There are several ways to analyze a film, including genre analysis, auteur theory, and Lacey's repertoire of elements. Genre analysis examines a film's style and conventions to classify it into a genre like western or science fiction. Auteur theory analyzes a director's personal style and recurring themes across their body of work. Lacey's repertoire looks at elements like characters, narrative structure, settings, and technical aspects. Together, genre analysis and auteur theory can provide deeper understanding and appreciation of a film by considering both its formal qualities and the director's unique vision.

1. PR4: How do we analyse a film?
There are a number of ways that a film can be analysed. Three of these ways
include the analysis of the genre, application of Auteur theory and Lacey’s repertoire
of elements. Genre analysis is defining a film based on its style, such as the 2011
science fiction western film, Cowboys and Aliens. Within this film, the mise en scene
has iconic costumes of cowboys attire, iconic locations relating to the theme of the
film, such as a desert, and the two contrasting ideas of cowboys (being known from
past eras such as the 18th/ 19th century) combined with aliens (futuristic and idealistic
that they might exist). The director of Cowboys and Aliens had the film recognised as
a western because of all the iconography of the two themes, (cowboy hats, horses |
slime, creatures etc.) therefore making it more known of its genre rather than the
director. An Auteur film could be science-fiction-heist-thriller, Inception (2010)
directed by Chris Nolan. Nolan created the idea for this film after being inspired by
lucid dreaming, unconscious memories and ‘dream stealers’. He created a
psychological thriller about a dream within a dream within a dream. He also used
star theory to make the film seem more appealing by giving parts to well-known
actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Michael
Caine.
The third way of analysing a film includes Lacey’s Repertoire of elements, which we
can use another film such as A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014), directed by
Scott Frank. With this film being an action thriller you’d expect the typical
iconography such as guns, violence, blood and car chases etc.. to which this films
delivers on its linear narrative. The characters are iconic as well as there is always a
protagonist who is the saviour who gets everyone out of trouble such as Liam
Neeson, playing a character similar to his well-known statue of genre, such as
the Taken series which is defined as action thriller. The directors stick to a linear
narrative as it’s about the genre and the storyline, not about their specific director
style. With the main character being portrayed by action-thriller actor king, Liam
Neeson, you expect the film to be an action thriller as that is the genre Liam Neeson
is known for. With Taken, you can find the expected iconography such as blood,
violence, guns and visually appealing women (who usually are the ones in danger).
The directors for this trilogy usually stick to what is expected by the audience
because that is how the film is known. Action thrillers are mostly portrayed in a big
city that is well known such as New York. This is easy to tell as most opening shots
show the skyline of New York, which gives the audience the idea that it will involve
gangs and some type of stereotypical action. Iconic costumes are used as well as
they mostly dress in simple, dark clothing that hide guns in their waistbands etc. The

2. use of the characters are stereotypical as well as the gangs of New York and other
various locations are portrayed to be foreign, which makes the storyline more thrilling
as subtitles are used to read what they are saying, and it gives off an idea that
another country/location will be used. Taken is a well-known franchise of action-
thriller. Auteur theory is more to do with a director and how they write their films to
their specific style.
Alfred Hitchcock is a well-known auteur English director who was known for his
psychological thrillers, who framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear and empathy as
his camera technique mimicked a person’s gaze, taking on human qualities. He is
known for his slight obsession of using blonde female leads, bloody violence and plot
twist endings. His most notable work includes Psycho (1960), The Birds (1963) and
Dial M for Murder (1954). His films were of linear narrative as Hitchcock wanted to
keep his films simple but add in extra detail of camera techniques, editing, sound
effects etc. Hitchcock used iconography of violence, but uses it in a psychological
way that makes the audience think. Hitchcock was named ‘The Master of Suspense’
which defines him as an auteur director due to his criminal personal style which
made him a cultural icon. Alfred Hitchcock can fit into many auteur categories, such
as ‘the principal creator of a film’, ‘a filmmaker who demonstrates a particular style’,
‘a filmmaker who demonstrates innovation’, ‘a filmmaker who values artistic merit
over commercial success’, and ‘a filmmaker who makes films with similar themes’.
Other directors like Quentin Tarantino can also fit into many of these categories with
films like Django Unchained (2012), Pulp fiction (1994) and Kill Bill volumes 1&2
(2003&2004).
Spanish director duo, Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza can also be described as
auteur directors from their 2007,2009,2012 and 2014 Spanish film franchise of REC.
which was remade to be called Quarantine in 2008, by American director John Erick
Dowdle. Dowdle recreated the film as the original was in Spanish with subtitles and
had a large audience due to the camera technique of it looking like it was all filmed

