1. LO1-How Do We Analyse Film?
There are different ways to analyse a film such as genre analysis and auteur theory. Genre analysis
consists of 7 key areas when analysing a film. These include:
 Codes and convention
The codes and conventions of Teen Horror are a male
monster/serial killer preying normally on attractive females
using weapons such as a knife, axe and chainsaw. The film
Ginger snaps beats the conventions of a teen horror because the
monster in this case is a woman. She changes from an
unattractive geek, to a beautiful werewolf.
 Location
Teen Horrors often take place in a school, at a prom, or at a
holiday camp. In ginger snaps the location is in a school.
 Character
In teen horror stereotypical social groups are always seen. There are normally popular
attractive females, Jocks, and geeks. The killer is normally male, and the people who
normally survive are the least expected.
 Iconography
In teen horror films the knife often represents male sexuality and is seen as phallic. However
Ginger snaps breaks this convention by having a woman being the scary character preying
on men. The adults in Ginger Snaps are unhelpful which is typical for a teen horror.
 Narrative
After the girl is bitten by a werewolf she becomes more attractive and wants sexual
relationships with men. She becomes more beautiful after she is turned into a “monster” as
a way of luring men to her so that she can kill them.
 Themes
The themes in Ginger Snaps are Love, family, friendship and death.
 Ideological message
Sex is seen as a bad thing, as the men are killed once they are lured into the girls trap.
The typical conventions in a werewolf movie are the full moon, shape shifting, gore and romance
and all these things are seen in Ginger Snaps.

2. Auteur is French for “author” and a filmmaker who puts their
individual distinctive mark on their films is an Auteur. The 1994 film
“Leon” directed by Luc Besson fits in with the crime thriller genre
however Besson put his own stamp on the film which makes him an
“Auteur”. The film begins with an establishing shot of the location
which is New York. Leon fits in with the crime thriller genre as much
of the film is dark, corrupt and dangerous. The characters are seedy,
with deep dark pasts and some appear psychotic. The film is set in
New York’s Little Italy which is the seedy underbelly of the large city
New York. The film could be seen as conventional as it has similar
traits to a crime thriller, such as guns, criminals, psychotic
individuals, corrupt police, people involved in twisted relationships
(The Child’s attraction to Leon) and innocent victims. However what
makes Besson an auteur is that he brings an emotional side to the
film by showing Leon becoming a 12 year old child’s guardian when
her family are brutally murdered leaving her on her own. Leon takes her in and cares for her, and her
uncomfortable attraction to him wouldn’t be found in a normal crime thriller. The film was
prevented from being shown by the BBFC unless parts of the film were cut out due to how
uncomfortable her attraction to Leon is to watch. Leon is seen as the protagonist and is trying to
help the child get her revenge against the psychotic man who brutally murdered her family.
Quantum of Solace directed by Marc Forster is a conventional thriller. It has similarities to Leon such
as the opening sequence in Quantum of Solace shows an establishing shot similar to Leon however it
shows an exotic location rather than a shot of New York.
Quantum of Solace has the conventions of an action thriller
such as the fast cars, suits, guns and crime. Quantum of Solace
is a generic example of an action thriller which contrasts with
Leon which is unconventional.
Narrative structure of this movie pulp fiction is a non linear
structure yet the story still seemed to flow and people could
still understand. He was one of the first to successfully employ
this structure. His selection of music to accompany the action
is always very iconic and helps to develop an image around a
character, theme or tone to a scene.
The dialogue in his films is always very blunt with many uses
of politically incorrect terminology in an attempt to add some
realism and authenticity to a character. Tarantino has a
particular love for Japanese cinema which heavily influences
aspects of his films and whilst many people claim that an
Auteur has to be unique in fact all Auteurs are students of film and film making techniques that they
are in fact influenced themselves by other film makers. Tarantino’s love for Japanese cinema is
clearly shown in his Kill Bill films. Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction are all examples of work of
an Auteur. They all break away from the normal codes and conventions and stun the audience.

3. At the opening scene of Cowboys and Aliens you can tell straight away that the film is a western
because it is set in a desert and you can see a tumble weed which is normally seen in western films.
Cowboys and Aliens is a hybrid film between two genres which are Western and Sci-fi. Some of the
main conventions of a western film are horses, characters dressed in boots and cowboy hats, and
the characters have guns which are also conventions of a western film.
It is clear that the film is also sci-fi because of the spaceships and aliens.
Cowboys and Aliens is a 2011 science fiction western film. It was
directed by Jon Favreau. It is a hybrid genre of science fiction and
western and stars Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. The film poster
represents the hybrid genre because of the typical cowboys with hats
and guns and the alien weapon around his wrist. This hybridity may
suggest that Jon Favreau is an auteur. However there is intertextuality
with star wars directed by George Lucas (1977) because both films star
Harrison Ford who plays Han Solo in star wars, who uses the same
phrases in both films. This could suggest that he is an auteur.
There is also intertextuality with the film Westworld directed by Michael Critchton in 1973. It is a
science fiction-thriller about a futuristic Western-themed amusement park which is similar to
cowboys and aliens because both films are a hybrid genre. It can be argued that because of this
Favreau is not an auteur as the idea of using the hybrid genre of sci-fi and western has already been
done by Michael Critchton. Also Cowboys and Aliens originally came from a graphic novel with the
same name, which Jon Favreau used as his inspiration for his film.