two of these ways are the analysis of genre and application of Auteur theory.We can use Lacey’s repertoire of elements when analysing a film. The following things are taken into consideration:

Character Narrative Iconography Setting Technical/audio codes

Auteur theory is a concept that was established in the 1950’s by French film critics (Francois Truffautt). An auteur is a film director whose work shows them to be a distinct artist. The following types of people can be classed as auteurs.

The principle creator of the film A filmmaker who demonstrates innovation A filmmaker who demonstrates a particular style A filmmaker who demonstrates artistic merit over commercial success A film maker who makes films with similar themes

When applying genre analysis to Leon, the audience recognises it as an action-thriller film, as within the mise-en-scene, there is use of iconic costumes and locations. For example, the film is set in New York, a typical, big American city which is usually associated with films of this genre. You also have the iconography which helps define the genre of the film. In Leon, there are guns, knives, other weaponry, police and more, which are linked to action films. Then you have the characters; the stereotypical antagonist and protagonist rivalry, the attractive female who plays the role of the damsel I distress, however in this film, although you do see a various amount of ‘attractive’ women, the main female character is a young girl who is interested in getting involved rather than running away from all the problems and conflict. The themes within action-thriller films are also important in helping to define the genre. Revenge is often a reoccurring theme, as in Leon where the young girl wants revenge on the people who killed her family. Life and death is also another major theme in these types of films. In Leon, after he dies, we see the young girl put a plant into the ground and refer to it as Leon, therefore relating to the theme of life and death. Star theory can also play apart when applying genre analysis. The character who plays Leon, Jean Reno, has been in many films of a similar genre, therefore associating him with action-thriller films.

When applying auteur theory to pulp fiction, this is an example of how Quentin Tarantino’s work has a distinctive, non-linear and fragmented style in the narrative, therefore making him an auteur. In pulp fiction, the scenes in the film are not in order, however when looked at carefully, it can be put into chronological order. Part of the reason the scenes aren’t in an order is because the film has short stories incorporated into it which all link up with one another, but not necessarily in order.

Lacey’s repertoire of elements is a way in which film analysts may analyse genre. It consists of looking at the characters in a film, the iconography, setting, technical and audio codes, narrative and the reoccurring themes. In a walk amongst the tombstones, the main character played by Liam Neeson is mostly well-known for starring in other action films such as taken and unknown. When looking at his character in this film, the audience will compare it to previous films they have seen him in. A reason why Neeson was probably picked to star as the main character in this film was due to his previous experience of being in action movies and his popularity. This is known as star theory. His character in the film is an ex-policeman who now became a private investigator. Immediately, we can tell this character has a background of action, using weapons and being in dangerous situations, often associated with this genre of film and similar to previous characters Neeson has played. Also in the film, we see an attractive woman, often a frequent character in action-thrillers. This links up to the iconography which is where we associate things with something specific, for example in action films we often see guns which we associate with that genre. The attractive female is wearing a red hood, suggesting that this could be a pastiche of the classic fairy tale of red riding hood. Liam Neeson plays the protagonist in the film, and in the case of comparing it to red riding hood, he would be the wood cutter who comes to save her, with the kidnappers being the bad wolf who takes her away. We can see that the amount of guns and weaponry used throughout the film does indicate that the film will be full of action and therefore giving it the genre of action-thriller. The graveyard which is featured in the film indicates the theme of death, and with the kidnapping, that could indicate the theme of life, those being one of the major themes within the film. There are a various amount of effects in the film, such as the fast paced editing and the black and white editing at the beginning, showing that the events occurred in the past. There is also a lot of low-key lighting signifying that the film is intriguing, mysterious and has a dark edge to it. It also helps set the mood for the film, so it is preparing the audience for the bits of action and excitement which is yet to come.

An auteur is someone who has their own distinctive style and personal creative vision and is viewed as the major creative force in a production. An auteur can be the principal creator of a film, a film maker who demonstrates a particular style or innovation, a filmmaker who values artistic merit over commercial success or a filmmaker who makes films with similar themes.Pulp fiction is a good example of work by an auteur, in this case Quentin Tarantino, who is the principle creator of the film. The structure of the film is non-linear and fragmented, which means none of the film is in the correct order and is shown in the form of short stories which happen at different points in time, however, when looked at carefully, it can be formed into a straight story and linear narrative.

