Part Of Research And Planning :

What is a genre?

In latin genre means 'kind' or 'sort', it is the term for any category based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions, however, they have changed over time as new genres are produced and the use of old ones are discontinued. Often, works can fit into multiple genres, by way of borrowing and altering these conventions.

The different genres and sub genres, that we looked at to focus our film opening on:

1. 1. Chick Flick 

1. 1. The slang term 'chick flicks' majority deal with love and romance, they are designed to appeal to a female target audience as typically they rely on heavy emotions or contain themes that are relationship-based

1. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • orom coms are generally light-hearted, true love stories with humorous plot-lines, centered around romantic settings, and the characters manage to get by the obstacleslifestyles 

chosen: A definition of a stereotypical superhero film: 

Most superhero films are adopted from comic books, a conventional superhero film usually features an ordinary person, someone who blends in. When the characters are themselves they could vary from a journalist like in Spiderman or a little boy like in daredevil, the majority of films make their main protagonist determined to protect the public or save the world, continuously changing between their normal from to that of superhero power. The super human strength, x-ray vision or abnormal capabilities spiral from a supernatural event that changes their life forever, this is evident when either they get bitten by an animal or fall into a magical well.

The basic story-line of the superhero films: 

Hancock: Peter Berg's 2008 film is a mix of American action-comedy and a superhero film. It tells the story of a vigilante superhero, John Hancock (Will Smith) from Los Angeles, he carries out a number of  reckless actions which end up costing the city millions of dollars. However, one person he saves, Ray Embrey (Bateman), makes it his mission to change Hancock's public impression for the better.                                                                 

I decided to analyse the first two minutes of Hancock in order for us to build up an idea of how different superhero films use different conventions and stereotypes to make up a hero film. Starts with a muffled voice (like someone is speak through a radio) maybe a police officer explaining what is happening to either a fellow college or on the news, sub-consously explaining to the audience, non diegetic music is playing underneath the voice which is accompanied with diegetic sound of cars and gun shots, to create and complement the idea of a car chase. It follows on to establish the situation, as then you see the police cars, helicopters and the intense car chase, a mix of quick editing through long and close up shots of the chase, creating tension. However, the music has turned to a complete contradiction on the scene, with the sun is shining, this questions a stereotypical car chase, as it doesn’t obviously make the audience worry about the outcome so much.  Suddenly the music and police sirens stop as it jumps to a close up shot of a foot, the camera slow tilts along his leg  to reach his face, while  the non diegetic noise of snoring plays in the back ground, A complete juxtaposition of scenes in the first two minutes. But then the worlds are quickly brought together through how the music plays again in this frame. The audience are then shown a close up of an alcoholic bottle, giving the impression that his vagrant mannerism. It then jumps back to the scene of the car chase, this time including more close up shots of the criminals, possible to show that they are running out of time and there is more of a chance of getting caught. Flickering between the two scenes, you, the audience, see Hancock laid out on a bench, a young boy then tries to wake him up. This tells you a lot about Hancock as the little boy seems to know his name and shows him the car chase that is being shown on the TV of a shop. This indicates to the audience that firstly, he has some issues as he is laying asleep on a public bench with alcohol close by, well known and for some reason people know he could help.  In the space of a couple of seconds he has been called an ‘asshole’ twice implying that although he is well known he is not necessary liked. He has lost all dignity as a women passing by, he shows no gentlemen tendencies towards her. There are numerous close ups of Hancock, which could imply that something is going to become very apparent about him, almost waiting for some clues. Suddenly the audience are shocked when a cloud of dust marks his power, then the long high angle shot of him jumping and flying into the sky . There is then a quick shot of the skylines, which places the film in large city. The non dietetic music then turns to a ‘hip-hop’ song and the camera follows him flying, weaving through the buildings. By this time the audience have establish a myriad of features about his character, his attitude, power and strength, and the way he does not follow a typical superhero convention maybe as he is not yet a superhero.

-Unbreakable: This film is a study of parts of a comic book, the film explores the contrast between the real world and the mythology of superheroes, M. Night Shyamalan, 2000 film has a myriad of genres including psychological thriller, superhero and drama. The film’s stars Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, telling the story of how a security guard slowly reveals that he is in fact a superhero.

Kick ass: Matthew Vaughn's 2010 film is a superhero and black comedy film, which again is based on a comic book series. The storyline is basically about an ordinary teenager, Dave Lizewski, who sets out to become a real-life superhero called Kick-Ass". However, he gets caught up in something much bigger.

Kick ass starts in a similar way to Hancock, as firstly before any characters or settings are produced, a motivational and inspirational voice appears, almost like a speech is being read through a microphone. The camera starts with a shot of the clouds and moves through the clouds as if the camera is the audience, while the productions are introduced. Non diegetic honourable music creeps up accompanied by the echoing voice. Once the voice has stopped the camera tilts down to an establishing long shot of a city of skylines again similar to Hancock. Soothing high pitch music appears and a normal boy voice starts to speak and takes over. As the camera tilts downwards the camera becomes the audience, they are met with a long shot frame of behind a typical superhero. He is stood facing the skylines, with his cape blowing in the wind. The dialog indicates that the superhero is the narrator speaking. The camera zooms closer but as doing so goes over his head and reaches an image of what the superhero sees, the extreme long shot of the ground. The camera then flicks from a low angle shot to a high angle of the people looking up the building where the superhero is stood. The audience are then shown a close up of his face, in a typical superhero helmet, as the narrator questions the audience about them.  Then the audience know that he is not actually a superhero ‘as some point in our lives we all wanted to be a superhero’ as he leans forward to jump of the building. When he leaves the building the non diegetic music intensifies and you get a low angle shot of the ground fast approaching, powerful upbeat music plays as the watchers and passersby clap and cheer, suddenly he music is cut short when the sound of the superhero crashes into a yellow cab. Then the young man’s voice appears again, and is happy to tell the audience that ‘that isn’t me by the way’. The audience from the information already given know that this is not going to be another typical superhero film. The camera zooms into the car and lands on the number plate that spells ‘kick ass’ which indicates the film has started.