Pr3 critical techniques

Lauren Allard
Critical Approaches
PR2: How We Respond to Media Products
PR3: Critical Responses to Media Products
In this report I will be analysing the trailer and also the filmfor
Leon: The Professional. Whilst watching both the trailer and the
film I will be looking into four of the film’s areas, those four being
the Genre, Narrative, Semiotics and Representation. Since we
respond to media products in many different ways, some of the
approaches may be in the manner in which, as the audience we
analyse these four areas. I will also be giving information about the
film, where I will be applying narrative theory to Leon. Such as the
plot, year of production, director, cast and also the Synopsis of
plot. I will also be applying genre theory and semiotic analysis to
the film as well as repeating all of the above for a filmof my
choice. I will be choosing a film with a different genre to show the
differences between two different film genres.
Leon Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcsirofJrlM
From looking at the trailer you can instantly tell that the film is a Crime Action Drama,
featuring a hitman named Leon who is known to have “never missed a hit”. He gets hired to
kill people and is known for being the master, but has never in his life had a reason to care
not until a Twelve-year-old girl named Mathilda comes into his life when her family gets
shot down, they both join forces to hunt down the men who ruined her life. Throughout the
trailer there was a voice over explaining the plot of the film, this was used to help with the
emotional impact and the narrative to help explain it further.
Genre: Action Thriller – During the trailer the genre is easily recognised due to the amount
of stereotypes in the Iconography, the guns, explosions and the typical hero and villain and
victim featured in the trailer. The narrative of the film shows the genre of the film instantly
with the corrupt police officer, the hitman and also the young child whose family is
connected with drugs which results in their death.
Narrative: Master hitman named Leon gets hired to kill others for those who don’t want to
live with the crime. He has never had a reason to care before now before Twelve-year-old
Mathilda comes into his life to help avenge her family’s death. This would be the only time
he would have to care for someone else’s life other than himself. They both have a police
man who has crossed the line, and throughout the trailer there are swat teams trying to
hunt the two down.
Semiotics: The Semiotics revolves around the Encoding and Decoding theory about how the
Producer wanted the film to be analysed and what they wanted the meaning of the film to
be, compared to how the audience view and understand the piece of media text. The
producer probably saw this film as a way of representing both life and death, and how
precious it actually is. Also the upsetting side of a 12-year-old girl’s life, showing how
despite her age and her looks her life isn’t as free and lively as you would expect it to be. For
the producer the film shows how much family actually means to others, and the strength of
love and trust for other people. Also how one little thing can make someone change both
with Leon and Mathilda and at some points you see a change in personality when it comes
to Stansfield. He can go from the cop he is meant to be, doing his job to a murderous

Lauren Allard
Critical Approaches
lunatic. Leon changes from a man who wishes to be left alone, to becoming a full time
guardian for a young child who lives in the same building as him.
The producer may have wanted the film to appear this way to the audience, but for a lot of
people they saw the film differently. The relationship between Leon and Mathilda can
appear disturbing for the audience, with her physical attraction to him being strong and real
in her mind. It can also be very upsetting and depressing for many members of the audience
with witnessing the death of Mathilda’s younger brother. The audience’s views especially in
this decade are that the filmwas very disturbing, the same views would have been
expressed at the time of the film’s release. Either way the audience could agree that the
action, and main plot of the film brings them in, the characters and the iconography.
Binary Opposition: The Binary Opposition for Leon can be very dark and bright and can also
be very personal and yet disturbing. The main one being Life and Death, from the amount of
people that Leon and Stansfield have killed throughout the film and also the death of both
characters at the very end of the film. And with the very end of the filmbeing Mathilda
planting Leon’s plant representing his life. Love and Hate has a huge involvement especially
for 12-year-old Mathilda, she has a strong love and physical attraction to Leon and also has
this murderous rage and hate for Stansfield, wanting revenge for what he did to her family.
Narrative Theory to Leon
Leon features a New York based hitman who is known for never missing a hit. He gets hired
all around New York to take out others when the client doesn’t want the crime on their
hands. He is known for not caring about anything but himself, that all changes when 12-
year-old Mathilda’s parents are killed by her father’s employers, the 12-year-old daughter of
an abject drug dealer is forced to take refuge in an apartment owned by Leon. Who then at
her request teaches her how to protect and defend herself by showing her the methods of
his job, so that she can begin her own revenge on the corrupt DEA agent who ruined her life
by killing her younger brother.
Mathilda comes from an abusive family, with her father being a drug dealer the only sense
of care she has is for her four-year-old brother. Stansfield a corrupt police officer finds her
family, killing them all in the process whilst Mathilda is out getting food, when she returns
to the apartment building and finds men raiding her house after killing her family she takes
refuge into Leon’s apartment down the hall. She doesn’t seem to be too bothered about her
family’s death, until one of the men mentions in a disgusted tone about how one of of the
men shot and killed her four-year-old brother.
Year of Production: The release date for “Leon: The Professional” was 18th November 1994
(USA).
Director: Luc Besson (His name isn’t mentioned in the trailer of the film, but is instead
referred to as “The director of “La Femme Nikita” “.
Cast: The main characters for the filmare listed below, most of the names are even more
well known in the present day.
 Jean Reno – Leon
 Gary Oldman – Stansfield
 Natalie Portman – Mathilda
 Danny Aiello – Tony
 Peter Appel – Malky

