How do we analyse film

How do we analyse film?
Introduction
Genre theory is when you categories each movie into their own section by giving of
their theme or the setting of the film, such as Daniel Chandler has said ‘conventional
definitions of genres tend to be based on the notion that they constitute particular
conventions of content (such as themes or settings) and/or form (including structure
and style) which are shared by the texts which are regarded as belonging to them’,
as well as Steve Neale said ‘One way of defining genre is a set of expectations’.
Lacey’s Repertoire of Elements has key concepts in the Media Studies, Nick Lacey
defines genre elements as involving 5 areas. Setting, Character, Narrative,
Iconography and Style which is the way Lacey analyzed the film.
Genre Theory, Steve Neale declares that “genres are instances of repetition and
difference”. He adds that “difference is absolutely essential to the economy of
genre”: mere repetition wouldn’t attract an audience. Texts within a book often
exhibit the conventions of more than one genre. Particularly literary genres tend to
be regarded as fixed forms, but contemporary theory emphasizes that both their
forms and functions are dynamic.
The film Leon is about a hitman called Leon and a girl called Matilda, her family gets
killed, therefore Matilda seeks revenge by killing the people who killed her family,
when Matilda finds Leon and acknowledges that he is a hitman she starts to practice
and learns to become an assassin.
The film has a plot of Protagonists and Antagonists, as the main villain in the film is a
corrupt police officer, this leaves a plot twist of confusion to the audience watching
the film, they can identify the genre by looking at the mise en scene as there are lots
of props which show violence within the movie. The editing of the movie is fast paced
when Leon and Matilda are endangered by the antagonists, the character himself is
not exactly an appealing role model to the audience. The main character’s physical
appearance is not like the modern day’s role models such as James Bond, Leon has
a much more ragged look, not appealing towards females. Good thing about this is
that its different leaving the audience left in excitement and confusion at the same
time as it is giving them a unique feel with the way the movie is shown.
Daniel Chandler has said every genre positions those who participate in a text of that
kind as an interviewer, listener, storyteller, reader or as a person interested in
political matters. Steve Neale argues that pleasure is derived from ‘repetition and
difference’ which states there would be no pleasure without difference.

Leon and James Bond
From this poster of Leon we can see that the film is based on violence and/or
relationship as the red color shows it, this has been shown in the movie as the
leading actress who is a child named Matilda falls in love with an adult who is a
hitman, from this we can see the red represents blood as Leon kills people for
money, the black may show that Leon is an evil person who does bad things to
others, we can see this in the movie because Leon is a paid killer who would kill
anyone if he gets paid for it, the “O’ on the posters title is shown as a sniper scope
which could mean that the movie is based around guns as it can be seen in the
movie throughout Leon as he is a hitman who uses guns and snipers to assassinate
people from a far distance. The iconography is the movie is that the yellow taxis and
the tall buildings tell us that the film is based around New York. In the film Leon the
characters unique to the modern days characters in a hitman movie such as Skyfall,
as James Bond is a character who wears smart clothing and well-groomed while in
this film Leon the main character is an old man who looks homeless with a messy life
style, the actress in a James Bond movie is sexually attractive towards the main
actor while in the Leon film the female character is a young 12 year old child who is
in love with the main character Leon, from this we can see that the characters are
weirdly different to the modern day James Bond movies.

Mean Girls & Napoleon Dynamite
Mean girls was created during the year of 2004 as a teen/comedy movie directed by Mark
Walters, the directors used characters such as Cady Heron, Regina George, Karen Smith etc.
the narrative of the movie Is the rising actions such as after the winter show Cady Heron is
rejoicing in the popularity of herself and the other girl is getting left out, the setting of the
movie is inside an American High school and the mall, this is because the movie is based on
teenagers which go to school and make friends, the iconography of the movie could be the
High school as it is an American movie the director decided to use an American high school.
The director uses split screen in the movie which gives the audience an idea of what both
the character shown on the screen look like giving the facial reactions on the screen to the
audience so they can get an idea of what the character may be feeling. Napoleon Dynamite
is directed by Jared Hess in 2004 as a comedy movie based inside an American High School
as a teenager who is not popular through the school year which is opposite to Mean Girls as
the unpopular child gains popularity throughout other students who were called ‘the
plastics’, in Napoleon Dynamite the character is a lonely teenager who struggles to gain
many friends as he is different to others in many ways, the school in which the film is based
on is an iconography as it is an American High school, we can see this throughout the film
more as the students at the school are teenagers and it is held in America because of the
buildings and malls within the film.
Auteur Theory
The term auteur theory means that the film reflects on the director’s personal
creative vision, film analysts apply auteur theory in many different ways as different
directors have different ideas, James Cameron applies innovation to all of his movie
as this gives the audience an expectation of what’s going to happen in the movie as
James Cameron has new ideas for every movie such as Avatar which was released
in 2009, it was created after James Cameron directed Terminator Salvation, the
director has used a completely new idea on Avatar as it is on a ‘lush alien world of
Pandora” whereas Terminator Salvation is more about a destructive robot who has
travelled through time to destroy everything, from this we can see the innovation
which goes into James Cameron’s new movies.

Martin Scorsese makes films with similar themes to his previous movies, this gives
the audience an idea of what the upcoming movie of Martin Scorsese is going to be,
this leaves the audience with an expectation of what is going to be in the films
created by this director. The director Martin Scorsese used similar themes in his two
previous movies such as The Wolf of Wall Street and The audition, in these movies
we can see that the director has used similar themes with the illegal drugs, the main
characters in both films are mostly rich money wise and/or drug wise throughout
illegal ways, Martin Scorsese’s creates movies to show a low-class worker to gain
wealth throughout business fraud and illegal ways.
The director of Napoleon Dynamite, Jared Hess is an auteur because the director
uses Lacey’s repertoire of elements as key concepts in his film involving around
setting, character, narrative, iconography and style, the director shows these ways
by using iconic buildings within the movie such as the American High School and the
scenery of America as they have tall buildings and lockers in high school, the
character within the movie is a teenager who studies at an American High School
who struggles to make friends has he is looked at as the ‘weird’ kid.((Style))

Conclusion
In conclusion the genre and auteur theory can lead to a wider appreciation of films
and help inform film analysts as the genre gives the audience an idea of what kind of
film it is going to be as it could be many different ones from Horror to fantasy, using
genre the audience get unique movies to others as they may be different genres
which allows them to change feelings throughout the movie, the auteur theory
applies to all the movies as it also gives the audience an idea of what the movie is
like based on the settings, iconography and characters this allows analysts many
different ways to analyse movies genre and theories. Using different genre and
auteur theories to the movies it gives a wider appreciation to the movies audience
where their feelings would change based on the movies genre. In movies directed by
Mark Walters in 2004 as a teen/comedy called Mean girls this is targeted more
towards school teenagers as it gives them as it uses a teenager’s lifestyle and shows
the audience what’s going on, the movie was based inside an American High School
which could be seen as a sign of iconography as it has many students and no
uniform, the characters within the movie of Mean Girls are teenagers who then turn
into a group of girls called ‘the plastics’ and get popular, however in Napoleon
Dynamite the character is a lonely boy who struggles to make friends as he is
unpopular, both the films are based in an American High School and they both use
the school stage to perform something to the whole school and throughout this the
main characters of the film either get more popularity for their performance or get
unpopular as they perform something wrong.

How do we analyse film

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