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1. PR4:How do we analyse film?
There are a range of techniques used when analysing films. Two of these ways are the
analysis of genre and application of Auteur Theory.
Lacey’s Repertoire of Elements is used to analyse the genre of a film. Character, narrative,
iconography, setting and style – technical/audio codes, these are all elements that are used
to establish the genre. Codes and conventions are also used to define the specific genre.
Auteur Theory was established in the 1950’s by French film critic François Truffaut. An
auteur is a filmdirector whose work shows him or her to be a distinctive artist. Someone
who has a particular style throughout their films and has the creative control over their
work. An auteur is also a filmmaker who demonstrates artistic merit over commercial
success and innovation. Also a filmmaker who makes films; all with similar themes.
A Walk Among The Tombstones was directed by Scott
Frank and was released in 2014. When applying genre
analysis to the film A Walk Among The Tombstones, the
genre is defined by the codes and conventions used
throughout the film. At the very start of the film, the
camera pans across New York showing it is a big city,
most action thrillers are set in large cities. LiamNeeson is
sat in a bar, he runs out shooting people then there is a
sudden Car chase / crash in the first few seconds. These
first few scenes set the location. To set the characters
most action thrillers have a protagonist and antagonist,
in this case LiamNeeson is the hero helping to rescue a
kidnapped girl, and he has to face the antagonists
throughout. Liam Neeson is also known films such as
taken and taken 2; he is also a protagonist in these films
which suggests he is playing the same role in this. The
narrative structured by firstly Liam Neeson doing the
narration; he explains how he started doing what he is doing throughout the film, giving us
little clips of what the filmis about. From what he says we know he is an ex-police officer
but is now a stray officer. The short clips helps create enigma. The iconography plays a large
part in defining the genre. The New York City skyline is very recognisable, guns, car crashes
and voices overs are very iconic. From these 5 elements help establish the genre of film and
are very conventional for the type of genre.
Although Leon and James bond are
very similar films following the same
codes and conventions, the way they
are style the film in directed is very
different. James bond: Die Another
Day was directed by Lee Tamahori
and was released in 2002. In the
opening scene of James bond we see
straight away that the film is set in a

2. large city, North Korea. From the very beginning of the filmthere are guns and throughout
the opening scene gun fights break out. There are a lot of fights and explosions because the
scene is set at an army base. Leon was directed by Luc Besson and was released in 1994.
This filmis very similar to Leon the genre for both these films are crime / action / thriller and
both have themes of life, death, conflict and revenge. Just like the James bond film, Leon
follows all the codes and conventions that help establish the typical genre. James Bond is
very generic whereas with Leon, the director follows the codes and conventions but create
his own distinct style. From the opening scene we see large buildings and from that we
know that this film was set in New York. There is a lot of the same iconography within both
of these films, such as guns, shootings and explosions. The main similarity is that they both
carry briefcase around with them and it is made noticeable a few times by the camera
position. There are also a few differences, while James Bond is set in a open space; a lot of
the opening scene for Leon is based in his apartment and is very secluded. Also in James
Bond, a large majority of the camera shots are long or extreme long shots whereas in Leon
most of them are close ups of his face. Luc Besson is an auteur director and this is where the
two films both differ. In the James Bond film we see that he has a side kick and throughout
the film she is sexualised. In most films where a man has a woman side kick they are usually
sexualised and used to make the man looked manly by rescuing and protecting the woman.
In Leon, Mathilda (Natalie Portman) isn’t sticking to the stereo type of action thriller where
women act as a side kick. She isn’t being sexualised because she is only 12 years old.
However, she is still strong and independent as her family were killed by drug dealers. Leon
(Jean Reno) is acting as a father figure to Mathilda even though he doesn’t have any
children, which shows he has to be responsible for her. While Lee Tamahori put chose to
make a filmthat would achieve commercial success, Luc Besson is a filmmaker who
demonstrates artistic merit over commercial success, which definitely shows in this film.
Mean girls was directed by
Mark Waters and was released
in 2004 and the genre is a
comedy. This film has a linear
narrative. The exposition
happens when Caddy moves
from South Africa to America
and attends high school, the
rising action happens when she
goes ahead with a plan that her,
Janis and Damien came up with.
The climax then happens when
Caddy and Janis have some
conflict, falling action comes
into place because everything
goes wrong for Caddy, and the final denouement happens when Caddy sorts things out with
everyone and she wins prom queen, everybody becomes friends again. We see that high
school, football pitch, mall, house part and class rooms are the main scene for the settings.
Just from watching the first few scenes we know that the filmis a very typical teen film. Also
from the first few scenes the characters are set, Caddy is the new girl who just moved from
South Africa so she doesn't fit in with the typical American teenage lifestyle. Regina George

3. is very popular, she gets everything she wants and her boyfriend is the best looking guy in
the school, everyone looks up to her. She is also very rich and has a big house. Janis Iain is
classed as a geek and is 'different' compared to everyone else, especially Regina George.
From these characters we know that it is a generic teen film because it’s all very
stereotypical. Throughout the filmthere is a lot of iconography such as parties, prom,
geeks/popular people and cliques. Towards the end of this film the mathletes win a
competition so end up buying themselves jackets, this isn't very conventional as it is usually
the 'jocks' that have jackets. At the end of the film, Caddy becomes popular and everyone
starts to hate her, she then wins prom queen and makes peace with everyone who hates
her. These are all very iconic and realistic codes and conventions, so teenagers (mostly girls)
can relate to it. From this we know that it is a teen film, they also establish the comedy
genre as it is all very cliché. These codes and conventions that the director has followed are
conventional for this genre of film.
Napoleon Dynamite was directed by Jared Hess
and was released in 2004. This filmalso has a
linear narrative but doesn't really have much of
a story line. Throughout the film, quite a few
different locations are shown to set the setting.
Where he lives, high school, and a fast food
restaurant known as 'a diner'. The diner is set
in the 90's which suggest the whole film is set
in the 90's. We see this throughout the film
with the way they dress mostly. The
iconography for this film is very similar to mean
girls, Napoleon doesn't fit in at school, they
have a prom and there are popular girls. This
film has a very specific style that the director
has done purposely; we know that from this
that he is an auteur director because he has
demonstrated a particular style. This is shown
by the story line of the filmthroughout. He has also valued artistic merit over commercial
success by slightly changing the codes and conventions of this genre of film.