Lauren Allard
Critical Approaches
Setting: The location for the filmwas in New York City which is shown to the audience
during the first few minutes during the opening title sequence. The establishing shot of the
film shows the skyline of the city, over the top of central park. This is a very stereotypical
location for this genre of film, due to New York City being a very action packed city. Where a
lot of action, superhero and crime films are set and filmed. The camera takes us through the
city, in each shot showing some very obvious parts of New York which shows us the location
a lot more, showing popular New York themed props and buildings, such as the Yellow Taxi,
the Twin Towers and The Empire State Building. Which shows us the time of the release of
the film, based on the Twin Towers still being shown in the shot of an establishing shot of
NewYork City.
Characters: Leon – At the start of the film he hides his eyes with his black round sunglasses
even when he is indoors, which for the audience creates the mystery of him. He hides in the
darkness and tries to keep himself as hidden as he can when he is completing a job, which
shows a very violent side of him and also shows his lack of care for other people. But when
he first meets Mathilda a 12-year-old girl who lives in the same apartment complex as
himself, he acts nice and friendly and doesn’t snap at her when he catches her smoking a
cigarette, despite his occupation he keeps the friendly behaviour due to her being an
innocent, troubled child in his eyes. Unexpectedly he has a love for old fashioned musicals
and tends to be very old fashioned and away from the new generation, keeping to himself.
He knows straight away when meeting Mathilda that she comes from an abusive family
when he spots a bruise at the corner of her eye. But he keeps his behaviour the same and
keeps to himself and doesn’t get himself involved with the family drama.
Guest Characters: The first female character is highly sexualised, fitting into the stereotype
of an Action/Thriller, female characters are shown as vulnerable and extremely sexual.
Mr Jones – Goes from being the lead of a mafia gang to fearing for his life when he realises
that someone is out to kill him.
Mathilda: When we first meet Mathilda she is
wearing typical young teenager clothing, colourful
leggings, patterned shirt with a thin cardigan placed
over her shoulders. But despite her young
appearance she is then shown when the camera
pans up to show her face that she is smoking, and
unlike most children her age she isn’t too happy and
doesn’t have a lot of life shown in her eyes, but they
seem dull and sadness just carries through them.
Her top is stripy and she is sat at the top of the
apartment complex’s stairs behind the barrier, both
the top and the location makes it look like she is a
prisoner. She feels like a prisoner. She has a bruise
at the corner of her eye, and the reasoning for
having the injury would be the reason for her looking depressed and alone. She hides her
cigarette in fear when Leon walks up the stairs, and begs for him to not tell her father that
he caught her smoking. When her father walks out of the apartment with another man, she
changes the cigarette to a lollypop to make the innocence that she is trying to create, come
back to her character. It is obvious from when we first meet Mathilda that she is the victim,
she comes from an abusive family and is obviously depressed and troubled. Since we first
meet Mathilda, the first time she is shown happy and smiling is when she is around her four-