Some other examples of auteurs are the likes of Tim Burton, who demonstrates a particular style within his films or Luc Besson who value’s artistic merit over commercial success. Tim Burton’s films are usually animated and show things from a different point of view. In a nightmare before Christmas ad corpse bride, the films are about how people who are classed as ‘dead’ interact with the living and how they get on with their lives and come up against obstacles such as love, family and more. His films have quite an eerie theme to them, therefore when we see an advert or trailer with animated dead-looking characters, we immediately associate that with Tim Burton. Leon is a good example of one of Luc Besson’s films in which he valued artistic merit over success. Although the film was of the action genre, it didn’t necessarily have all the stereotypical aspects of an action-thriller film, therefore contributing to its lack of success. Most action films have a good looking; young main character who tends to be popular with women, such as Piers Brosnan or Vin Diesel, but in this case there is quite an older man who is Jean Reno. Then you have the attractive female who plays the damsel in distress, but in Leon you have a girl who is about 12 years old who wants to get

involved in all the action. Although Leon is one of Besson’s earlier films which demonstrates artistic merit over commercial success, as he becomes more known throughout the film industry, he starts to adapt to the typical action-style movies with the young, good looking male along with a good looking female which will draw in more attention from the audience and make them more intrigued to watch it. Some examples of his later films which show this are the transporter films starring Jason Statham and lock out which Guy Pearce stars in.

Comparing elements of the mise-en-scene and editing in the opening sequence of sequence is a way of looking at the type of work auteur’s produce.The opening scenes in Leon and Skyfall both have similar things within the mise-en-scene. Guns are one of the similarities and that is what you would expect in an action film. You also have a shootout, but in different ways. In Leon, the shootout happens in an apartment, whereas in Skyfall, there is a

shootout involving a number of vehicles such as motorbikes and trains. The films both start in major cities, Leon being in New York ad Skyfall being abroad. There are many more stunts and danger in the opening sequence of Skyfall as there are people riding on motorbikes on top of roofs and much more compared to the basic indoor shootout in Leon where there’s only guns used. Skyfall appears to be more over exaggerated and extreme and this is probably the reason why Leon wasn’t as successful as Skyfall, because the extravagance that is in James Bond, doesn’t feature in Leon and when a movie of this genre is made, we do tend to expect a lot of thrills, explosions and action.

There are many different characters in mean girls, which are expected when considering the type of film it is and where it is set. A teen comedy set in a high school which has a variety of different 'cliques' which means there will be lots of characters. You have the jocks, geeks and then the main ones: the outcasts and the plastics. These two cliques are complete opposites of one another therefore bound to clash and have conflict. In the outcasts group, you have two people that befriend the new girl, Cady, played by Lindsay Lohan who comes from South Africa and she becomes the main character of the film. Then there are the plastics that are known as the most popular girls in school and everyone wants to be like them. They also attempt to befriend the new girl. Another main character is the teacher Miss Norbury who plays the main teacher in the film. She comes across as quite quirky and sarcastic and even jokes about the difficulties she is going through in her personal life.In the film there is a lot of iconography which suggests it is a teen comedy. There is the secret diary and that is associated with most teenage girls, in this film that is known as the 'burn book'. There is also a lot of pink which runs throughout the film, suggesting that it is mostly to do with girls and they will play the main roles in the film.With the film being set in a high school, we can already predict that there are going to be cliques, conflict, what kind of cliques are going to be a main part of the film and there's going to be the guy that the popular girl and the geek both like.The narrative in mean girls uses the three act structure. The exposition in the film is showing Cady starting her first day at a school and experiencing the surroundings she isn't used to back in South Africa. There are flashbacks which show her in South Africa and the things she used to do. It also shows her attempting to make friends with a girl in her class who shoots her down. We are then introduced to the two main characters of the outcast clique, Janice and Damien who sarcastically try to advise her where to sit in the class, and finally we are awkwardly introduced to Miss Norbury. The inciting incident of the film is where Janice and Damien start to side track Cady by making her skip lessons and gaining her trust so they can put a plan together to spy on the plastics. Further on into this, we are introduced to the 3 plastics who try to befriend Cady. This is when the plan is put into place that she would spy on them and report back to the other two. She also discovers the burn book which is a crucial part of the development of the film. We then have the rising action, which is

