UNIT 01 – AO1 Investigate and explain how the superhero film genre has developed

The 40’s & 50’s theatrical and TV serials

(Batman and Robin) (The Adventures of Superman)

 

 

 

The old super hero serials featured clean cut heroes fighting real world villains like criminals and gangsters. The style was very much of the time, audiences wanted heroes who would fight real villains in the world and make them safer.

The heroes here aren’t really characters, presented more as mythic figures. They don’t have personal problems, don’t develop as people, and aren’t face by any sort of moral dilemmas.

 

Batman TV show (1966)

 

 

Whilst the 60’s show was still about Batman and Robin working with the police and fighting crime this show was far more over the top then the serials. Batman now fought a colourful range of super villains and their bizarre plots rather than normal gangsters. The action was now slapstick, with comic book sound effects overlaid onto the fight sequences.

This Batman was more about escapism. The hero was happy and friendly and clearly good whilst he fought demented and clearly evil villains. Real world problems never come into the equation.

 

Superman (1978)

Richard Donner

 

 

The first ever Superhero film, Superman sees the man of steels journey to becoming a hero and him saving the day.

The film isn’t much different from the Superman theatrical serials. It features Superman saving Lois Lane from real world dangers rather than over the top super powered villains. The difference here is that the dangers are natural disasters which do make the film bigger in scale and budget. Rather than fighting gun wielding gangsters Superman has to combat crashing helicopters and earthquakes.                       The movie exists in a very stylized and simplistic world and doesn’t really represent anyone truly evil and sinister. Even the villain of the film is more comic rather than sinister. The film is more about the concept of a hero saving people, rather than the battle between good and evil. It’s clear escapism, not meant to uncover harsh truths or bring up moral dilemmas like later films in the genre.

 

Richard Donner’s goal with this film was to make the audience “believe a man could fly”. Because of this a lot of attention was given to the effects of Superman This is why in the script Superman is constantly battling huge elements and crashes rather than single gangsters, it’s all to show off his powers, to make the film a spectacle for the audience.  This started an effects battle in each subsequent film of the genre. Every director battled to add more grand and realistic special effects to their film.

 

Batman (1989)

Tim Burton

 

 

Batman 89 is a huge departure from the 60’s show. The campy puns and slapstick action are gone for intense gothic design and a brooding anti-hero.

Whilst this version of Batman does have many similarities to the old serials; Batman fighting gangsters in a crime ridden city whilst occasionally pretending to be Bruce Wayne, The Burton film is also very different.

The film obviously has a larger budget and uses it to create a dark and gothic world and look for Batman. Batman also runs into conflict with the police in the film, whereas in the serial and the TV show he worked closely with the police and commissioner. Batman also has a far darker and intense personality that distances him from the audience and makes him an intimidating figure.

All of this turns Batman into an almost anti-hero.

The absence of Robin perfectly demonstrates how the character has developed; He’s now a solitary hero and the tone is too dark for a pixie booted side kick.                     Like Superman, this Batman film presented a stylized world with an iconic hero rescuing his love interest from his classic nemesis. However this film was much darker then Superman with violence, gritty streets, and a sadistic and disturbing villain in the Joker.

 

Despite being dark visually and violent, the film doesn’t feature any heavy morals or issues being discussed. The hero and villain are clearly defined and neither really have any psychological or emotion journey or struggle. Whilst Batman’s feelings about his dark past are touched upon they don’t develop over the film and aren’t explored in depth.

 This was a big development towards what the genre is today, giving super heroes a dark edge, rather than the bright and bouncy romanticism of Superman.

The entire tone of the movie comes from director Tim Burton. He’s shown in his other films that he identifies with the misfits and the outcasts, and enjoys dark gothic worlds. The film is very much Batman through Tim Burton’s eyes and whilst the stylish production design slowly left Batman over the years, with the character becoming more gritty, the darkness given by this film stayed in the character and the superhero genre as a whole. With the success of this movie studios realised super heroes could be dark.

 

Batman and Robin (1997)

Joel Schumacher

 

The final and overly campy instalment in the original Batman series, which tried to create a family friendly adventure for Batman and Robin.

Batman and Robin brings nothing new to the genre, if anything it’s a step back to the campy Batman TV show of the 60s. The world is highly stylized with bright neon colours, like it’s trying to appease the rave/punk crowd, whilst the action and dialogue is cartoonish and unintelligent.            Maturing comic book fans did not take kindly to this dumbing down and so the film was unsuccessful. This film killed of not only the Batman franchise but also superhero movies as a whole for a long time. But the fact that it failed so badly also proved that audiences where ready for darker, more mature superhero movies. It triggered the film industry to try something different with the genre, to go darker.

