1. How to Analyse a Film
There are many different ways in which to analyse a film, different techniques work better for
different people. During this essay I will be talking about two that I have chosen to use as contrasting
examples, they are Genre Analysis and Auteur Theory. Genre Analysis situates texts within textual
and social contexts; it underlines the social nature of particular productions and the reading of texts.
Auteur Theory is when the director has a specific idea for the film and will tend to break
conventions.There are seven key areas when it comes to Genre Analysis and they are Codes and
Conventions, setting, character, Themes, Narrative, Iconography and the Ideological message.
There’s a very large range of genres and one film that I have looked at is the 2008 action film
Quantum of Solace, this is a direct sequel to Casino Royale. There are lots of genre conventions of
the action genre with their props such as machine guns and fast cars. Genre conventions are also
portrayed through the characters because the men as in these types of films always appear to be
rich and successful good looking men who wear suits and are surrounded by beautiful women and in
Quantum of Solace, just like most films with this genre, women are objectified as they are being
used as sex objects, wearing very little clothing this is the representation of women and they are also
often portrayed as victims within the narrative.
We can also guess the genre due to the way in which it has been edited as all action films have
very fast paced editing and there are lots of wide angle establishing shots in action films so that we
are always fully aware on everything that is taking place.
Lots of iconography from the UK is used in this film, for example; Aston Martin which is iconic of
British dominance and these are the cars that the main
characters in Bond movies drive. The characters clothes
and drinks are always branded like their Armani suits
and Martini’s to which shows off their wealth, this
emphasises male power in the contrast with the
negative female representation.
However an action film that breaks the usual codes and
conventions of this genre is the film Leon. It tells the
story of a 12 year old girl Mathilda who’s family have all
been killed by someone her father stored drugs for,
meaning her little brother the only one that kept her

2. from falling apart was also gone Soon, she finds out about the strange neighbour's unusual
profession - killing - and desperately seeks his help in taking revenge for her little brother. Léon, who
is completely inexperienced in fatherly tasks, and in friendships, does his best to keep Mathilda out
of trouble - unsuccessfully. Now, the conflict between a killer, who slowly discovers his abilities to
live, to feel, to love and a corrupt police officer, who does anything in his might to get rid of an eye
witness, arises to immeasurable proportions.
First of all, the main protagonist goes against the usual codes and
conventions displayed by James Bond in Quantum of Solace as he isn’t
exactly what you would call attractive and in comparison to wearing Armani
suits he wears baggy clothes and glasses to cover his face. Also in these films
they are usually surrounded by beautiful women whereas in Leon the female
lead is only 12 and this would definitely not be seen in a Bond film. So I think
that this makes Luc Besson, the director of Leon an auteur based on the fact
he made this film with a very individual style, making it stand out from the
any other film with the same genre by breaking the conventions rather than having it be the same as
other films it keeps it more original and unique, he was also the main creator of the work as he also
wrote the screenplay again making him an auteur. Another
technique used by an auteur is to make their film have
themes similar to other themes and although there are lots
of differences between Leon and Quantum of Solace there
are also some similarities such as;
One auteur director that I like is Quentin Tarantino he
specialises more with Crime, Action and War based films.
He was born March 27th 1963 and is an American film
director, screen writer, producer and actor. His films have
characterised by nonlinear narratives. One of the films he
did is the 1994 American Crime/Thriller film Pulp Fiction It tells the story of two hit men Vincent
Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L Jackson), a femme fatale Mia Wallace (Uma
Thurman), a boxer Butch played by Bruce Willis and two diner bandits Ringo and Yolanda played by
Tim Roth and Amanda Pulmer whose lives all come together.
I believe that the people that wrote the film wanted the media criticism as they purposely
exaggerate the criticised aspects of movies for example how they constantly jump from scene to
scene with no reason for it, also due to the fact they mix up lots of different genres together, like
comedy, tragedy, crime and I think this element that Tarantino chose to use is another reason he
could be called an auteur because the fact he did this gives the film its own individual style, even
though he still continues to use the stereotypical codes and conventionsfor this genre of film, like
how the two main characters both wear black suits and a tie which are the kind of clothes that
gangsters tend to wear in films. They also include props like drugs and guns what are typically in a
film under this genre. The settings they use are more urban and when indoors they are set in big
houses indicating that they are rich.