1. Pr3
When watching a movie we respond to media products in many ways usually subconsciously, the
things we analyse are:
The genre what is the type of the movie.
The Narrative what the structure of the film is like.
The semiotics weather there was any signs or clue in the movie liked to the overall storyline.
The representation what the film shows about certain things.
.
Leon
Leon was made by Luc Besson in 1994 in which a 12 year old girl Mathilda who finds comfort in a professional hit
man (Leon) who she originally sees as a father figure after her family are murdered, she then starts to look at Leon in
a different way as she realises that she is in love with Leon, she then finds out that stansfeild killed her parents and is
determined to get him back. But as Leon is a known criminal and stanfeild is after him so stanfeilds sent all his
departments to Leon’s flat to take him out but Leon being a professional ends up taking almost all of stanfeilds crew
out, he them makes sure that Mathilda is safe and goes to meet her but having already been shot it Leon is weak and
when standfeild shot him. In the first 20 minutes you find out the setting, the Characters and genre of the film. The
exposition establishes the character Leon, who is unconventional, the setting which is conventional and Mathilda who
is also unconventional, the insisting incident is when Mathilda’s family are murdered. The rising action is when Leon
agrees to look after Mathilda, when he plans his revenge and when he trains Mathilda to be like him, another part of
the rising action is when Leon kills stanfeilds colleagues. The climax is when Leon and stanfeild dies and Mathilda
escapes. The falling action is when Mathilda is given Leons money. The denouement is when Mathilda plants Leons
plant in the ground.
2. Leon is set in new York which is an iconic location which means the majority of people would
recognise the place when you see it in a movie as it is conventional of many action thriller movie
opening sequences and the way Mathilda wants revenge on Stansfield as another convention of action
thriller is revenge, the character representation in the film is that Leon is the hero and a dad like figure
to Mathilda a twelve year old girl who is in love with him which comes across to the viewers as
strange because of her being so much younger than him and how attached she gets tends to make
viewers feel a little on edge, the iconography of this film is that is set in a big city such as new York
and that there is a mob boss at the very start of the film, the guns throughout the film and at the start
when he takes out loads of people it shows that Leon is a hit man and a good on at that another way
this is shown is when Leon has a gun in one hand and his phone on the other which is iconic of an
action thriller and very similar to James bond movies. The mise en scene of the film is of the film is a
shot of a huge lake followed by skyscrapers, these are used to show the difference between jungle and
urban life, these are usually to create an overall mysterious atmosphere.
3. Pulp fiction
Pulp fiction was made in 1994 by Quentin Tarantino starring john Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson.
Pulp fiction is with Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega who are two hit men who receive a suitcase
which has been stolen from the boss Marcellus Wallace, who asked Vincent to take his wife out when
himself and Wallace were out of town then butch Coolidge is a boxer who is paid by Marcellus to lose
his next fight, over all the film is just about events which do not ream related that become woven
together with lots of bizarre incidents.
The postmodern features in pulp fiction are intertextuality which is references to other films in this
film the link are to grease when they are in the drive in cinema and the women in the diner who is
dressed as a pink lady, there are also links to reservoir dogs and 7 year itch with Marilyn monroe in it
to. Another feature is parody which is copying other films in a funny way such as the way all the
above films are linked in a way to make viewer laugh, pastiche which is where the film closely
imitates the work of previous film directors in this film that is the 7 year itch with the marlin Monroe
scene. Also reflexivity which is when the film maker add things which break the illusion that the film
is real such as the square boxes that expose the making on the film, bricolage which is a mix of
historical eras within one or a few shots, in this film there is reference to the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s and
90’s with the clothes which are worn and the drug taking in the toilets. And finally self-refferentality
which is when the film maker makes direct reference to their previous work such as the referencing to
john Travolta and the characters from kill bill who are from a TV show called fox force 5. Over all the
postmodern features are just how we as an audience respond to the film we are watching.
