Introduction:

There are a number of different ways in which films can be analysed; there are two ways genre

analysis and auteur theory. Genre analysis is analysed by having specific objects or scenery in one

scene, e.g. a film about space would have objects like rockets , astronauts, NASA etc… Auteur theory

is analysed when the “Author” of the film oversees all audio and visual elements of the movie than is

the writer of the screenplay. When applying genre analysis to Cowboys vs Aliens the opening scene

includes a desert, cowboy hats, horses, saloons and so on, this is known as mise en scene everything

in one scene which instantly tells you the genre of the film. And when applying auteur theory to pulp

fiction the director Quentin Tarantino directs the film from his perspe ctive having each scene

jumbled up throughout the film making it confusing for the audience, he also does this to his other

films e.g. Kill Bill which shows that it’s his work and relates back to his perspective of film making.

Task 1: Lacey’s Repotoire of Elements (James Bond/ Leon)

Film analysts analyse genre in James Bond by having a good looking actor play James and dressed in

fancy suits and sun glasses. The films James Bond and Leon are very similar in ways but also have

defined differences, for example they use the main characters of both films as an anonymous type

character but have different styles. Bond is dressed smart using sharp black suits, geld combed hair

and sunglasses coming as a very handsome male who most men want to be like. Leon is a ve ry much

imitated character of bond but appearance and style is completely opposite he dresses in big thick

jackets which keeps him hidden and looking suspicious, a black beanie hat with big circular glasses.

The author of Leon seems to be trying to have the character Leon influenced by Bond but by keeping

Leon’s representation different. Also Bond is a very stereotypical American who gets very pretty

women and drinks a lot of alcohol, with Leon it’s the same but more downgraded he gets a girl who

is 14 years old, he’s a foreign character and doesn’t speak much throughout the film and sticks to

milk other than Bond who drinks alcohol. There are a lot of iconic objects/ scenes split between both

films which show similarities and representation for Leon and James Bond, e.g. the use of guns both

films have the use of big guns and hand held pistols which is iconic for an assassin action thriller

films. Also the iconic scenes which involve massive explosions and massacre gun fights this is more

shown in James Bond but can also be relevant to Leon with the end scene showing Leon killing

himself with an explosion which kills of Stansfield and his whole mafia gang. There are many other

films which show reference to previous popular films, they contain iconic features w hich have been

currently used in genre related movies made by different film makers. I analysed a new released film

A walk among the tomb stones which was genre related to older films Taken/ James Bond being the

best examples. The film was very much like Taken starring the same actor (Liam Neeson) he plays

the same style role as in Taken being an ex-cop undercover hunting down villainous gangs using bare

hand combat and little hand guns. The genre of film being an action thriller makes the two films very

similar and contains the same iconography and mise on scene throughout the two films.

An auteur filmmaker is the author of a certain type genre of film, for example Quentin Tarantino a

film maker of Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, and True Romance etc… has references in each film which link

together to show that it’s a Quentin Tarantino film. For example in Pulp Fiction the character Vince

played by the actor John Travolta was mentioned in a later film True romance which is the same

style and genre of film but a completely different and unique story line, a prostitute who is a main

star in True romance mentions about her brother called Vince relating back to Pulp Fiction This link

shows relevance to a Tarantino film.

Talking about another auteur filmmaker Tim Burton who also has a unique style of filmmaking, Tim

Burton is all about crazy creativity which entertain the viewer. His films are dark and weird which are

confusing for example Alice in wonderland being a fairy tale type of film but contains twists which

refer to drugs and hallucinations. This is iconic in Tim Burton’s films because showing gloomy

characters and scenes instantly tell you that’s it’s a Burton film, e.g. the corpse bride being an older

film also is very similar to a more recent film Frankenweenie. Also the actors who star in a large

majority of burtons films also have the reputation of dark and weird characters in Burton films,

Johnny Depp is world-wide known actor who perfectly plays roles in which him being suspicious, a

killer, or plain stupid. For example Sweeny Todd is a burton Film which has Johnny Depp as the main

star in the film and also Edward Scissor hands are two completely different characters but they’re

both iconic roles for a Tim Burton film.