Lauren Allard
Critical Approaches
year-old brother, showing the protective older sister and the love that she has, the only
person she has ever loved being her sibling who she would give her entire world to. She is
more of the adult and parent of her family, by buying food for the family and even milk for
Leon, during the time she is gone, the man who was interrogating her father the day before,
returns to the apartment and then kills her entire family. She returns to the apartment and
walks straight past when she notices the blood and body lay at the front door. She runs
straight to Leon’s apartment in desperate need of help. During her time with Leon she
develops a physical attraction to him. Which for the audience it is something that is very
disturbing to watch.
Stansfield: Straight away during his first appearance in the film, his face isn’t shown. Exactly
like when we first meet Leon, his face is hidden and only parts of him is on show. His back is
facing the camera, and the camera zooms focuses on his back. This camera technique would
make the audience feel
uneasy and feel a sense of
danger when they can’t see
his face. When he turns
around he has a psychotic
look in his eye and he looks
unhinged. The type of
character that you wouldn’t
approach due to their facial
expression and the look of insanity in their eyes. When he approaches Mathilda’s father he
starts smelling him, making the man extremely uncomfortable. This action connects to one
of Stanfield’s men’s statement about him, “He has a talent for sniffing out liars”. When he
walks away he leaves Mathilda’s father trembling with fear. Straight away we can tell that
he is the villain of the film, a psychotic one at that. The next day which is the second time
we meet Stansfield he takes a green and yellow pill out of a metal container, when he takes
the drug he has an odd reaction, his head snaps backwards and he begins to shake and
tremor as the drug takes effect. When he looks in the camera’s direction the insanity we
saw the first time has intensified. After he kills Mathilda’s entire family, one of his men asks
him how they would explain this to the police. In which Stansfield instantly replied, “You tell
them that we were doing our job”, which creates a large plot twist in the story, at first we
thought that he was a normal typical mafia character, which then changes when he reveals
that himself and his entire group are the police. It also helps explain for the audience, how
he manages to get away with so many crimes when he doesn’t exactly keep his crimes
hidden and unknown.
Leon follows Propp’s theory on Characters, showing the stereotypical characters of a crime
thriller. Leon shows them perfectly with the Hero being Leon who seeks something different
that thing being the reason to care for someone other than himself. The Villain being
Stansfield who blocks Leon’s request and continues to hunt him down. Leon’s box being the
Dispatcher the one who sends Leon on his jobs. The Helper and The Princess are the same
characters in this situation, the helper is there to aid the hero, which is something Mathilda
does throughout the film, the takes care of Leon and even plants Leon’s plant at the end of
the film to represent his life. She is also the Princess the love interest due to her falling in
love with Leon, despite her being a 12-year-old girl, which for the audience is quite
disturbing.

Lauren Allard
Critical Approaches
Narrative Events: The narrative includes a use of Binary Opposition, by using two opposing
elements juxtaposing together. The uses of life and death, the filmis surrounded by life and
death and that binary opposition. The filmconstantly shows both tragic effects of the two
elements, from the first few minutes of the film to the ending. Leon is forced to take
Mathilda into his life, to save her from getting killed by Stansfield who has just killed her
entire family, due to her father’s involvement with drugs. The whole plot of Stansfield being
a corrupt cop brings the audience in, especially when they see how insane he can be. How
big his storm is and how much damage he storms leaves when it ends.
Iconography: The opening of the film shows
an establishing shot of New York City, which
then changes into a tracking shot of the city,
going through the popular areas, which then
changes to the rougher and stereotypical
side of the city. The street sign titled
“Welcome to Little Italy” which is an area of
New York, that is a gang and Mafia area
based on the stereotypes because of Media
Culture.
The iconic New York setting which has the busy city with the Yellow Taxi clearly in shot, the
producer showing the audience where the filmis based. With the popular and most
memorable buildings on show, those being the Twin Towers and the Empire State Building.
There are a lot of extreme close ups used in the first few minutes of the film, with other
characters being shown through Leon’s round sunglasses. The sunglasses that are worn by
Leon throughout the entire film are a John Lennon style, the producer used this to connect
the characters to Pop Culture.
All of the extreme close ups are used to create a sense of mystery and claustrophobia, being
so close to the mysterious and potentially dangerous characters.
During the scene of Leon’s first job we see in the film, when Mr Jones realises that someone
is on their way up to his hotel room to kill him, there is a cut away of a close up showing the
lift numbers lighting up as Leon’s decoy makes their way up higher and higher, getting
closer and closer to Mr Jones which creates the tension for the audience, knowing that
danger is making its way up to its victim.
Style: There is a lot of Non Diegetic sound at the start of the film, and as the action is about
to take place the Non Diegetic sound becomes more ominous and begins to drift out. At the
start the main colours shown are Black and Red which shows Death and Danger.
The Diegetic sound – Characters speak in a different language at the start of the film and the
producer didn’t include any subtitles to translate what they were saying, this technique is
used to confuse the audience even more and it intensifies the mystery.
Shockingly for an action thriller the edits are pretty slow at the beginning of the film, with
the edits being slow and long it helps to build even more tension for the audience, but
eventually it becomes obvious that danger is getting closer, due to the editing beginning to
pick up. Making everything a lot faster. During this time there is a lot of Non-Diegetic sound
included when the action is being taken place, but eventually the non-diegetic sound a
diegetic sound joined together when Leon placed the knife on Mr Jones’ throat. This scene
especially shows the danger, and mystery that comes with Leon’s character, he is behind Mr
Jones but his face and hand which is holding the knife are the only things about him that is
on show. Even during this scene, he is wearing the John Lennon style sunglasses, hiding

