1. Genre
Pulp Fiction
Let’s hit this off! Films are unique they can offer different types of techniques that gets an audience
hooked. It can be all down to the director how this works out and as such the first film follows a
different story to the rest of the film which is Pulp Fiction. It is an American crime/gangster film but
with a twist, the director for this film Quentin Tarantino is considered to be an auteur director
meaning he doesn’t follow the usual conventions of a film. The film doesn’t follow a linear story but
instead a non-linear storyline with each part of the story. It follows the same codes and conventions
with the two lead characters Jules Winnfield played by Samuel L. Jackson and Vincent Vega played
by John Travolta standing out as the gangsters in their smart suits and going round to someone’s
house to sort out a criminal action for their boss. The massive guns, drugs, bribery and drug dealing
shown through the film and the characters all conform to the genre along with the Urban City
setting. The theme of death, crime and abit of romance all follow the conform to the genre except
one thing… The Femme Fatale. A French word it mean a seductive women who usually leads men to
their demise except this one has a twist, Marsellus Wallace played by Ving Rhames she is certainly
seductive but married to the crime boss but Vince being made to look after her for a while has an
attraction too her but as she is already married to his boss doesn’t dare to venture there. She ends
up getting herself into trouble and not so much Vince differing from other films of that genre. The
Gun is an iconography symbolised through many films and is no more important in this film than
others whilst also the suits the gangsters wear conforms to the genre. The ideological message in
this film also conforms to the genre that crime doesn’t pay. Let’s move onto the next two films now
one of them follows the normal genre convention but the other is let’s say strange. The first film is
where different films have been made for 50 years I am of course talking about James Bond. The
second film Leon follows is a similar action film but follows different codes and conventions. James
Bond The Quantum of Solace with lead character Daniel Craig and director Marc Forster has the
usual camera codes and conventions with gun action, explosions, fast cars and chases all this shown
at the beginning of the film as well! It is set in Italy a place known for being a very romantic city but
with the car chase being set in the cliff tops with camera shots such as close ups and tracking shots
with fast editing and cuts this film well and truly follows the codes and conventions of an action
thriller. The characters in this the hero James Bond of course as handsome, smart and heroic as ever
and the villains having their faces covered and eventually being outwitted shows this is again just the
usual action thriller. Iconic things including the mise en scene in the film such as making the United
Kingdom look better than Italy with Aston Martin car signifies dominance over Italian make cars and
James Bond wearing a smart suit compared to the rugged clothing the bad guys are wearing.
Recurring themes such as death, love and violence along with the bad guys always being beaten
show off the ideological message that bad guys never win in films as shown in most action films.
Except one film that doesn’t stick to the usual codes and conventions… Leon. With the main
character Jean Reno and Luc Besson who is considered an Auteur director. Now let’s firstly talk
about what an Auteur director is, an Auteur is simply a director who simply differs codes and
conventions during the film for that genre in this case action thriller. The film is simply about a
hitman who gets caught up in some bother including a young girl who he is forced to look after after
her family are killed by drug lords but she wants revenge so ask Leon to train which he reluctantly
agrees too.Similarities between this film and James Bond are quite similar with it going straight into
the action, bad guys dying and the good guy being as well trained as ever even the tracking shot is in

2. the film quite a few times to take you into the action. There are also some major differences to the
normal codes and conventions of action films and James Bond. A good example is (no offence) but in
Leon he isn’t really the most handsome hero you’d like to save you or you’d even think of asking for
help off? Also the relationship Leon has isn’t with a women its more with the girl he is training to be
a killer which is pretty weird seeing as she’s 10 in the film. I mean it’s not that anything in the film
but there is defiantly the sense that the girl feels like she has a strong connection with him as shown
in parts of the film. Lastly the final part of the film is also unusual for something that may of shocked
audience as it certainly would never happen to James Bond what happens to Leon.
A good example of an Auteur director is George Lucas most notable for the film series Star Wars. The
series is well known around the world and stands out from the usual Sci-Fi films as instead of the
films being in linear order the series starts from build up to the end of the film series then the
beginning of how the bad guys (The Empire) begin to fight the good guys (The Jedi).