Screenplay

Animatric

This is my animatric made from the storyboard pictures, making this helped me alot in working out the shot times. When making my final film I will have voiceovers and sound in it. When the protagonist is describing himself at the beginning I will have the Superman theme song playing in the background as he sees himself as this Superman figure.

Storyboard

Rough Storyboard and Characters

Creating a script and detailed storyboard from a brief synopsis seemed like a daunting task so I created a brief storyboard and character sheet to help me clearing map out my narrative. I now know the outline of my story and given me an idea of what shots I will be using. This also made me realise that the fight scene will have to be carefully planned out when creating my final storyboard and in filming. When making this I worked out which props I will be needing and how to film certain scenes, I also drew the charcters with my actors in mind apart from the mugger who I still need to find a willing actor to play.

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.