Lauren Allard
Critical Approaches
more of him. When he removes the knife from Mr Jones’ neck and moves backwards and
fades into the darkness as if he was never there. During this scene it did remind me of old
cartoons when the evil character or slightly insane character would walk back in a
monotone fashion and fade into the darkness.
The colours Green and Yellow are used throughout the film, connecting to Stansfield’s
insane and corrupt mind. The drug he takes at the beginning of the filmis Green and Yellow,
the many uses of these colours are used especially when he is featured or mentioned in a
scene.
Non-Diegetic sound – The music is intense and it builds up slowly as Stansfield continues to
interrogate Mathilda in the men’s toilets of the police station.
During the film you get a James Bond style, with the vulnerable girl being the victim and the
dangerous yet mysterious hero saving the day and the villain who wants to ruin it all. This
shows that the producer did a bit of Intertextuality by referencing the film to other films and
using similar forms and styles of a James Bond film.
Act one:
Exposition – The films setting and characters are introduced. The setting is New York City
with the typical parts of New York on show. Twin Towers, The Empire State Building and the
Yellow Taxi.
Act Two:
Inciting Incident – Stansfield murders Mathilda’s family. Leon rescues Mathilda.
Rising Action – Leon trains Mathilda as an assassin. He tracks down and kills Stansfield’s
men to protect Mathilda. Stansfield discovers where Leon and Mathilda live.
Act Three:
Climax – Stansfield attacks Leon’s apartment. A huge battle.
Falling Action – Leon is killed along with Stansfield. Mathilda escapes and seeks refugee with
Tony (Leon’s Boss).
Denouement – Mathilda plants Leon’s plant in the ground (Semiotics) which symbolises
Leon’s life. The film ends with an establishing shot of New York City. The film’s finishing shot
is in a similar way to how it began.
DeadPool Opening Credits
DeadPool is a 2016 action parody staring Ryan Reynolds. The film is directed by Tim Miller;
who’s name is not mentioned in the film’s opening credits. None of the cast and crew’s
names are mentioned at any point during the opening credits, but instead they are given
nicknames that humorously describes them/their character. The Opening credits to
DeadPool are very different to most of the other marvel superhero movies, instead of an
action packed/dramatic opening to bring the audience in and make them want to watch the
film more. It does bring them in but by using a different technique, by instead of building
tension they use humour as a way of connecting with the target audience. The opening is an
action scene slowed down so capture every little detail, most of which are references. With
the producer being Ryan Reynolds, there are a lot of references connected to himself and

Lauren Allard
Critical Approaches
previous failed work that he has done. When the camera pans through the car that is
flipping over with DeadPool inside, you
catch a close up of a magazine with
Ryan Reynolds on the front cover with
the headline “Sexiest Man Alive”. In
this shot it is connecting the magazine
in the real world by including a picture
of the Royal Family. But connecting the
magazine to the film is breaking the
fourth wall, by showing the actor.
A few seconds later there is a shot of a
wallet falling as the car flips with a
bright green illuminous card half way
out of the wallet, the card being a
playing card with the Green Lantern on
the front. Which is referencing to Ryan
Reynolds previous work, work that
failed and got terrible reviews. This
technique is called Self Preferentiality
which means that the actor/producer
in this case references their previous
work, in a manner which can often be
classed as self-parody.
The non-diegetic sound in the opening
credits is completely different to the
film’s genre. Instead of an action
packed dramatic soundtrack, the music
is instead slow and is a romantic song
which is completely different to the
actual film.
The audience would be able to identify the film as a parody from the opening credits, due to
the props, the none-diegetic sound and also the text that is used. Throughout the entire
opening credits, the cast and crew’s names are never shown, but instead were given names
like:
 Director – “An overpaid tool”
 Writers – “The real hero’s here”
The use of these pieces of text shows the parody that the producer is trying to create. You
can still see the genre in the opening credits just based on the scene that is being shown in
the credits, the obvious car chase which is what we are in the middle of seeing, instead of
seeing the action taking place we are shown a freeze frame of the scene, which shows the
action but also the humour when you see some of the characters in very awkward
situations. Parody basically means that the producer is trying to make fun of previous films,
in this trailer you can see the parody of other superhero movies, since DeadPool is the
opposite of a superhero, but he isn’t a villain either. A bit in between. The slow motion
action scene shows the parody side of the film, instead of the scene being fast and action
packed, its slow with a soft romantic song as the background music.

