Genre Research: Kick Ass

• Opens with the Prodigy’s song stand up, this is used as The Prodigy are an act that appeal to various music fans making the majority of the audience feel at ease, it also connotes a heroic feeling with a innocent vibe.
• Closes with Jonna Jet Bad Reputation by Jonna Jet causes excitement and builds tension towards the end of the trailer creating a hook and making the audience want to see the film.
• The film is all set within New York a highly cinematographic city, one of the most filmed places in the world this adds a sense of familiarity to the production making it easier to introduce new characters.
• The tag line: “And with no power, comes no responsibility” Is a play on words of a famous line from spider man “with great power comes great responsibility.” This plays very well into the genre as the film acts as pastiche to superhero films.
• The film uses a comedy opening narrated by characters, this allows the audience to identify with the characters creating a hook, The fact the character is a teenager also allows easier identification with the target audience.
• Faster edits to cause excitement during the middle of the trailer, it also leaves an open ending drawing an audience to see the full film. A total of 139 edits are used in this trailer.
• The cocking of guns and gunfire connote the action contained within the film increasing excitement withing the viewer.
• The title used in several ways creating several memorable catchlines.
• A link to the films facebook page at end caters to the target audience which are teenagers and young adults.
• Comic book wipes, fades and cuts are used to connote the fact the film is based on a comic, the passage of time and to connote action.
• Bright comic like colours and high key lighting are used to highlight the joyful comic nature of the film however this is contrasted by low key lighting used in the fighting scenes.

Chosen Genre

For my A2 project me and my media partner Ryan Tustin have decided to create a superhero film with pastiche elements to some of our favorite films in the genre and a comical edge to gain a broader audience.

A typical superhero film, can be a combination of action, fantasy and science fiction that is focused on the actions of one or more superheroes, individuals who usually possess superhuman abilities and are dedicated to protecting the public. These films are almost always action-oriented, and the first film of a particular character often includes a focus on the origin of the special powers including the first fight against the character's most famous archenemy or supervillain. The plot typically revolves around the efforts of the superheroes to thwart some dire peril of significant consequence.

Along with this narrative superhero films rely heavily on iconography 99% of superheros are kitted out in a costume that reprsents their power and hides their identity. Superheroes costumes are normally brighter and more uniformed than supervillians who play upon themes of darkness and often and element of mental instability.

Trailer Research 3: Iron Maiden Flight 666

Micro Features
• The song aces high is used which is one of Iron Maiden’s lesser known songs this specifically tailors the film towards fans rather than those who have heard a few of the songs that received airplay. The song also ties strongly into the theme of the tour recorded, as it is their opening song from the tour and the album it is based around.

• “Everyone’s dream to be a Rockstar” is quite a poignant quote as most of the audience would like to live out this fantasy, the fact that Steve Harris the corner stone of Iron Maiden replies in a modest way creates a hook and makes the band seem like everyday people making you want to get to know them as characters.

• Yellow and Blue are heavily used in the trailer as they tie in both as colours yellow representing excitement and blue adding a sense of calm for balance but they also represent the bands 1984 album “Powerslave” in which the filming of a tour commemorating those years takes place.


The poster for the 1984 Iron Maiden Powerslave tour this film plays tribute to.


• The tagline “April 21 Maiden Day” is cleverly used as it suggests that the day is an event, this coincides with the special one day screening of the film and suggests to fans that this film is as significant as a concert on the same day would be.

Macro Features
• The trailer makes very effective use of locations as it is set over the world this instills a sense of exploration and an epic journey, it works very well appealing to the documentary element of the film and creates a hook, it also is quite interesting as most people only have an insight into the fans of their own countries and those who are not privy to the world of heavy metal will be surprised Iron Maiden have achieved such a following with little or no commercial play.

Number Of Edits
• 59 edits are used in this trailer this is due to firstly the length of the trailer which is a minute shorter than most conventional trailers this has either been done to save on advertising costs or because the target audience of Iron Maiden fans would be likely to see the movie if you showed them a 10 second clip with the words “Iron Maiden Movie, April 21st” written on it.

Genre
• Iron Maiden Flight 666 is a cross over of a documentary and a concert and is sometimes called a Rockumentary the film aims to appeal to the fan base of the artist in question who in the genre of metal are extremely loyal and are likely to see the movie.

