Conor Norton

LO1 How Do We Analyse Film

How do we analyse film

There are many different ways to analyse a film the two that we will be looking at are genre analysis and Auteur theory. There are 7 key areas to genre analysis they are codes and conventions, setting, character, themes, narrative, iconography and ideological message, also look at technical features like the camera, sound, mise en scene and editing and if they are the same as in other films in the same genre. The other way of analysing that we are looking at is Auteur theory, this is where the director an actor or editor breaks the genre conventions of the film they are doing by going against what other films are like in the same genre. In Auteur theory the director can be classed as an Auteur if they:

1. The filmmaker is principal ‘creator’ of a film

2. The filmmaker solely creates meaning/ideological message

3. The filmmaker demonstrates technical excellence

4. The filmmaker makes films of artistic merit rather than commercial value

5. The filmmaker makes films with an individual style and themes

6. These individual styles and themes will often appear across a number of different films/genres, by the same filmmaker

7. The filmmaker can be a ‘jack of all trades’; director/actor/producer/scriptwriter

Such Quinton Tarantino with films such as reservoir dogs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvoKT481EmU

Conor Norton

When defining genre analysis there are 7 key areas they are codes and conventions, settings, characters, themes, narrative, iconography and the ideological message. When defining genre analysis one of the most important areas of the analysis is the codes and conventions these are such things as music, script, costumes, camera angles and framing. The codes and conventions define the genre of the films as like music can define the genre as an example in horror the music is also dark and ominous and builds tension for what is to come like in the film “Jaws” where the dark music builds up tension so that the audience get on the edge of their seats in anticipation of what is going to happen. The script can also define the genre as how the script is written it can define if the genre could be a comedy for example as if you do not have comedy timing in the script it will not be funny. Costumes and props can also define the genre as they are very important in the film as if the costumes are not correct the film will not make sense, costumes are used well in westerns the generic costumes of hats cowboy boots and spurs and guns these help shows the audience that it is a western as no other genre have these costumes and also the colours of clothing can also define the character and genre like in the “The Good The Bad and The Ugly” were The Good Clint Eastwood is always wearing light clothing like an angel and The Bad Lee Van Cleef is wearing dark clothing showing he is evil. Another code that defines the genre is camera angles and framing these is possibly the best way to define the genre as like in an action movie like Rambo they had to have quick clean cut shots that create excitement for the audience which you want with a generic action movie so the camera angles and framing is very important when defining the genre.

My favourite genre is the western and recently we went to watch the new movie Cowboys VS Aliens which is a hybrid movie as it is a western and Sci-fi. But what make this film a western are the 7 key areas of genre analysis like in the opening sequence of the film there is the generic costumes of the western of cowboy hat and boots and guns and horses, the characters in opening sequence also reflect that the film is the western as in the opening sequence all the characters are male this is quite frequent in all westerns as women at that time were just perceived as house wives or prostitutes so there wasn’t many women characters in a western

Conor Norton

so this makes this film typical western, when Jake Lonergan the main character played by Daniel Craig wakes up the generic western opening with an establishing shot of the setting of the desert like most westerns for example Hang 'Em High, but then we notice that he has a strange bracelet on his wrist which looks weird and futuristic which is used in Sci-fi so it then turns into a hybrid genre and not just a western

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKITYu7z-AY – Hang 'Em High

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdmupNxobP0 Cowboys VS Aliens

Action Thriller genre

The bond movie Quantum of solace using the key areas of genre analysis starting with the location after watching the opening scene of the Bond film I decided that it defiantly fitted with usual action thriller opening location of dark corrupt and mysterious and is at the seedy under belly of a big city. With the codes and convention in particular cameras this is a typical action thriller film with allot of quick clean shots and transitions which we see in all action films which create excitement and entertainment that the audiences want to see. Also the opening sequence also has classic iconography which all action thrillers have like straight away it goes to a shot of an Aston Martin car which is typical iconography of England and bond films and their other bits of iconography like guns and car chases around the city. Also another way of defining the genre is with the characters, all genre’s have different types of character so does the action thriller, they always have the hero who this time is James Bond and then we have the criminals chasing them and the psychotic man who gets caught and there are characters with a dark past. In contrast “Leon” (directed by Luc Besson in 1994) when comparing the opening Scenes the “Quantum of Solace” and “Leon” they are very similar all action fighting and shooting and all we expect from an action thriller, but as “Leon” continues we begin to realise that this film is not just your average action film it starts to be a crime and family drama when the girls family gets killed and Leon takes her inn. But the girl begins to get feelings for Leon when she is under age and she tries to lead Leon on this leads to some uncomfortable viewing for the audience. I believe that the director Luc Besson can be classed as an Auteur as his film goes against the grain and breaks the codes and conventions of action thrillers as the film is an original idea

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and Luc uses his own individual styles and themes, he also has been able to make a range of genre for this film like action thriller and crime drama and family drama in one film, this is why I believe Luc Besson is a auteur.

Auteur Director

I have decided to choose the director Quinton Tarantino because I believe that he is a special director; there are many different ways that he can be as an auteur. One of them is that Quinton Tarantino creates all his films as an original idea and is the principal creator. Also all of his films are not made for commercial it is made with artistic quality and style. Quinton Tarantino is also a very successful director as he uses a variety of genres for his films for example “Reservoir Dogs” a heist film “Kill Bill” action thriller and “Inglorious Basterds” which is a war film so he then also can be classed as an auteur as he has used a wide range of genre.

Is Jon Favreau an Auteur?

There will be many arguments to whether Jon Favreau is an auteur based on his new film “Cowboys VS Aliens”. Some would say that Jon Favreau isn’t an auteur because his film Cowboys VS Aliens wasn’t an original idea as it was an already developed comic series which the film has been based on so Jon hasn’t created an original which other auteur have like Quinton Tarantino all his films were original ideas that he had created so this leads us to think that Jon Favreau is not an auteur. But many would class him as an auteur as has created a film with technical excellence with the quality of camera work, the special affects that have been used in the film are top of the range this could lean towards that Jon is an auteur. But once again people may argue that does he not put commercial success before merit, as this was advertised as a massive film with quality but hasn’t been awarded with big awards and ratings so is he classed as an auteur because of this. But this film does have its own individual style that has not been used before as western movies haven’t been very big recently as comedy sci-fi and action are big at the moment so it was original to combine the old and the in one film especially with the western and sci-fi being so different as the western is based on the quality of

Conor Norton

characters and action and sci-fi is about special effects, but it has been done before Star Wars but I believe that they are different as Star Wars is a sci-fi with bits of the western mixed in but Cowboys VS Aliens is split 50/50 mix of both genres and I think it works well. But the other question is do his over films have similar themes which also can be argued as his two other famous film are “Elf” and “Iron man” 1 and 2 which are very different but do mix genres as Elf is a mix of comedy and family and Iron man is a mix of action thriller and sci-fi which is quite similar to Cowboys VS Aliens.

Conclusion

To conclude the methods of auteur theory and genre analysis are very contrasting but together help understand film. As genre analysis tells us everything we need to know about the type of film and what defines the genre and auteur theory helps us understand the quality of the directors for the films we are watching and both together help us understand all films we ar watching by doing analysis.