Batman Begins (2005) Codes and Conventions of the superhero genre

Batman Begins (2005)
Codes and Conventions of the superhero genre

The Hero
In Batman Begins, the superhero is Batman. In most superhero films, the hero has special powers, however Batman does't have powers, he just uses his wealth to buy a lot of very useful gadgets and trains himself to become physically, and mentally strong. He uses his abilities, such as the ability to fly, disappear and fight against the villain and to save Gotham.


Backstory
As a child, Bruce watched his parents get murdered; and he blamed himself for the death of them from that day on. Because of this, Bruce wanted revenge. He also wants to save Gotham because his father was such an important member of the community so he feels like it is his job to take the responsibility and save Gotham.
In addition to this, Bruce Wayne developed a fear of bats as a child when he fell into a cave and was attacked by a swarm of bats. Therefore, as he grows up he conquers his fear and gives himself the superhero name 'Batman'.

Alter Ego
Throughout the film, Bruce Wayne has 2 identities; his secret identity being Batman. When he is Bruce, his character comes across as obnoxious in some scenes. Where as when he is Batman he is thought of as something much more than just a wealthy man who only cares for himself.

Costume
As Bruce Wayne, once he has returned to Gotham he is often wearing a suit, to convey his wealth and power. Where as when he is Batman, he has the 'typical superhero costume'. He wears a black cape and a black mask in order to hide his identity. His costume symbolises the bat; this is also where his superhero name "Batman" comes from.

The Villain

In Batman Begins, there are 2 villains who have very similar abilities to Batman- this causes a tense, exciting atmosphere as they have a chance at defeating Batman, but of course they don't.
One of the villains in Batman Begins is the Scarecrow. He uses his abilities in attempt to destroy the city using a drug on a mass scale.

The Setting
Batman was set in Gotham; a made up city which resembles New York City. Since Batman is a DC comic, it is not set in a real city - DC usually set their films in made up places cities.

The Love Interest
Since childhood, Bruce and Rachel had always been in love - they grew up together as best friends and were always there for one another. Batman saves Rachel's life multiple times yet Rachel cannot commit to a relationship between her and Bruce whilst he is Batman.

The Helpers
According to Propp's Theory, a superhero film should include a helper. In Batman begins, there are two helpers; Lucius Fox and Alfred Pennyworth.
Lucius Fox is a research head and friend of Thomas Wayne, he provides all of Bruce's gadgets and becomes friends with Bruce.
Alfred Pennyworth is the closest thing to a father figure Bruce has. He helps him throughout the movie and always has his back.

Lighting 
In the scenes that Batman is in, such as the car chase between Batman and the police, there is often low key lighting to indicate tension and fear, also the car chase can imply action.

The Amazing Spider-Man (2002)

The Amazing Spider-Man (2002)
The Hero& His Special abilities:
In The Amazing Spider-Man film, there are various common features of a superhero film used. Spider-man is the hero in this comic; he has the special ability to climb walls like spider, he also has super strength and agility. He uses his extrodinary powers to fight crime and defeat the evil villain ( Green Goblin).
Backstory/Alter ego:
At the beginning of Spirderman, he is known as Peter Parker; an ordinary boy, until he gets bitten by a rare spider on a science trip. He experiences lots of changes over the night, and wakes up a superhero. From then, he has an alter ego, meaning that he has a 2nd identity!
Costume: 
When fighting crime, Spirderman wears a red and blue costume. The colour red can portray danger however it can also imply love. I believe that both of these descriptions suit Spiderman. He wears a mask to keep his identity as Peter Parker a secret. The spider on his chest reflects his super powers.
Setting:
Spiderman was set in New York City; an extreme long shot was used for us to establish this. Also, the majority of the scenes in Spiderman are set in the city, often outdoors when he is spiderman, but in his home as Peter Parker.
Lighting:
Often when Spiderman is fighting crime, there is low key lighting to imply action and gives the scene a tense atmosphere. Also it can make characters look mysterious by highlighting and shading certain sections on their body and face. On the other hand, the scenes involving Peter Parker are usually set in daytime therefore there is usually high key lighting. High key lighting shows a calmer atmosphere.
Diegetic/Non-diegetic Sound:
In the film, there is not much non-diegetic sound; some scenes had background music, but not many. However, a lot of diegetic sound is used. An example of this is gun shots and punching to portray action.
Camera shots:
In the amazing Spider-man, multiple camera shots are used. Low angle shots are used to make spiderman look bigger and powerful. A two shot was used when Spiderman and MJ kiss to establish their relationship. When Spiderman first gets his powers, an extreme close up on his rists was used to establish where his powers where coming from and what they are.
Villain:
The Green Goblin is the villain of this comic. He uses his powers to hurt and kill people. He wears a green metalic costume with yellow glowing, evil-looking eyes, to suggest that he is the villain. His special power is the ability to fly and shoot bolts of energy from his hands. Throughout the film Green Goblin attempts to kill Spiderman, but he fails to do so.

Todorov's Theory

Todorov's Theory

Chosen book: Taken
Basic outline of the plot: The man character, Brian's (a retired CIA operator) daughter gets kidnapped whilst on holiday with her friend. Her father goes on a mission to find her. 

Equlibrium:
Kim and her best friend go on holiday and stay in an apartment, after they arrive at the airport, they tell a few local men where they are staying and the men take them to their apartment.

Distruption:
Kim rings her father since she can see her friend getting attacked through the window. Brian tells Kill that she will be taken by the men and he tries to save her by instructing her ehat to do, however it does not work.

Recognition:
Kim's father, Brian, tells the kidnapper that he will find him and kill him.