Lauren Allard
Critical Approaches
Post-Modern Terms
 Pastiche – An artist work in a style that imitates that of another work, artists or
period. E.g. The Simpsons recreated their own version of the “The Persistence of
Memory” by Salvador Dali.
 Parody – A piece of media text that imitates and makes fun of the prominent
features of another. Used for comic effect and humour. E.g. Many YouTube stars like
Bart Baker make Parody music videos of Pop and Rap artist’s recent videos.
 Intertextuality – References to other things, forms or genres in a given work. E.g. The
film Pulp Fiction uses Intertextuality throughout with references to John Travolta’s
previous work 20 years before.
 Reflexivity – Where the mechanics of film
or TV making are exposed. Also known as
‘Breaking The Fourth Wall’ e.g. The
popular 90’s sitcom Fresh Prince of Bel Air
broke the fourth wall during one of their
scenes.
 Self-Preferentiality – Where an actor or
director references their previous work, in
a way that would be a self-parody. This is
normally done on failed previous work.
E.g. In the film DeadPool there are multiple
references to Ryan Reynolds’ previous
work as The Green Lantern.
 Bricolage – A clash of genres or eras, or a ‘collage’ of ideas.
Narrative Theories/Genre
Todorov – Todorov’s theory about narrative in a piece of media text would go in five
different stages throughout the text. Exposition, exciting incident, rising action, climax and
denouement.
Stephen Neale – Stephen Neale’s theory states that Genres about repetition and difference.
Particular features which are characteristic of a genre are not normally unique to it; it is
their relative prominence, combination and functions which are distinctive. (1980)
Nick Lacey – Nick Lacey considers the ‘repertoire of elements’ that work in combination to
suggest a media text belongs to a particular genre or mix of genres. He provides a useful
framework to follow when analysing genre.
 Setting
 Character
 Narrative
 Iconography
 Style
Pulp Fiction

Lauren Allard
Critical Approaches
Todorov has a theory about narrative in a piece of media text, that theory containing five
stages of narrative – His theory states that most story’s or plot lines follow the same
pattern of path.
 Exposition
 Inciting Incident
 Rising Action
 Climax
 Denouement
The 1994 crime drama Pulp Fiction, is known for its Fragmented and Non-Linear Narrative,
which isn’t as easy to follow like Linear and Non-Linear narrative. Fragmented Narratives
jumble up the sequencing of a story, challenging the audience to piece together the
different components of the story to make sense of it. Completely different to Leon which
follows a Linear narrative structure. Pulp Fiction still follows the basic features when it
comes to Propp’s theory on characters. Propp’s theory is that characters have a narrative
function; they provide a structure for the text.
The typical characters he notices is, The Hero who is always seeking something, The Villain
who opposes or actively blocks the hero’s request. The Donor who provides an object with
magical properties. The Dispatcher who sends the hero on his/her quest via a message. The
False Hero who disrupts the hero’s success by making false claims. The Helper who aids the
hero. The Princess acts as the reward for the hero and the object of the villain’s plots. Her
Father who acts to reward the hero for his effort.
But it tends to be the storyline that confuses the audience. With most scenes being in
completely different orders. But the film still follows Todorov’s five stages whilst using
Fragmented Narrative, all five stages are shown throughout the filmbut it does confuse the
audience due to its Fragmented Narrative. The stages are completed but in different orders,
since the timeline in Pulp Fiction is jumbled up. With Pulp Fiction’s Fragmented Narrative,
the film starts with a scene of a couple in a diner that scene ends with them starting a
robbery, we don’t find out the aftermath of that robbery until the end of the film. The film
starts in the same scene/location as it
ends.
Post Modernism – Pulp Fiction
Intertextuality (References to other
media texts) – Grease and Pulp Fiction
with the medium shot of the car pulling
up into the drive in is the same shot in
Pulp Fiction when John Travolta pulls up
into the car park with Uma Thurman.
Quentin Tarantino has done this
purposely; he is purposely copying the
shot used in grease which was released
15 years before. He repeats this twice
again a few minutes later, when Uma Thurman and John Travolta are on the stage in the
restaurant dancing, except instead of using Intertextuality Quentin Tarantino creates a
Parody, mocking Travolta’s previous work 16 years before in a film called Saturday Night
Fever, even though he is using a similar setting and style, the content is being mocked.
Instead of Travolta doing serious dancing like he did in Saturday