 

Compared to Tim Burton’s first Batman this had a massive change of tone, however one the franchise had been sliding towards since Batman Forever. Gone was the dark stylization and themes of outcasts and misfits.

The films production was motivated by money and it was made in an attempt to create a film that would sell toys to children. As such there isn’t much artistry in any department, from Director to actors.

 

X-Men (2000)

Bryan Singer

 

 

X-Men kick started the superhero film boom we are experiencing to this day with a darker look at heroes, making the X-Men struggling outcasts with relatable issues and giving the villains strong motives and emotions. This was also the first time that superheroes costumes where altered for a film, swapping the yellow and blue spandex for black leather.

This is the first example of the heroes being relatable, struggling to accept and use their powers rather than being more mythic and stoic like Superman or Batman.

X-Men also developed the use of CGI in super hero films. The film uses computer effects to achieve the powers of all the x-men.

 

Spider-Man (2002)

Sam Raimi

 

 

Spider-Man continues the relatable hero started in X-Men. Peter parkers problems are just as important as Spider-Mans which is a first. However the film is not as dark as X-Men and has a lighter, more comic book tone that almost feels like a step back to the Superman film.

 

CGI really takes a leap here. Spider-Man’s acrobatics had previously been unachievable as shown in the rather poor attempts in the amazing spider-man TV show. However this film showed how CG could be used to more accurately portray comic book characters and they’re super powers. The films use of effects, using them as spectacle, changed the playing field of the genre. Now with each film filmmakers where trying to outdo the last in terms of scale and quality of effects work.

 

Batman Begins (2005)

Christopher Nolen

 

 

Batman Begins was a dark and gritty reboot of the Batman franchise. This film was the first time a super hero movie had been taken so seriously. Not only is the world treated realistically but also the emotions and motivations of characters are more complex. Ra’s al Ghul was not a villain for the fun of it, he believed himself to be the hero and making the world better by destroying Gotham.

 

For Batman this was a huge change in tone, the last movie being Batman and Robin, which presented a more cartoon and slapstick look at the crime fighter. Around 2005 the genre was beginning to mature; more adult themes and complex motivations in films such as Spider-Man and X-Men. However these films still had very strong comic book roots in terms of stylization and action scenes. Batman Begins marked the start of super hero movies truly grounded in reality in terms of style, storytelling and characters.

 

            Keeping with the times Batman is portrayed as a vulnerable hero, struggling to overcome his own fear and torment. Whilst this is a big leap from previous Batman films it isn’t that removed from films of its time; Spider-Man and X-Men, which also featured struggling and vulnerable heroes. However this Batman has by far the most daemons of any super hero in the genre

In an effort to maintain the realistic tone Christopher Nolen used mainly practical effects for stunts and model work.

As an independent film director, Christopher Nolen brought a Batman film that examined the character on a more personal level, what it takes to turn a man into a superhero, rather than focused on blockbuster action.

 

Kick-Ass (2010)

Matthew Vaughn

 

 

An action comedy about a teenage comic geeks decision to become a real life super hero.

Kick-Ass brings the super hero movie up to date by putting in all the elements audiences are interested in currently; realism and humour. The film also continues the idea started by Iron man, of staying very visually true to the comics. The film also takes the relatable hero to a new extreme, having the hero be exactly the audience type the film is pitched at. This was the first film to feature a normal person attempting to become a superhero, with no gadgets or super powers.

The realism and stylised violence all come from director Mathew Vaughn. His previous credits are all very gritty and violent gangster films but also the fantasy ‘Stardust’. Vaughn’s very violent and black sense of humour change the super hero film into a stylistic, violent, and twisted comedy.

Hunted – Editing

Rob, being the editor, handled all of the editing; assembling the clips, sorting out sound and music, colour grading etc. I assisted slightly, making a few suggestions along the way. The suggestions I made that impact on the edit most are:

Making the flashbacks black and white to make clear they’re separate from the present stalking scenes and suggest they are flashbacks. We also both agreed that a clean cut worked best going into and out of flashbacks, after fades and other transitions didn’t work.

(An example of the black and white flashbacks + The subtle zoom being added to the last shot)

I also suggested adding a subtle zoom to the final shot of Vince’s monologue. I thought it would add tensions and just make the shot a bit more interesting as it holds on that single angle for a good while.

