need for speed

Me and My movies

Dredd worksheet and war of the world worksheet

Remake Assignment

How do we analyse

How do we analyse a film

Auteur director are film makers that have unconventional ideas and change conventions, they also don’t use much product placement in their films and sometimes even the directors star in the films.

 An example of an auteur directors film would be Leon (directed by Luc Besson 1994), Leon breaks conformity of action thriller by establishing the conformity of an action thriller then breaking it, Its open sequence opens much like a conventional action thriller with action but then the story changes and the romantic interest in the film is a 12year old girl which is unconventional for any action thriller as the usual romantic interest in an action thriller is a sexually objectified women who plays no major role in the films. This film also breaks conformity in the role of the main character Leon, who is not like the conventional main character in any action thriller he is dressed in a hat and beard and is tall and skinny. There is not much product placement in Leon because it could of gave company’s bad press due to the relationship between the main character and Matilda it could project a bad image onto the company.

Skyfall (Directed by Sam Mendes-2012) is a prime example of an action thriller and the James Bond series as a whole have helped define the typical action thriller. The plot of the film sees the hero James Bond come back after he is presumed dead and has to build his strength up to join MI6. This is stereotypical of an action thriller because although the hero may be faced with what seems an impossible task he still comes back and saves the day. Advertising plays a big role in a conventional action thriller as big brands will want their name and design to be seen by the millions that watch the films. The reason for this is because big action thriller are seen by so many people and the products James Bonds use in the films can influence people watching them from the watch he wears to even using a straight edge razor. 

            A conventional war movie would be Green Beret staring John Wayne, the convention of character is that the main character is heroic and is fighting the war to save innocent people (director- Ray Kellogg, John Wayne 1968)

Apocalypse now (directed Francis Ford Coppllar 1979) is an example of an unconventional war movie and the director is regarded as an auteur director, He is considered and auteur director because of his style of actually exposing what was happening in the Vietnam war and portraying it through his movies showing how the Americans where not just killing soldiers but women and children. An example of this is in the helicopter scene where it  shows a group of American soldiers flying in from the sea loading there weapons and looking tough. It then cross cuts to a shot of village of women and children who start to franticly run around to get cover once the sound of the helicopters starts to get louder. This is different to a conventional war movie because it is showing the Americans as the bad guys instead of the usual save the world characters they are normally portrayed as. 

An example of conventional war film would be Saving Private Ryan (Directed by Steven Spielberg 1998). Although the opening scene of the film was not very conventional at the time it has since started a trend in new war films such as the hurt locker, it shows first person view of everything that happens on the attack on the beach showing everything from soldiers being shot to drowning. This is unconventional to war films as they just usually show the soldiers being shot and going down where in this film it shows all the blood and gore. After the beach attack the film turns to a conventional war film showing the main character becoming a hero at the risk of his own men to save one solider and bring him home to his mother after the death of his brothers. Although this film could be considered an auteur film and Steven Spielberg could be considered an auteur director I think because of the other films he has produced and the style they are in that he is a conventional director.

The film pulp fiction, which was directed by Quentin Torantino who is widely recognised as an auteur director, is an example of a good auteur film. It breaks almost every conformity of a normal action thriller with the main characters being the Hit men who would normally be have little screen time in the film and there story wouldn’t be explained as they would be killed off soon into the film.