Lauren Allard
Critical Approaches
Night Fever, he is doing embarrassing dance routines, making fun of popular dance moves
from the 70s.
Parody – In this case of Pulp Fiction both Parody and Intertextuality are used for the same
scenes, preferably the scene when John Travolta and Uma Thurman are dancing in the 50s
themed restaurant they are using references to one of John Travolta’s previous films
Saturday Night Fever, as well as using references to the film, they are also making fun of his
previous involvement with the film with the wacky stereotypical 70s dance moves.
Reflexivity – During the scene when John Travolta and Uma Thurman are in the car after
their Grease reference, Uma Thurman’s character Mia draws a square with her fingers,
when she makes the movement the shape appears as the draws it. This is showing the
effects on the screen which is a way of breaking the fourth wall, a way of showing the
audience that everything isn’t real.
Star Wars: Rogue One
Rogue One is a Sci-Fi drama and is also the franchise’s
first Anthology film and most recent addition to the Star
Wars franchise. Directed by Gareth Edwards the film like
the Prequel series is based before Princess Leia, Luke
Skywalker and Han Solo make their first appearance. The
film is set before the three main characters’ appearances
but is based after the first rise of Darth Vader. The film
features Former Scientists Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen)
who lives on a farm with his wife and young daughter Jyn.
His peaceful existence comes crashing down when the
evil Orson Krennic takes him away from his beloved
family to create the very well-known Death Star. Years
later Jyn knowing of her father holding the key to the
Death Star’s destruction joins forces with a spy and many
other resistance fighters to steal the space station’s plans
for the Rebel Alliance.
The filmfeatures a few of the popular main characters
from the original film which was released in 1977. With cameos which show C-3PO and R2-
D2 and Princess Leia. And Darth Vader makes his memorable appearance. With these
original characters being used before the time of their first appearance.
Genre: The genre in the filmis easily recognised, not only due to the previous films in the
franchise but also the content in the film. The props and scenes shown in the trailer and film
instantly tell the audience the genre of the film, with the droids (robots) being shown as a

Lauren Allard
Critical Approaches
large feature in the franchise and this film alone, the main locations being different planets
and space stations.
Narrative: The narrative is noticeable from the start of the trailer and also the beginning of
the film. The trailer includes scenes that are relevant to the original films of the franchise,
and also features old yet memorable locations and characters, such as the Death Star and
Darth Vader, which both got destroyed in the original series. This already tells the audience
that the story for this film is based before the fall of the Death Star and Darth Vader. With
the trailer giving us this much information it does feature characters that have never been
mentioned or shown in the films before. However, with the trailer giving little to no
information about the main plot of the film, it does bring the audience in with the old yet
popular characters on screen. The trailer shows former scientist Galen Erso being taken
away from his family to be the engineer and build a powerful weapon for Darth Vader.
Years later Jyn Erso his daughter now a woman and raised since her father’s departure to
fight, joins forces with the resistance to get the one thing that can destroy the Death Star.
Narrative Theory
Rogue one is the first Anthology film addition to the Star Wars franchise, but like many of
the previous films it is based before the first appearances of Princess Leia, Han Solo and
Luke Skywalker. The film’s main Character is Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), who has fought to
survive on her own since the age of twelve when her guardian left her to fight alone, and
her father was taken by Orson Krennic when she was a little girl. The main character is first
shown as a child running to her parents as she notices space ships containing Orson Krennic
and a team of Stormtroopers approaching the island her parents settled on. During the
interrogation between her father and Krennic her mother is shot dead and she runs to hide
in an underground hole waiting to be found. She is next shown as a woman in a cell after
being arrested by Stormtroopers, when being taken to a different location where she will be
held by the Empire, the resistance comes to the rescue and brings her to the Rebel Alliance
where they tell her the news of her father being alive after thirteen years apart and how he
has passed over top secret information on how to destroy the Death Star in which he
created. A deal is made that Jyn will retrieve the one thing that can destroy the most
powerful weapon in the galaxy in exchange for her freedom.
Year of Production: The filmwas released a year after the previous movie Star Wars: The
Force Awakens. On the 15th December 2016 (UK).
Director: This addition to the franchise wasn’t directed by the usual and known director of
the films George Lucas. The recent addition was directed by Gareth Edwards.
Cast:
 Felicity Jones – Jyn Erso: A young renegade woman who is detained by the Empire
for her crimes against them until freed by the Rebels.
 Diego Luna – Cassian Andor: A Rebel Alliance Captain and Intelligence officer.
 Ben Mendelsohn – Orson Krennic: The Director of Advanced Weapons Research for
the Imperial Military.
 Donnie Yen – Chirrut Imwe: A Zatoichi-esque blind warrior who believes in The
Force.
 Mads Mikkelsen – Galen Erso: Jyn’s father and a research scientist.
 Alan Tudyk – K-2SO: A rebel owned imperial enforcer droid who was reprogrammed
by Cassian Andor.