(The single shot filmed later to bridge the shots where Vince has his bag and glasses and the ones where he doesnt, a mistake made during reshoots.)

Analyzing sound – Fiction Programme: Being Human 4.8

Being Human – Series 4 – Episode 8

BBC Three – 25 March 2012

The nature of the sound design is rather simplistic meaning many scenes are sound designed the same. Because of this it would be hard to discuss the sound design on each a particular scene without being repetitive so I’ve picked out the few sequences I thought stood out as different and then written a little about the tone and style of the rest of the programme.

Opening Sequence

The music is foreboding, signalling that something is coming. On cue a car pulls up. A key sound is the smart clicking footsteps, again signalling something on its way. The music stops at the reveal of Mr. Snow’s face; telling the audience it was him that everything was building up too.

There’s silence again, then suddenly a dramatic clap of thunder in the distance as Snow asks the question; “What colour are her eyes?”                       There’s a dramatic music sting on the shot of the man, telling the audience he doesn’t have an answer.

The sound effect as the man’s guts are pulled does all the work, they don’t show the actual “pull” effect and somehow this makes it even more gruesome. The sound punctures the scene from nowhere and makes you imagine the impact.                       The music amps up all the way to full-blown horror until it fades out as the man dies.  This somewhat puts the audience in the point of view of the dying man; the horror and pain of dying before it falls away as he dies.                        The music then turns to a child-ish and creepy piano piece, which is very evocative of horror films.

The music turns very dramatic, a female vocal, strings, etc. The scale of events is shown through this very dramatic music taking over.              The music carries over to the show’s title card. The programme doesn’t have an opening theme tune; just the music from the teaser playing over and transitioning from teaser to title card to first scene. This is really subtle and stops the programme being “Show-y”. The title card is more like a transition, a short break to let the teaser set in.

Most scenes are mostly silent, driven by the dialogue. The background sounds are turned right down, just enough to place us in the location, and theirs little music over conversations. Music is saved for dramatic, intense moments; sadness or horror or transitions; when characters exit a scene or enter.

An example of this is the scene between Mr. Snow and Hal. With the menacing and dangerous tone of the scene the sound designers could have easily added in loads of creepy music and dramatic stings. However they leave the scene with just the spoken words.

The sound design often makes the show sound a bit like a play, heavy on the dialogue with music just stings or light an uncomplicated over dialog so as not to distract. This approach also grounds the programme, making it sound more real and genuine and intense. It’s unnerving because the audience feels like there listening in on a real conversation.

The music it’s self has many horror connotations: there are a lot of slow creeping strings, chimes, and percussion. The tone of the music stays as either foreboding and creepy or epic for a majority of the episode; build up and pay off. Although there are a few more light-hearted and comedy segments and a calm, sad piece right at the end to contrast the dramatic tone of the episode: the calm after the storm. The music is very simplistic, it never takes on any complicated tunes or melody’s and sometimes is so basic that it’s sounds more like a collection of ethereal sounds, as in the “Man in grey scene” near the end with him asking for the girls phone. This does two things; it makes sure the music doesn’t distract from the dialogue, and it also turns the music into an unsettling atmosphere.

A sound effect I heard repeated most was door sound effects. Whenever there was an entrance or exit the door sounds was always very clear to me. This 

Analyzing sound – Factual Programme: Africa ep2

Africa – Episode 2

BBC One – 12 January 2013

Opening Sequence

The programme begins with a shot of the earth from space, specifically Africa. This is accompanied by the programs theme music. The music is made to evoke Africa, with drums and percussions but can also become more orchestral in places with strings and choirs. These orchestral moments are to emphasis the grand scale and epic moments whilst the more African influenced parts are to place us geographically and fit the images. These two styles of music are often used together.

In the programme most sound effects are diegetic, paw steps, growls, yawns, etc. The only to none-diegetic sound layers are the music and the narration by David Attenborough

During the opening montage sequence everything thing and every setting has a sound effect, even if it’s only on screen for a few seconds. For example a shot of a monkey yawning in the montage has the background atmosphere of the jungle and the sound of the monkey yawning despite only last a moment.

Attenborough introduces the episode with a rare bit of diegetic narration; Him sitting in the helicopter, talking to use over the radio along with all the static is more like dialogue than narration.This puts us in the scene as this is how he would sound if we were talking to him in the helicopter. It also gives the sense that Attenborough isn’t just an inactive narrator; he travels and goes to sites in Africa.

