Superhero Sub-Genre

     The sub-genre of superhero movies falls into the bigger category of action. This sub-genre is widely loved by many viewers and has brought billions to the entertainment industry. This genre is all about superheroes and their actions. Most of these productions are adaptations from popular comics. 

    The majority of superhero movies have a underlaying theme of morality. This is shown though how the heroes use their powers or skills for good. The viewers are meant to root for the "good guy" who comes to save the day. There are also many common tropes like form fitting costumes, struggles with secret identity, a tragic back story, a super villain, and a secret lair. All of these conventions create a baseline of what the audience is expecting because they see them so often. If they attracted views before they'll continue to do so. This is why these tropes are timeless because they've been used throughout time. 

    A largely used technique in these productions is the use of special effects. The use of these effects highlights the powers of the heroes and villains. Without these techniques the story wouldn't be believable. These effects are often coupled with stunts to fully immerse the viewer. Stunts bring a level of action to a film that is very hard to replicate. The use of these techniques can completely change a production if done a certain way. 

    Marketing can make or break a production. If done well marketing can bring a whole new group of viewers to a genre. For any production the goal of marketing is to gain interest. A great way superhero movies and shows gain interest is from events like ComiCon. This is a type of convention where people gather and dress up as their favorite characters. At events like this they usually show tailers of upcoming movies, which is directly marking to the target audience. A big aspect of superhero movies is the poster which is usually packed with visuals to attract people. They also may do interviews and social media campaigns that get people excited by telling them how amazing and action packed the film is. The use of this marketing is to tell people exactly what they want to hear. This will get them to go see it in theaters.

    Avengers Endgame is the last instalment of the avenger's series and might be the most popular superhero movie of all time. It holds the record for highest grossing superhero movie at 2.8 billion. As the last movie it already had a set group of fans but gained more people by bringing all the characters together in one last fight. This movie has themes of good and evil, heroic sacrifice, and mythic elements. This universe is built so well the viewers feel fully immersed and care deeply for characters. There are also extreme visuals and exiting action sequences. These elements, combined with strong storytelling and character driven plots, make Avengers Endgame a great example of the superhero genre.

The Dark Knight is the second Batman movie by Christopher Nolan. In this movie Batman takes on the Joker in what many call a cinematic masterpiece. This movie does any amazing job of creating a full encompassing world with a morally questionable hero and a psychotic villain. The battle between them uses many special and practical effects. The portrayal of Batman as an imperfect hero that shows the realistic struggles of a crime fighter. Heath Leager's Joker perfectly embodies the chaos of the iconic villain. The film also poses profound questions about society, order, and the nature of heroism. These undertones challenge Gotham and the viewers to think deeper about societal conflicts. With the use of intense action, deep character study and philosophical inquiry, The Dark Knight goes beyond typical superhero movies and becomes a defining film within the genre.

    Some other examples of this exiting genre are Deadpool, The Suicide Squad, Spider-man: No way home, Justice Legue, and Guardians of the Galaxy. 

Representation in The Hunger Games

 The representation of the two main characters in The Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta change a lot throughout the story. In the first book for example, Katniss and Peeta were dressed in these outfits that set of fire. This became a theme throughout the book with Katniss specifically after she was nicknamed "the girl of fire". The fire was fake but the crowds in the movie LOVED IT. Everyone was obsessed with Katniss and started rooting her on. This is a great example of exoticizing because she was from a district of coal mining, which involved fire making her a symbol in the capital and with fans of the movie. She wears a fiery dress to an interview and spins for the crowd. She comes off very childish when spinning. These initial introduction to the girl on fire help portray her as a child. Even though she is being sent to fight other children they select these outfits they remind the audience she is still a young girl.  

Original Fire outfits

Fire dress from interview

In the second movie the pair are back with their same fiery outfits, but it is different this time. They have both grown up a lot since their first games and want to be seen as adult. For this reason, they are in a slightly more revealing outfit showing Katniss is a woman now. In her interview she wears a wedding dress and as she does her usual spin her whole dress changes into a Mockingjay. This signifies the change from the girl on fire to the Mockingjay, who will be the face of the rebellion. When the war starts and Shes officially the Mockingjay she has an all-black armored battle suit. This is to show that she is now strong and protected. The outfits are the last stage of the journey, and she ends looking strong and untouchable but is really broken. 

Fire outfits from second movie

Wedding dress

Mocking jay dress

              

            Mocking Jay Battle suit             

Peeta is in nice outfits though out the movies and is nicely styled. His outfits always complement Katniss's showing they are a pair. He is a very nice and soft guy; His clothes portray him as very refined. In the first movie he has a matching fire suit and in the second he has a white one with gold accents. These suits show the capital audience that he may be from the districts, but he can fancy and therefore has their respect. 

Fire suit

White suit

In the Mockingjay movies Peeta is captured by the capital and tortured. He is then broadcasted in interviews multiple times. In the first interview he is wearing white symbolizing he is still pure Peeta. In the second interview he already looks vastly different showing he's changing with the gray suit. In the 3rd and final interview, he is in an all-black suit which mean he's fully dark and isn't the same as before. The governing faction aka the capital takes these liberties to change him. The outfits are a visual representation of his mental state leaving him as he loses his mind. 

1st Interview

2nd Interview

3rd interview

The selection of these outfits shows a lot of forethought, and they make all the difference. The small details add up in a production like this and are a great demonstration of a character's progression in a story. The representation of characters through their clothes can progress stories tremendously. I hope you've enjoyed my blog and be sure to look out for upcoming posts!!!

My Sound project

  In my Aice media class, I was recently tasked with creating a sound-based film. We learned a lot of techniques and were told to take in the story with our ears. Sound is one of if not the most important thing in a film. Sound brings the viewer into the piece, and it makes everything feel connected to what the audience sees. 

In this project we don't any visuals to connect to the sounds. This made the task a lot more challenging. Me and my partner had to think of a place which a lot of active sounds. I had the idea to do a movie theater. A theater is a place with many sounds like popcorn popping, soda machines, people talking. 

We had to layer all these sounds in editing to create a soundscape. Most of the sounds were sourced from "pixabay.com". The rest were us talking, we were only allowed to use 7 words in the project which was very tricky. Scanning tickets and ordering food take a lot of words. All the dialogue had to short and sweet. 

The last type of sound is foley.  Foley is the reproduction of everyday sound effects that are added to films, videos, and other media in post-production to enhance audio quality. We had to make our own sounds using the foley technique. We planned each sound in our outline and choose to use foley to make these four sounds. Outside footsteps, scanning sound of barcode, scooping popcorn into bucket, and grabbing popcorn. 

Our outline helped us stay organized and was used like a shot list in editing. When I edited all my sounds together, I used adobe premiere pro. This is my favorite editing resource, and I am very comfortable using it. 

Overall, I'm very happy with how my project turned out. I think I did a really good job of creating a realistic soundscape and layering all he sounds together. Next time I could pay a little more attention to the levels of the sounds but I'm very proud of my work. If you'd like to check out my project here's the link to it. In this link there is also the behind-the-scenes video of how we made all the foley for our project. I hope you enjoy and make sure to turn in again to hear about my next project!

 https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Ral1Dn76j1Q6U_leWEAURk_TRmksBMmC?usp=sharing