Lauren Allard
Critical Approaches
 James Earl Jones – Voice of Darth Vader: The actor comes back for his role of Darth
Vader who he played in the previous films.
 Spencer Wilding – Physically portrays Darth Vader.
Act One: Jyn running frantically towards her house where her parents are collecting their
belongings so that they can escape the Empire. The mother and Jyn manage to get to a
secure place where they cannot be seen whilst Galen Erso confronts the intruders. The
locations appear to be on a muddy abandoned island away from anything that is living, the
setting appears to be quite depressing and cold, which perfectly creates the emotions that
are in the characters during this scene. The mother tells Jyn to keep running to where she
needs to hide and stay hidden, she then runs back to her husband which results in her being
shot and the Empire taking Galen on board their ship, whilst two remaining Stormtroopers
attempt to find Jyn. Thirteen years later Jyn has been arrested by the Empire for her crimes
against them, when she is rescued by the Rebel Alliance when they are in need of their help.
For the past thirteen years she has kept her real name a secret for her own safety.
Act Two: Jyn is reunited with her father after he admits to Orson Krennic that he was the
person responsible for sharing top secret information with a Spy. Which results in him dying
in Jyn’s arms. Her anger for the Empire rises and her determination to destroy the Death
Star increases. After she manages to get herself and members of the resistance onto the
planet where the Empire Is based. Jyn and Cassian Andor find themselves inside the Death
Star finding the weapon that can destroy the space station. When they both find the
weapon two of their new friends have died on the beach in battle. The weapon is named
after Jyn, with her nickname that her father gave her “Star Dust”, during a battle with
Stormtroopers Cassian gets injured but either way Jyn continues on with her mission.
Act Three: With her friend injured and the details on how to destroy the Death Star in her
hands Jyn makes her way to the satellite to transmit the information to the Rebel Alliance.
When doing so this means that the entire planet will be destroyed. As the transmission goes
through to the Rebel Alliance Orson Krennic comes forward and attempts to kill Jyn, during
this battle Jyn reveals who she really is and how she is avenging her father and mother’s
deaths. Orson is then killed by Cassian and the transmission has been sent to the Rebel
Alliance. The two are then shown on the beach looking at the wave of smoke that is heading
towards them as the planet is being destroyed. There is a flash of white light which is then
taken to the space station which shows members of the Rebel Alliance receiving the
information, the lights on the space station go out and all that is heard is a very familiar
breathing. In the darkness a flash
of red appears and reveals Darth
Vader stood at the end of the
corridor holding his red
lightsabre. He battles his way
through as everyone runs for
their lives leaving some to fight,
the man carrying the information
disk runs for his life with Vader
on his tail, the door at the end of
the corridor is stuck leaving