Lizard Sequence

The first time we see the lizard it’s leaping through the air in slow motion, jumping from one rock to another. As the creature appears the music cuts to silence with dramatic sting.We can hear each scratch of the lizard’s claws on the rock, in slow motion the impact sounds louder and has greater impact.

The buzzing sound of the flying insect gets louder the closer they get to the lizard, rather than how close they are to the camera. This puts the viewer into the lizard point of view rather than being the viewer.

Creeping music comes in, little tinkering quirky music, the style of this music is often used in film and TV when a character is sneaking or coming up with a plan; exactly what the lizards are doing. It goes well with the scuttling sound effect as they run.

Shots of the lion in slow motion, the beating sound of it swatting its face is in slow motion. However the multiple buzzing sounds of the flies around it are in normal speed. By not distorting the fly sound effect by slowing it down they’re making it clear and prominent. This helps show that the flies are the lizard’s goal and again, gives us the lizard’s perspective.As a drop of saliva runs of the lions tooth it’s accompanied by a dripping sound. This suggests the lions hungry and could take apart the lizard. In fact there is a general emphasis on the sounds of the lion’s mouth, low growling, yawning.

The music, still stereotypical creeping music starts to become more dangerous and threatening the bolder the lizard gets and the closer he gets to the lion. In addition to the musical change in tone the danger is highlighted by more low rumbles from the lion. However the light hearted and almost cartoony nature of the music, even when it’s dangerous, assures us that the sequence is supposed to be quirky and so won’t end badly with the lizard killed by the lion.

Fire Sequence

“Dry sound” over a shot of the sun. That very high buzz that sounds almost like an insect swarm at double speed is often used to show the scorching sun in a desert landscape. Cracking crust sounds as the land dry’s.

Creepy foreboding music plays. As the sun pans across the screen it has a whooshing sounds that makes it seem fast and violent.

As the sun flares up, filling the frame, it’s given a searing, roaring sound. It really makes the sun seem violent, as if it’s exploding.           This acts as a transition to a new atmosphere of sounds, burning and explosions and the crackling of fire in a stark baron land. There are many layers of burning effects, bombarding the viewer and putting them into the chaos of the land. The music also becomes more intense and dramatic, with a faster pace and female vocals belting out. There is sadness to the score but the intensity puts the view in the perspective of an animal in the fire rather than an observer. To and observer it would be sad, but to the creature experiencing it it’s scary. The score conveys both of these whilst the fire sound effects make it scary and intense.

Even during this sequence everything has a sound; the mouse running away, the birds chirping out. The editor could have left them out and focused on the fire and music to create a more intense and abstract sound, however they opted for realism. This is true of every scene; no matter what mood they’re trying to achieve and how they manipulate the sounds to achieve that mood, everything seen on screen makes a sound. This makes the scenes feel natural and alive and fits the documentary genre.

As the birds come in there sounds start becoming louder than the fire. The sound of crackling from every direct fades down so that the loudest element is the bird’s wings flapping and them soaring through the air. This helps clearly shift the focus from the fire to the birds for the audience. Even the soft sound of the bird crunching on a grasshopper is louder than the fires, which by now sound in the distance.

The music calms down at this point, eventually fading to silence; we can’t hear anything but the birds. And then the birds fade as we cut to a wide landscape shot. The gradual audio layers fading matches the shots, the further and higher we get from the fire setting the more layers fall away until we’re left with nothing on the furthest and highest shot.

Elephants in Drought Sequence

The sequence begins in silence, the only sound being the howling of the wind. Just before this the narrator created dread by saying that “sometimes change doesn’t happen when it’s most needed”. This creates a foreboding feeling; something bad is about to happen.

Still no music, the landscape sounds barren and empty. The wind sound gives the environment harshness, sometimes being so loud that the narration is slightly drowned out by it. With every new shot the wind changes volume; this emulates the distance the little tornados are from the camera and sells the environment.       The sound of the elephants fades in, under the wind. After a long period of nothing but wind and silence, this marks the elephants as a point of interest for the audience. The elephants gradually become more important than the wind and landscape as the howling sound fades out and general diegetic elephant sounds fade in. Sounds such as the flapping of their ears, the stomping of their feet, and their low groans and trumpets.