3. on a video camera (with a shakey camera technique alongside found footage editing
makes it look and feel like the audience is a part of the film), hence the original name
of REC.. A second Quarantine was made called Quarantine 2:Terminal, which had
no relation to REC as it had entirely different settings and plots, therefore going off
the theme of the American franchise version, which the Spanish version was widely
known and loved for. Both the first REC. and Quarantine are known for taking place
in one setting, which is a block of flats/apartments where the ‘infectious disease’
breaks out and causes insanity and violent behaviour amongst the tenants, which
include young and older families, elder pensioners and a man who rents the attic
apartments that hasn’t been seen for days. Director of REC., Balaguero said that,
“it’s impossible for me to like, because it’s a copy”, and “They avoided the religious
themes” which were important to the first REC film as the attic apartment is entered
by some of the characters who find religious items within the apartment that has
connections to priests and the virus. Quarantine has no religious theme, only terrorist
themes and therefore does not stand out against REC. as much as the American
director would hope.
Leon: The Professional and James Bond: Skyfall are two action thriller movies but
differ form each other. Leon has more of an auteur director, Luc Besson, who has
been known for his difference in style of stereotypical movies, such as in Leon, the
‘sexy’ female who is the damsel in distress, has been replaced with a 12yr old girl
called Matilda. In Skyfall, the stereotypical female (who is either a sidekick or in need
of help) remains the same because that is what is expected by the audience. The
mise en scene of the locations are completely different, as Bond films are set in well-
known luxurious locations with mansions and yachts, whereas Leon is set in
suburban New York with the typical yellow cabs. Bond is shown to always get his
way and things always work out for him, where as in Leon, the action is more down
to earth and realistic.
Laceys repertoire of elements is also another way of breaking down a film, to which
we can apply to Mean Girls (2004), an American teen comedy, directed by Mark
Waters. The film was based on Rosalind Wiseman’s non-fiction book, ‘Queen Bees
and Wannabes’, which describes female high school cliques and the damaging
effects they can have on girls. The film is of linear narrative, as it takes place in a
stereotypical teen comedy setting which wouldn’t be of the same genre if the
narrative was non-linear.The script for mean girls was written by Tina Fey, who