Lauren Allard
Critical Approaches
everyone stranded with a small gap in the door he hands the information disk to another, as
Vader gets closer and closer. With the remaining men inside they detach the escape pod
from the space station.
The filmends with the information disk being handed over to a woman in a familiar white
outfit, with her back to the camera so her face cannot be seen. She is handed the disk and
turns around to show a young Princess Leia.
The filmending with the beginning to the first Star Wars film which was released in 1977. In
began in 1977 and again in 2016.
Todorov’s Theory of Narrative Theory is explained above in three simple acts, the
Exposition, Exciting Incident, Rising Action, Climax and Denouement. The way that this
works is that the narrative is split into these three acts. In Rogue one it starts with showing
the audience how the story began, how this main character ended up in a difficult situation.
The giant plot twist and heart-breaking moment in the middle of the story which causes the
main character to change. And also the climax, the ending of the film and for Rogue One the
ending had to be connected to the first Star Wars movie.
Nick Lacey had a list of things that create the genre, showing how the genre becomes what
it is. With Rogue one the genre comes together through the Iconography the content within
the film, with the space stations, different planets as the main locations and also the props
shown in the film.
The Characters in the film are all
connected to the main popular
characters, the Rebel Alliance are all
connected to Princess Leia. Dark
Vader using his suit to keep him alive,
the costume that he wears is
technical and scientific. Main
characters in the Star Wars Franchise
are droids (robots), with droids being
the main characters brings a very
scientific feel to the films.
For settings, the locations in the film change all the time the only way to put the film into
one main location would be to use the very well-known line in the franchise “In a Galaxy Far
Far Away”. Since the locations are mainly on different planets and spaceships/space
stations. We start the film off with being on a deserted island where the Erso family is hiding
from The Empire. The scene then changes to a space station and another planet. The main
location changes all the time throughout the film, the characters are always travelling from
planet to planet. The only way of giving the filma main location would be to say that the
film is based in a different Galaxy in space.
The Narrative is that Jyn Erso, daughter to Galen Erso the engineer for The Empire, the
creator of the Death Star. Manages to escape as a young child, The Empire when her father
is taken to work for them and her mother is killed, in an attempt to save her husband. For
the past thirteen years she has been raised as a fighter, to save herself over anyone else.
She is then seen thirteen years after the death of her mother and capture of her father in a
Cell on an Empire space station after being arrested for her crimes against them. When
being relocated to another prison she is then rescued by the Rebel Alliance and is asked to
make a deal. They had received a transmission from Galen Erso about how he has a weapon

Lauren Allard
Critical Approaches
that could destroy the death star, in shock that her father is alive she agrees to help the
Rebel Alliance in destroying the most powerful weapon in the Galaxy. The deal being that
once the information is transmitted to them she goes free. Jyn then joins the resistance in
gathering the information for the Alliance.
The narrative does connect to the Sci-Fi genre with the mention of the Space Stations, the
Alliance and the characters featured those being Stormtroopers and the Empire. The
narrative explains the purpose and the plot of the film but doesn’t give too much away on
what would happen during the climax and exciting incident.
For the style, the filmis filled with non-diegetic sound, the background music mainly being
dramatic and suspenseful. For each change in location there would be a different piece of
Non-Diegetic sound, mainly to fit the type of location that is being shown. For example,
when the scene changes to show The Empire the music will change to the original and
classic background music that is used for scenes when Darth Vader is present. The non-
diegetic sound would fade out slightly, it could still be heard in the background but it’s quiet
enough for the dialogue to be heard.
Post Modernism is used throughout not only this film, but also throughout the entire Star
Wars franchise such as Intertexuality, there are references to previous star wars films. In
Rogue One events that took place in previous films are always mentioned, even though
some of the films are set before the older films. There are still references to the older films
by mentioning the future of the storyline (What has already happened in older films, Star
Wars current films or more recent releases are mainly set before the first Star Wars movie).
Production Technology and Distribution Methods
Back in the 1950’s and 60’s Post Modernism wouldn’t have been used, since back then no
one could take films home with them they went to see them in the cinema. DVD’s and Video
Tapes weren’t a thing. Also there wasn’t a lot of films before those decades that they could
have used Post Modernism on.
Where’s in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s they could begin to create a Parody and use other forms
of Post Modernism since they had more technology and also could reference previous films
from either actors or just films that were popular in the past.
Now in the 21st Century a lot of films are being remade but some with a slight change in Plot
and Storylines. The filmTerminator Genesis was the final filmin the Terminator Franchise, it
was connected to the first film and made several references to that first movie but with the
slight change in storyline/plot. Directors and Producers have more opportunities to use Post
Modernism in recent films, by using films of the past for examples.
Now we have better opportunities with technology, in the past the only other way of
viewing films was through the cinema, but as time went on we could begin to rent films on
video tapes from popular shops like “Blockbuster” and take the films home, time continued
to go on and technology began to improve, by creating DVDs of films which later went on to
Blue Ray disks which contained better quality video and also extra features for the
audience. And now with DVD’s still being popular, the audience can now download their
favourite films from services like ITunes and Amazon. We can access films so easily which
gives us a greater advantage to reference previous work from actors, directors etc. We have
a massive opportunity to stream and view more, and more pieces of media text anytime we
want for free, or even for cheaper prices.

Lauren Allard
Critical Approaches

Pr3 critical techniques

More Related Content

What's hot

Viewers also liked

Similar to Pr3 critical techniques

More from Lauren Allard

Recently uploaded

Pr3 critical techniques