Repair:
Brian sets out to find Kim and he searches for her and is faced with some obsticles throughout his journey.

New Equilibrium:
He saves Kim and kills the majority of the kidnappers.

Marvel and DC comics

Marvel
Marvel Worldwide Inc is an American publisher of comic books and related media. In 2009, The Walt Disney Company bought Marvel Entertainment. Martin Goodman founded the company as Timely Productions in 1939. Some of marvel's most famous characters are Wolverine, Iron Man, Captain Amercia, Spider-man and The Hulk, and their famous teams are the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the Guardiens Of The Galaxy and the X-Men. Most of the characters are set in real-life cities. An example of this is is Spider-man, the fantastic four, the avengers, daredevil and Dr.Strange are based in New York City. Over the years, marvel has created obver 200 superheroes, and has 42 films based on Marvel Comics! 

3 Marvel + DC Facts
1)Marvel Comics and DC cosmics have co-owned the trademark for the phrase "superhero" since 
1881. 
2)From 2002-2006,  60.6 million DC or Marvel comics were sold.
3)In 1969, the most sold superhero comic was Superman, DC, with 511,984 sales. The 5th most sold was Marvels Spider-man, with 372,352 sales.

DC
Dc Comics, Inc. is an American comic book publisher. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment, a company of Warner Bros, which itself is owned by Time Warner. In the late 1934 or early 1935,DC was founded by Malcom Wheeler-Nicholson as national allied publications. the initials "DC" come from the company's popular series Detective Comics. DC have some of the most well-known characters, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Shazam, Hawkman and Green arrow. DC characters are often set in fantasy places, such as Gotham. There have been 115 DC superheroes and 29 films based on DC Comics!

Star Wars Diegetic & Non-Diegetic sounds

Diegetic sound:
Comes from a source within the scene.
Eg. dialogue from the actors, or music from a radio.

Non-diegetic:
Sound is added to the soundtrack to heighten impact or create an emotional response
Eg. narators commentary, sound effects.

Star Wars Trailer

Diegetic sounds:
1. (1.35) In this scene, the sound is focused on the explosions and shooting of spaceships. This gives a dramatic and tense effect on the audienc. We feel suspenseful because we are drawn in because we want to know why they are shooting at eachother and who will win.

2. (1.44) Here, the director has used diegetic sound. the main sound we can here is the lightsaber to imply that it is a dangerous scene. The audience would feel apprehensive because we don't know what happens next as the trailor cuts the scene midway through he lifts the lightsaber into the air. The sound of the lightsaber gets louder and more climatic throughout the scene.

3. (1.18) In this scene, diegetic sound is used. The sounds from the spaceships are used to portray a striking mood. The audience feel excited because they want to see more, this emotion remains throughout the majority of the trailor.

Non-diegetic sounds:
1. (0.14) In the beginning scene of the trailor, the director uses non-diegetic sound to intensify the scene. The high pitched note remains for quite a long note, and then repetes which suggests a tense and exciting atmosphere. The charatcters ask themselves who the character is? What will happen next? and causes the audience to want to find out more.

2. (1.14) At this scene, soundtrack changes to an even more emotional atmosphere. The sound is emphasized and increases how loud and powerful the scene is. The audience start to feel more involved and tense.

3. (0.50) our attention in this scene is drawn to the increase in volume, this has a tense impact on the audience and causes us to feel more excited. We are eager to find out what happens next.

Scott Pilgtim Vs. The World

Miss en scene

1. (0.16) In this screenshot our attention is drawn to Ramona's character for multiple reasons; her pink hair expresses a quirky, unique character. In contrast, Scott's character comes across as quite boring and awkward since he is wearing a plane shirt. His facial expressions are looking down for the whole duration of him talking to Ramona which suggests that he feels intimidated by her. On the other hand, Ramona's looks like she is very bored since she is glaring at him and her facial expressions remain the excact same whilst they are talking. The cup that Scott is holding is crunched up since he squoze it when he first saw Ramona. This shows that he felt nervous and apprehensive on a large scale.

2. (0.28) This scene is set in Scott's appartment, the dirty clothes in the middle of the floor imply that he is a lazy and scruffy character. All of the video games and DVD's in the left corner indicate that Scott hasn't got an exciting social life. He is sat right behind the door, desperate for his parcel to get delivered by Ramona. Where as his room mate is sat on the oppisite side of the room to convey that he doesn't agree with what Scott is doing.

3. (1.06) In this scene, Ramona's first evil ex fights Scott. The black makeup around his eyes portrays an evil background. Along with his black hair and side-fringe; this hairstyle is genuinely associated as very different and unusual. His facial expressions seem to be very frustrated and his hand is clenched- which implies that he wants to punch scott. The lighting is focused on him and the people observing in the background are blurred.

Hunger Games Camera Shots&Angles

Hunger Games Camera Shots&Angles

1) (0.11) In the hunger games trailor, the director has used a close up of Katniss' face to portray the emotion in her facial expressions. The close up in this shot expresses that she is anxious and prehaps confused.






2) (1.18) Here an extreme long shot has been used. This is to set the scene and establish the characters surroundings and atmosphere. This is effective because it allows us to be in the characters shoes.










3) (0.53) In this shot, they have used a 
Point Of View shot to show us what the
 characters viewpoint is. 

4) (1.56) A two shot has been used in this scene. This was used to express the relationship between the two characters; here their body language implies that they have quite a complicated relationship since they are quite apart from eachother and sat down with their aems wrapped around them, looking in oppisite directions. 

5) (2.07) An extreme close-up has been used in this scene to focus on Katniss passing her sister her 'lucky charm' which suggests that she is expecting the worse and wants her sister to remember her if she doesnt return home.