Trailer Research 2: Hot Tub Time Machine

Hot Tub Time Machine

Micro Features
• The trailer opens with a cheesy narrator and pictures to represent his voice over. Setting fairly low expectations for the audience, the trailer then build up momentum to create excitement and a hook.

• The tagline kick some past is very effective for the target audience as the film is targeted at teenage to adult males and instills a sense of action, it also ties into the idea of another film kick ass, which was released on the same day.

• The music changes in the trailer as they go back in time to match the period this is a very good indicator of the fact the characters have travelled back in time along with. Fashion typical of the 80’s such as, leg warmers, cassette players and jerry curls, this plays for the feedline for one of the characters to ask what skin colour Micheal Jackson has.

• Bright colours high key lighting are used to put the audience at ease low key lighting would not work well in a comedy as it creates tension that will spoil the humour in the film. Also generally bright colours and high key lighting make something appear fun and attractive.

Macro Features
• The trailer is set in a small town with a ski resort along with the film it shows various parts and settings of the resort for example the room the characters booked to stay in an outdoor winter festival and various bars in the town.

• The trailer also plays out in a chronological order like the film except it does not reveal the ending creating another hook which makes the audience want to find out what the characters changed in the past and if they get back to the present.

Number Of Edits
• This trailer has 136 edits as with most trailers it starts off slow and speeds up in the middle to create a sense of excitement.

• Cuts are used with in the trailer for a sense of continuity and ease the audience into the humour of the film. They also support the idea to present the trailer in a chronological order.

Genre
• As a comedy trailer it’s main purpose is to make audiences laugh, if a trailer can do that people are likely to go and watch the full film, this trailer does this by using a few of the best gags from the film.

• This film also try’s to appeal largely to a male audience using a male gaze on some of the female actors and address the fact of male bonding at the start of the film by them all getting into the hot tub together.

Trailer Research 1: The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight

Micro
• Company names are used at the very start of the film as their products will have an existing fanbase, DC comics in particular which is a comic franchise established in 1943 and who's characters such as superman have become parts of pop culture, in this case it's their second most popular character Batman.

• Tracking shots are used to add to the speed of the editing they create a sense of tension.

• The number of edits and action within them increase as the trailer carries on until it reaches a climax this creates a hook making the audience want to see the movie, when the trailer dies down they are shown the release date as they are more receptive towards the film after being warmer up by the trailer.

• Voice-overs from the characters in the film are used to narrate the trailer it not only gives a brief summary of the story but creates another hook as the characters are well known from pop culture so the audience will begin to get used to these interpritations of them.

• From this narration the tagline "why so serious?" is derived, a staple of the Jokers character and his catchphrase for the film.

• Dark gritty colours are used, Particularly green, purple, brown, black are character indicative of batman and the joker.

Macro
• The film all takes place in Gotham city, however different elements of it are show to coincide with the progression of the film they are also used in juxtaposition with each other for example the Joker in prison and Harvey Dent at a upper class party balance the good and evil characters within the film with Batman playing a grey line down the middle.

Edits
• There are 69 edits in this trailer with the majority placed in the middle there are less at the start as it eases the audience into the action packed middle and the all importaint ending making them want more just like the chronological order of the actual film.
• Fades are used within the opening these are indicative of superhero movies often accompanied with valiant music they instill a sense of justice and vigilantism.

Genre
• Batman is a superhero action film it has a clear sense of good and evil within the film and the motives behind it. All the characters masquarade around in costumes adding a sense of identity to the archtype of their character. They also conceal the hero's true identity along with their flaws and are iconography of this genre.
• The fact batman has a better costume indicates he is the most powerful and central character Batmans costume is also his superpower as he is a mortal man this is unusual for the superhero genre and thus his costume must look a protective shell for his mortal self.



This still from the film shows the contrast between Batman and The Jokers costume. Batman has expensive high tech body armour this gives him an air of authority and power and also can be used as a symbol of cultural hegemony as batmans we assume batman is the good guy where The Joker is poor and in what appear to be second hand clothes. This represents cultural hegemony as we assume the rich and powerful are the heroes in society and the poor are villanous and are more likely to commit crime.