4. based some aspects of the film on her own high school experience, which can add to
the factor that it seems more realistic than other teen comedy’s in high school. The
film is of linear narrative as the detail lies within the characters and their actions. The
characters in Mean Girls consist of Cady Heron, Janis Ian, Damien, Regina George,
Gretchen Wieners and Karen Smith. Cady is a new student after being home-
schooled, who shortly befriends Janis and Damien, and they all become a small
circle of good friends. Regina, Gretchen and Karen are also a trio of best friends, but
are known as ‘The Plastics’ to the school with their reputations and popularity. These
are stereotypes characters of a teen comedy in a high school, the popular girls with
the ‘frenemies’ who usually share one friends in common between them, in this case,
Cady. The iconography within this film includes the common use of mobile phones,
‘keg’ partys, relationships and the typical cliques in high school, to which mean girls
creates a wide range including “freshmen, ROTC guys, preps, JV jocks, Asian nerds,
cool Asians, varsity jocks, unfriendly black hotties, girls who eat their feelings, girls
who don’t eat anything, desperate wannabes, burnouts, sexually active band geeks,
the greatest people you will ever meet, and the worse: beware of the plastics”. One
of the party’s within the film includes a Halloween party, to which the characters
dress up as stereotype girl ‘sluts’ such as bunnies and nurses etc. to which the film
plays up to this and dresses the main character in a scary costume, thus making it
more realistic for girls who are like Cady’s character. The technical and audio codes
include teen pop songs varied across the film from the opening sequence to the
closing credits. Flashbacks are also used such as when Cady is at Mathletes, she
flashes back to when she learnt the specific subject. The narrative structure of Mean
Girls starts with the exposition of Cady starting school for the first ever time, meeting
new friends such as Janis and Damien, and being told about the schools hierarchy
such as the plastics ruling the school. The rising action is when Cady walks past the
plastics at lunch and they ask her to sit with them, to which the audience knows that
something is to happen due to their different popularity status’. When this happens,
Janis and Damien convince Cady to start messing with Regina, such as swapping
face cream for foot cream etc. The climax occurs when the two other plastics,
Gretchen and Karen start following Cady around like she is the new queen bee, to
which she doesn’t know how to respond so just goes with it, which annoys Regina
causing more drift between the two. The falling action occurs when Regina
eventually finds out about the plan about messing her around and ends up arguing
with Cady outside, where she gets ran over by a bus to which starts rumours about
the two. The denouement occurs when all the difference is put behind the plastics
and Cady during Cady’s home-coming queen speech to which makes the girls all
find new friends to hang around with to make life simpler and remain good friends. I
think this film is purposely stereotypical such as where the characters hang out as
they relate to where realistically, teenagers would hand out.

5. Auteur theory is one of main ways to define a director, such as ‘The Great Gatsby’
(2013) directed by, Baz Luhrman. Luhrman is not the principal creator of this
concept, since the film is based on the 1925 novel of the same name by F. Scott
Fitzgerald. Luhrman defiantly does define a particular style as his previous work of
‘Romeo + Juliet’ (1997) was based on a well-known story as well, making it redefine
and re-modernise past work of well known authors. Luhrman also demonstrates
innovation and artistic merit due to his attention to detail such as the characters, the
settings, the iconography within the films, and most of all, keeping the film storyline,
true to the original storyline. Luhrman’s films have similar themes running through
out them as they all have dramatic events and gripping scenes. Luhrman managed
to modernise The Great Gatsby, by using star theory with the use of well-known
actors playing the main parts, such as Leonardo Dicaprio, Tobey Maguire, Isla
Fisher, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton and Elizabeth Debicki). He also used technical
and audio codes by using a modern soundtrack with the likes of Jay-Z, Lana Del
Rey, Beyonce, Will.I.Am and Florence & the machine. The tracks that were
performed were written with a modern day Gatsby character in mind, with the tracks
featuring slight jazz and Charleston themes. The costumes were modernised a little
bit as the original theme of flapper dresses were kept, but more detail was added
such as changing the colour and or adding bling to them. The mens suits were kept
modern but with a hint of traditional colours such as sand coloured suit.
Auteur theory and genre analysis can lead to a wider appreciation of films by helping
the audience to understand certain aspects, thus maybe making the film easier to
understand. An example of both combined could be ‘Star Wars
Episode IV: A New Hope’ (1977), which is defined as an American space opera,
which is stereotyped to emphasized romance, melodramatic adventure and,
obviously, set in outer space, to which star wars does include. The iconography
includes adventure, action, romance, protagonists and the antagonists. Star wars
can also be defined by its director, George Lucas, who is defined as an auteur
director, from his twin trilogy’s of the star wars franchise. Due to its success, Star
wars also has branched out into other aspects of its expanding universe such as
books, tv shows and other merchandise. Star wars is known by its director as if
someone mentions, George Lucas, they automatically accoissiate him with the star
wars, and the film is known by its iconography such as the characters and weapons
(ie light sabres).