where Cady gets sucked into the plastics. During this time, she starts to develop a crush for Regina's ex-boyfriend Aaron and because Regina encourages him to get back with her, Cady starts to seek revenge on her by subconsciously actually becoming Regina, thinking this persona would make Aaron like her more, which ends up back firing. She ends up having a party at her house and doesn't invite Janice, Damien or Regina, to which when both 3 discover what is happening, they all fall out with her. Regina's anger then brings the film to a climax, which leads to her revealing the burn book to the school and acting as if Cady and the other two girls created it. A massive fight breaks out in the school between all the girls that have been mentioned in the burn book and Regina sits and watches it all crash and burn. Then Miss Norbury, who has been mentioned in the burn book due to words misinterpreted by the plastics which Cady said and forced her to write it in the book, is asked to make the girls write an apology to the people they've hurt in the past in the school and gain trust from people again. This is also where Regina storms out with Cady and the rest of the girls following her as the two have an argument, to which Regina is knocked over by a bus and many rumours then start to fly about that Cady pushed her. This leads to the falling action where Cady ends up having to join the mathletes as a result of her actions with the burn book and supposedly the Regina incident. Her teacher then persuades her to turn up to prom, where she is then announced as prom queen and gives a speech and apologises for her actions, to which people start to accept her again. The denouement is where the cliques no longer seem to exist, the entire girls smile at each other and various different personalities who wouldn't have got a long before, do now. Then at the very end we see 3 younger girls of a similar resemblance to the plastics that once reigned the school get run over by a bus, but only in a vision, they realistically just escape it.

When looking at Napoleon Dynamite, we can see aspects of that film are very similar to those that are in Mean Girls but also different at the same time. For example, Mean Girls focuses on a group of girls known as ‘the plastics’ and their popularity, beauty and so on, however, in Napoleon Dynamite,

the director has come away from that typical high school theme of focusing on the popular people and actually drawn focus to the geeks/outsiders. The geeks have more of a quirky look to them. We are intrigued as to why he is called Napoleon Dynamite; he has the typical ‘geek’ look about him with the shirt tucked into his trousers, goofy teeth and big glasses. While in Mean Girls; they’re all girly and dressed in pink. They do have a similar part in it which is to do with having a crush on someone. In mean girls we see Lindsay Lohan liking Regina’s ex-boyfriend and Regina is aware of this and a lot of people know she likes Regina’s ex-boyfriend therefore, competition sparks up between the two and in Napoleon Dynamite, we can all tell Napoleon likes a girl and is slightly hurt when his friend Pedro takes her to prom but he doesn’t admit he likes her but it is completely obvious to the audience, so there is that slight competition between them all to get the person they want. Another example is the prom in mean girls where people are competitive about being prom queen and in Napoleon Dynamite where people are competitive about becoming class president. It always seems to be the popular one against the outsider and often the outsider wins because they’re a bit of a dark horse and in the end people always tend to support them. Due to the look of Napoleon dynamite in comparison to Mean Girls, being more quirky, focusing on a different set of people rather than the type of people that would typically be focused on in teen-comedies, this makes the director of Napoleon Dynamite, Jared Hess, an auteur director because he appears to have gone for artistic merit over commercial success with this film. Jared Hess focuses on the perception of the lives of the people who are seen as the outsiders of high school and what it’s like to be them when they are always getting picked on by the popular group, how they deal with certain difficulties like girls and family. Jared Hess creates the character so he thinks he is cool in his own way. He tends to have a laugh and joke with his brother and acts as if he is popular more than his brother and as if he is the better one, so although he may not be popular at school, at home he feels like he is popular and has a sense of authority in some ways.