Sad piano music begins as the camera pulls back to a landscape shot to demonstrate what the narrator is saying; the usually elephant friendly land is dried up. Even the narrators tone is sad and remorseful, different then the distanced and unaffected narration we might expect. This somehow makes it real, as if it’s so sad that even the narrator is affected. The voice over, along with the sad music, also tells the audience what they should be feeling and shapes the tone of the sequence

The crunching dust is emphasised in a slow motion close up of an elephant’s foot kicking up dirt. A dry atmosphere is creating with sounds of twigs snapping, dust being scattered, and dirt crunching.

As the calf dies sad music plays and the mother elephant gives two low groans. These sad sounds from the mother give her emotions and help us feel her pain. It makes her seem more human and so we can sympathise.

The next sequence begins in silence to give the previous death scene more impact. The quite scene is a moment to reflect on the sadness of the calf’s death and so gives it even more impact.

End Sequence

The episode ends with Attenborough addressing us on screen with diegetic narration, much like the opening. These two exceptions to the usually non-diegetic invisible narrator book end the program.

He gets in a car and the engine sound effect starts up then fades away as the car drives away. Again this mirrors the opening sequence with the helicopter sound effect.

The end credits music is more towards the grand sweeping orchestral score then the simpler African drums at the opening. However there are clear African stylings in the music and drums.

Hunted – Filming Continues

Today we completed filming on the film, recording the stalking scenes. The equipment and props used were the camera, tripod, and the stalker costume.

 My main involvement was playing the creepy stalker dressed in the costume I designed and assembled with the addition of a black morph suit mask. To get the morph suit mask we bought a full black suit and then cut off the bottom half to make it just the top and the head.

The scenes we shot turned out very different from what had been scripted and storyboarded. First, there was a major location change from crowded streets in town to the empty forest area behind college. We did this because we really wanted to get the film recorded today and it just wasn’t possible to make the journey into town at the end of the day with fading light. With the new location a lot of the storyboarded shots went out the window as we started improvising in the new location.

We may end up filming some extra scenes in town if we can, that will lead into the forest shot. Otherwise it will stay as is. We’ll wait until the next session when we will begin editing the footage to see if we need reshoots or added scenes.

Hunted – What’s left to do

In a group meeting we established what is left to do before the film is complete. 

– Film the remaining scenes which involve the main character being stalked.

– Editing the footage (This job is specific to Rob as the editor)

– Finishing the credit sequence (Specific to me as the production designer)

– Sound design and creating the sound track. It would be nice for Rob to do this as well but for times’ sake it might be good for someone else to handle it, or at least help out.

We plan to film the final scenes on Friday the 11th of January.

Hunted – Creating the credits

For the font I wanted something creepy that would evoke the Horror-genre but would not be really over the top. The story of the film involves subtle horror, with the menace lurking in the background and slowly building up. A really over the top font just wouldn’t suit this so I wanted a font somewhat plain and ordinary but with a creepy edge.

I chose and downloaded a few fonts from dafont and opened them all in Photoshop, doing various tests with different colours on different backgrounds to see which would work the best.

Me and Aaron(Director) decided on the font “Insomnia”.

I used After effects to animate the opening credits with the title slowly zooming into the screen. Again, thinking about the ideas of the film I blurred the outer edges. This was an attempt to reflect how the menace is out of focus and unclear in the film.

To add something of interest in the title I put a still image of an eye in the background and made it blurred, dark and slightly transparent. This was to reflect the paranoia and obsession themes.

With the end credits I decided to have it so it looked like the camera was zooming through the credits.  This was inspired by the end credits to Scream 4 and the way it slowly moves backwards through a series of lines and credits.

Scream is my favourite horror film series and I always like the end credits to the fourth so I just borrowed from it a little. And again I kept the out of focused theme as the credits appear.

In After Effects I used a particle system to create the effect of mist/fog moving towards and past the camera. I did this mainly to add something else visual to the credits, make it a bit more interesting than just the zooming words. It was the only thing I could think of that would be an interesting effect but also not be loud and flashy and draw attention away from the font. 

I’m still working on some things for the end credits; seeing if I can add anything to make it more interesting, and trying to work out the exact order in which the credits should appear by looking at other movies end credits for examples.

Hunted – Filming Begins

Today we begun filming and completed all the flash backs scenes with an empty classroom as the location. My main job on this shoot was acting; playing Vince’s friend across the 3 scenes.

I also provided the book prop and the costume for my character. We all pitched in and made suggestions for shots and angles.

We got a chance to have a quick look at the footage as it was uploading and I thought the shots turned out really good. 

Hunted – Costume Design Sheets

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