Talking about innovation in film making the best example would have to be the director James

Cameron the maker of the most popular Titanic and Avatar. James Cameron demonstrates

innovation using these two movies by basing them beyond complex and never been used before in

the film making industry. Titanic was most likely the most popular and award winning film James

Cameron has ever made. Using techniques which started a new era of film making, the use of CGI

animation which no other film maker has used it in the way as Titanic made the film look real

footage. James Cameron an Auteur director demonstrates innovation using these ways or

filmmaking; he also uses innovation with filmmaking within the storylines of his films. Avatar is a

James Cameron film which defines him as an auteur director because it’s a great adventure which

exceeds into a dramatic twist making both films quite similar in a way. This defines James Cameron

in a way of making these types of films that can easily describe the film as being one of James

Cameron’s.

Another way you can define a director as an auteur theory filmmaker is the way the director uses

confusing artistic ways mixed into their films. Luc Besson being the prime filmmaker who defines

artistic ways into films, Such as Leon being an example which Luc Besson has created in an artistic

way. Comparing Leon to previous film made which signifies the character in both films, he is

compared to a James Bond type character in deep ways, the appearance of Leon is complete

opposite to James Bond having Bond as a American assassin who is good looking, dresses very sharp

and seems to get a new beautiful woman character in every new film made. Leon is different he’s

quiet, has an accent which is very much not American, dresses in massive coats making him look

rather suspicious and gets a girl who is twelve years old. Although the site and appearance have

these 2 characters look very differently their personalities are linked, one example can be that

they’re both assassins who kill people for money. This way shows Luc Besson having his films more

shown as an artistic style film.

A film maker who shows similar theme in movies would be Michael Bay being a good example;

Michael Bay is an auteur director for creating sci-fi/ action adventure type films like the transformers

franchise and the adventurous film Armageddon. Michael Bay has a reputation of explosions and

massive scenes of cities being destroyed; this is used in both transformers and Armageddon which

signifies that it is a Michael Bay film. The films are different in storyline but similar in theme and the

making. Michael Bay is an auteur director in a way which he uses the type of animation in his films

which defines him as that type of director and can instantly tell you it’s a Michael bay film with the

animation and plot used throughout the film. Comparing the similarities in his films the best given

example for a Michael Bay film would be Transformers and Armageddon, these films both contain

scenes which have buildings getting destroyed un-natural creatures and objects e.g. massive

asteroids plummeting to earth, and alien robots trying to take over the world. This is all made using

the same technology and is very similar when comparing it in a technological side of film making.

Part 2: Mean Girls

Dir: Mark Waters Published: 2004

Genre: Teen Comedy

For part 2 I will be explaining how laceys repertoire of elements is used in the teen comedy

movie Mean Girls. The main characters used in Mean Girls are common looking and have

the personalities that are used in many other comedy teen movies. First the complete main

star (Lindsey Lohan) who plays the high role ‘Cady Heron’ a middle aged teen who has

moved from her previous home country Africa which she was home schooled and isolated

from any other normal teen life. To live in America and have a normal teen life that’s when

she discovers the mean ways of some school mates and changes her whole pers pective on

her impression of a high school life. After Cady is introduced into the film it then goes on to

showing the other characters such as her friends Janis Ian who knows everything about all

the school pupils and mainly the Plastics which are the much prettier girls who rule the

school in a way. The plastics contain 3 common dumb acting but good looking girls the same

age as Cady who think they can control everyone these typical girls are a common type

characters in life high schools and other teen films.

The narrative side of the film which talks about the 5 act structure in movies such as the

Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and finally the denouement tells you how the

dramatic use in this film are structured. First the exposition is simply the background story

which is important information to keep you understanding throughout the film. The

exposition in Mean Girls starts by showing you Cady’s previous life which is her family living

in Africa, her parents being scientist and how they have to move to America to start a

normal life type scenario. This then leads onto the introduction of all the main characters in

the film that are important in the film. The Rising action starts by Cady becoming friends

with the plastics and them turning her into something she’s not, they have important

schedules which include colour coordinated clothing for specific days and what to eat and

what not to eat. This part of the film is extremely essential towards the rest of the movie

because it shows you all about the Plastics and how the girls are eventually turned into

mean girls. The Climax in the film starts by Cady and her friend Janis elaborating schemes to

reveal the plastics evil secrets and stop them from controlling the school. This then goes

into Cady being brain washed and turns into a plastic, because she thinks the plastics are

right so she uses their terms and words and starts to dress like them.

