PR1: How do we analyse films?

The word genre means type, category or organizing into section where you are able to identify what

type of film it is. When studying a films, the genre is the biggest part to analyse because genre explains

what to expect in the film, for example it you have an action film compared to a drama it is completely

different, one is about danger, fighting and blood whether drama is about love, romance and everyday

life problems and you would know this because the genre tells you. Iconography normally help predict

the genre. There are different numbers of ways to that you can analyse a films for example, genre

analysis and auteur theory are the basic one. You can also analyse films with mise-en-scene, narrative

style, editing and setting. Mise-en-scene contains everything you see in the screen and it creates the

effect of realism which help the scene that is taking place. Narrative style is the way of developing the

story and the relationship of the characters. Chronology is the way the story is told, the beginning is

when they have equilibrium where everything is at peace and has the time to explains a little bit more

about the characters. The middle is Disequilibrium, this is when the villain makes damage and disturbs

the peace. We also have the attempt to repair the damage this is when the hero and the villain are

having their big fight. When the hero wins, there will be a new equilibrium this is when everything is

put back to it’s place and they have piece once again.

In Steve Neale’s theory (Repetition & Difference) he says that films must subvert these conventions

enough that it is still viewed as a unique film, not just a clone. What he is saying is films that have the

same genre aren’t always a complete copy of each other for example compare this horror film called

“Paranormal Activity” with original horror film “The Woman in Black”, they are not completely different

because they have the same genre however the way the story is set is what makes it different. Film with

similar genre have the same storyline but they are told in different way. To explain this further, The

Woman in Black is set in a big 365 years old castle and the narrative to this story is when a man called

Arthur Kipps Goes to this Castle and finds out that it is Haunted. The mise-en-scene on this film is

original of because there's a giant Castle that is Haunted and we have cobwebs dark rooms and old

dusty rooms. This is then followed by some Tension building and jump scare editing.

The film Paranormal Activity is different because the way the narrative starts with a normal people living

in a house only to find out their house is haunted. These films have the same idea however they look

different because genre convention can lose people's interest.

Comparing Leon and James Bond

Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Directed by: Colin Trevorrow

Starring: Chris Pratt

The first thing we notice about this poster is that the shark is about to be eaten. This tells the audience that sharks are not the most dangers species in the planet, there something bigger. The lighting is low key with the colors of black and blue. The black representing death, evil and the blue intelligence. The colors tell us there some kind of discovery to bring back the dinosaurs.

We can see that this film poster is horror because the lighting is low key to represent the tension of the film. The title of the film is written in yellow (yellow represents warning). The poster is 40% black to show off the danger. We can see a women looking terrified and the house looking scary and if you focus in the window of the house, we can see a man standing which then tells us that he is involved in the film.

This is an action film because the poster shows well built characters with guns and they have used a wide shot to show that there are more than one people. The costumes that they’re wearing is armed with guns and uniforms. The colors are red, orange, and black. These colors mean danger, death and fun. The title is written in bold and and big to show the strength of the film. The people who are staring in it normally produce an action films so it gives the audience a clue what to expect in the film.

The film Leon directed by Luc Besson (who is an auteur director) in 1994. The film starts with establishing shot to show where the location is set (New York) and give the audience a clue on what the film is going to be about. The following shot then gives an iconic places and taxi. The linear narrative to this story is very clear conventional narrative beginning, middle and end.Comparing this film with James bond Skyfall (directed by Sam Mendes) in 2012 can show different

results. The convention on these film is the same, you have the bad/good guy, the guns/action, the

women, and the money, the way the story is scripted is similar to James bond. They both start their

scene with someone getting killed, this is done to explain what type of character they are dealing

with. What makes this films different is that the girls are 12 years and the characters not

represented as a sex object. The main character in the film is also not attractive, he is ugly looking

who drinks milk. Another difference is that James bond has a high budget film that allows it to go in

the exotic places, nice cars, models and suit. These films have the same idea however they look

different because genre convention can lose people's interest.

Comparing Mean Girls with Napoleon Dynamite

Jared Hess Is an auteur director because his work on the film (Napoleon Dynamite) he use different conventions to explaind the characters and yet it contains everything you expect to see in teen-comedy. There is the main character, the bully, antagonist and the friends. Comparing this to Mean girls will look different however they are they are the same. They have the same idea but they told in different ways. The narrative is when a new students is introduced to the school and become friends with the main character. Then we get the inciting incidence, this is where something new happens that leads to rising action. Followed by the climax which is the big fight or the problem they have to fix. The final scene is the denoument, when the damage is fixed. Mean Girls and Napoleon Dynamite have all of this and yet they look different that is because Napoleon Dynamite is unconvention. It had some creativity ideas into the film.

Auteur Theory

The term Auteur originally came from France and it translate to an author. The auteur theory was introduced France in the 1950’s by French film directors. An auteur is when a film maker who has his own style and creativity over his work. This is when the film director makes a movie that reflects on the creative vision that normally isn’t used in film with the same genre. Luc Besson is the best example of an auteur director, screenwriter, producer because the movies he made are very different compared to other action films. His best work is Leon, Lucy and Transporter. James Cameron was born on 16th august 1954 in Canada. He is famous for being an auteur director and one of his best is Titanic, Terminator and Avatar. He is all about special effect and CGI. I have chosen to analyse the film Avatar because, you are able to see his amazing work that you wouldn’t see in other film. In original films, you see the hero wining after the big fight but in this film, the main character loses and that is what makes it different. We are not used to seeing

the main character fall. The change of the films outcome is considered to be weird and unusual which attracts the audience’s attention.These two famous auteur directors have different way of creating something new and that is what makes them successful on what they do. Steve Neale said “difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre': mere repetition would not attract an audience.” This mean when coming up with a new idea it will be more attractive that repeating the same convention. For this these film, making difference can give new feeling and have good results.

Conculusion

Genere theory is when you analayse to the core of codes and conventions. Auteur theory examines when a film maker decided to change the code and convention when creating the film.Code convention means aspects of a film seen and repeated in the other films with the same genre. For example, in a standard horror movies, they are filmed in the night time with some adults or teenagres and we will always have the last surviver.