Influences

The concept for my film is obviously influenced by the recent rise in comic book and super hero films. During the past decade it has become common to see comic book films constantly in the cinema.

I was most influenced by the film Kick-Ass which is an superhero action comedy about a teenage boy who decides to dress up like a superhero. This is similar to my idea but Kick-Ass quickly escalates into a fantasy film with unrealistic characters and violence. Although it is still very enjoyable and funny I would love to see a superhero film set in the 'real world'. I want to keep my own film down to earth and set it in contemporary England instead of America to appeal to a British audience. I do admire how Kick-Ass seems to subvert and embrace the cliches of the superhero genre at the same time.

A convention in superhero films is the superhero continuously wondering whether or not to tell their love interest of their secret identity. The clip from Kick-Ass shows the protagonist attempting to reveal himself to his own love interest which does not go to plan. Slapstick and physical humour is used to parody the convention and asks raises the shows the more realstic reaction to someone appearing in your room. The girl starts to attack Kick-Ass which provides more humour as it shows that he can't defend himself or get away from her.This subverts expectations that the love interest is seen as the 'damsel in distress' and needs rescuing by the superhero, in this case she can look after herself better than the superhero can.

http://movieclips.com//PLBwT-kick-ass-movie-kick-ass-surprise/

Another film I was influence by is Defendor, which tells the story of a regular but delusional man who believes that he is a superhero named Defendor. He combs the city streets at night in search of his arch enemy, Captain Industry who may or may not actually exist. I have not seen this film myself, only a trailer for it but the idea has stuck with me of a man who believes he is a superhero. This film mainly appeals to me as it look like it stays in reality whereas Kick-Ass did not. His costume is obviously homemade with face paint as a mask and duct tape for his logo. The simple design shows that he is not well equipped and that he does not have a lot of skill in making it. His poor costume represents him as a poor superhero as stereotypically they have brightly coloured high-tec costumes. The dark colour of the costume shows that the setting is not a cartoon and comic book world but instead a darker grittier diegesis. It also represents him aas a darker character, although his costume is poor the black shows that he is a strong and even sinister figure criminals should be afraid of.

Aims and Context

Context -
I will be making a short film called Nightwalker which is the superhero name of the protagonist.

Aims -
My aim of the film is to parody the superhero genre. The film follows a teenage boy in contemporary Hull who decides to become a superhero. I will be focusing on the use of costume in mise-en-scene to portray the protagonist for example his poorly made costume represents him as a poor superhero. Cinematography will be used to show how he perceives himself. When he is on his own in his costume low angles will be used to show how he thinks he is a great superhero, however when he is outside his house high angles will be used to show how vulnerable he really is. The film will be targeted at teenagers and students as they are the most familiar with genre and can relate more to the protagonist as he is a teenager himself. They will understand the conventions of the superhero genre as superhero films are one of the most popular genres of cinema over the past decade and teenagers are the mainstream cinema audience. The purpose of the short film is to entertain the audience through humour which comes from recognising the superhero conventions in the film.

Narrative Structure

I have created a Todorov narrative structure to help me focus on the structure of my short film. This also helped me come up with a satisfying resolution which I had not properly thought about yet.

Genre Conventions

For my short film I have chosen to make a parody of the superhero genre. For this I will need to know the superhero genre well enough to be able to parody it effectively so I must research both genres. I will be looking at both the superhero genre and the parody genre and their conventions which I will be able to incorporate into my own film.

Superhero films have become increasingly popular over the last decade but the genre started with The Adventures of Captain Marvel in 1941. Since then characters such as Batman and Superman have become common film icons who have had many films made about them over the decades. The Crow in 1994 opened the doors in darker and more violent films with anti-hero characters because before then superhero films were more family friendly with the simple story of good vs. evil which have become a narrative convention of the genre. In the past decade Hollywood has seen the potential of the genre and many superhero films have been made each year the biggest being the re-booted Batman, X-Men and Spiderman franchises, with Batman The Dark Knight Returns earning $1 billion.

The superhero genre has many conventions the most common being that the superhero protagonist has to fight their arch enemy to save their city. Each superhero seems to have their own city which can be real or fictional which they protect. This usually forms the basis of the narrative and also usually the villain has plans to rule the world which the superheroes goal is to prevent. The superheroes themselves have distinct conventions, the most obvious being that they have super powers or abilities which can vary widely from superhuman strength to energy bolts. Others have special weapons or technology instead of powers such as Iron Mans powered armour. It is slowly becoming more common for superheros to not have any superhero powers at all and use their intelligence to create weapons and take control. They also have a individual costume which they can be recognised from, these are to conceal their identity to protect their family and friends from harm. Another common convention is a secret base of operations such as the Batcave for Batman which is kept hidden from the general public. Overall the most important convention for a superhero is a strong moral code to protect others by risking their own safety which makes them a likable protagonist.


A less obvious convention of superhero films is that it is very common for the superhero to wear glasses when he hiding his superhero identity. As soon as they become the heroes they seem to not need glasses anymore which is never explained such as Spiderman and Kick-Ass. In my film I will play on this as my protagonist wears glasses but still needs them when he is a superhero.


Superheroes are seen as in charge with bringing peace, fighting violently if necessary, and trying to maintain a normal life. Some audience members may relate to that concept, either on a personal level or in relation to their ideas about war and any current world situations which opens the genre to a mass audience. Superhero films have remained popular because most superheroes serve as a hope-inspiring figure and image of someone who can save us from difficult times. Superhero movies promote the ideas of peace, safety and freedom and may be popular now more than ever.

The second genre I will be using is the spoof or parody film. Parody films take a familar genre and its conventions and either exagerates or subverts them for comic effect. These films started in the 1960’s with spy spoofs and have grown ever since with the most popular being the Austin Powers and Scary Movie films.

A convention of the parody genre is exaggerated stereotypes such as Austin Powers ‘British’ teeth. This could be used in superhero films with over the top villains. My protagonist will be an exaggeration of the teen superhero such as Spiderman whose narrations in the films can borderline on cheesey. This also ties into exaggerated actions or actions with no consequences which are often seen in Monty Python films. This can work well with some superhero films which follow the style of the early bright comic books such as the 1960’s Batman series and film.
Another convention is mocking iconic and well known scenes from specific films from the genre it is spoofing. Spoof films cover a wide range of different genres including zombie films with Shaun of the Dead and more obscure genres like musician biographies such as Walk Hard. Using these conventions I can now plan my own film with a goal in mind to create a superhero parody film by using these conventions. However when making my own I do not want it the characters to be too over the top, I want the film to be believeable and the audience to accept that someone could to this in reality.

Synopsis

The stories protagonist is George Jones, a teenager living in contemporary Hull who is obsessed with superheroes and the superhero genre. One day he decided he will live out his dream and become a superhero himself and fight crime in the city. He decides to make a costume and he goes out walking through alleyways looking for a crime to prevent but it is harder to find crime than he thinks. Suddenly he stumbles upon a girl being mugged down an alley by a criminal and he steps up to stop it. He starts a fight with the mugger but accidentally hits the girl instead and knocks her out. The mugger sees what he has done and runs away. George stands in the alley looking at her and decides to run away too. The resolution is that he still believes that he is keeping the city safe when the irony is he has done more harm than good.