The Falling action is about the Burn Book which contains the secrets of the plastics and has

cruel lies and written inside which disrupts and has the pupils resent each other for. The

Burn book gets discovered and has Cady to blame when it was the leader of the Plastics

‘Regina George’ years’ work of roomers. This eventually falls and each person in the school

dislikes Cady when she was in the wrong to contribute towards the burn book. The

denouement Is the iconic ending for a teen movie, it involves Cady going back to her original

self-becoming prom queen and getting her high school crush to be her prom king. The

plastics are no more and everything resolves to peace in school.

The iconic features in Mean Girls which is obvious compared to other films and real life. First

the common used yellow school bus which is shown and used in the same way as every

other teen American movie. The characters such as Regina George the leader of the plastics

being nice at first but two faced to so called friends behind their back. This is iconic because

a character like this is always the same being pretty and thinking they can have control over

anyone. The other 2 plastics are uneducated and have no clue a majority of the time; this is

stereotypical but again used as an iconic figure in other teen films. The school and subjects

are iconic in a way that it’s always a massive school always used, and sports such as

‘Lacrosse, Football and a cheerleading team. These are commonly known as jocks which are

always the big popular guys who all the girls fancy and other students want to be like.

Scenes can also be iconic e.g. the scene in mean girls where she’s at a high school party,

these parties are always used in films which can also be an example of real life out of school

activities. And the use of prom being the end highlight of the film and how all the bad

people become nice and everyone gets what they wanted, commonly called a happy ending.

The setting is blatant, the use of mise en scene at the start of the film showing the weather

and building surrounding which tells you that it’s an American school with students walking

into the building. It has all subjects in that single scene which instantly tells you it’s a teen

movie. All the main subjects I’ve explained easily defines the genre of film by showing the

iconography and the use of laceys repertoire of elements can simply tell you that’s its an

Teen Comedy before watching it and seeing the film for yourself.

Part 3: Shaun of the dead

Dir: Edgar Wright Published: 2004

Genre: Horror/ Comedy

For this part I will be talking about the director Edgar Wright and his most popular film

Shaun of the Dead. Edgar wright is and auteur director for which he makes his films in the

same particular style, for each film e.g. Shaun of the dead, Hot fuzz, Paul etc… are different

genres but express similarity’s showing that these films define the auteur director being

Edgar Wright. Firstly I significant detail for an Edgar Wright film would be the actors he uses,

the two main actors who star in a lot of different films together are Simon Pegg and Nick

Frost, these British actors are used in many of Edgar Wrights films and in my opinion make

the film commonly known as an Edgar film. Another instant aspect which describes the films

being and Edgar Wright film would be the genre, he creates films which include Zombies,

Aliens, Robots and unexperienced police men these are very scientific and create very

unique storylines in filmmaking. These films also include various violent scenes containing

people being shot and gore action not good for the squeamish, for example Shaun of the

dead had a scene where a live person is ripped apart by flesh eating zombies, this shows

bled guts torn apart but still passing as a comedy with its crazy stupid humour scene which

make you cry with laughter. This film and many others which Edgar Wright has directed all

are similar in different ways and show that it is his films using his filmmaking methods.

Edgar makes these films in a particular style to show and tell the viewer that it is his film

when applying the same techniques.

Conclusion:

The two methods in film making (Laceys repertoire of elements and Auteur theory) can

show a lot there is to know about filmmaking. Filmmaking that isn’t considered by the

audience and can be more appreciated when the viewer’s know what specific details have

been put into making that film. For example talking about Quinten Tarantino how he creates

some of films in different order which is confusing and uncommon in filmmaking but he sees

it more as art and can also be a more unique way of understanding the storyline and plot

within that film. Also in some of his films he links the characters being related which is hard

to notice but also a way of signifying that the film is one of his own, I think this is a good way

of expressing his thought around movies and to show that he is an Auteur director in that

type of filmmaking.

Inception:

Dir.: Christopher Nolan

Published: 2010

Genre: Sci-fi/ thriller

Inception a film by Chris Nolan is a film which takes full concentration to understand, this

also applies artistic value in auteur filmmaking having various scenes which make you

struggle to understand the concept of the film. Chris Nolan does this type of style of film to

signify and to show innovation which leads back to his style of making movies.