Iron Man (2008) Analysation Homework 15.10.2013

The genre of Iron Man is action and adventure.

The extract opens with a boy screaming. Right after that, we see Iron Man flying from the sky and landing. Immediately we can tell that there is speed and motion which identifies that this is an AA film. We also see that Iron Man is the main hero in the film. He is a typical superhero as he has superpowers since a normal person can't fly.

As he lands, one of the villains uses a gun to shoot him however it doesn't work. This is because of his iron outfit. He stands up in front of the villain and punches him. The villain flies away. This is somehow exaggerated as a normal human being wouldn't have the strength to punch someone and the person will go flying away, which reinforces my point that he is a stereotypical superhero.

Iron Man then raises his arm and some sort of fire ball bursts out of his hand. The villains all die instantly which makes Iron Man seem very powerful since he has the power to kill someone very easily. However we see there are also good people there, so Iron Man aims at the villains and kills them off without harming the good people. This shows us that he's a good superhero - he doesn't harm people who are good and only punishes ones who are evil.

Towards the middle of the extract, Iron Man starts flying again. However immediately he falls onto the ground as someone has attacked him. This creates jeopardy and suspense - this creates tension as the audience will think about questions like: is Iron Man dead? is he hurt? what's going to happen next? The answer has been quickly told to us after a few seconds as we see his hand reaching out from the rubble. As he stands up a bullet was shot at him from a tank, however he quickly steps aside to avoid it, and fires a fire ball which causes the tank to explode. This again reinforces my point of making Iron Man look very powerful since everything seems very powerless to him.

To view the movie extract please click HERE.

RESEARCH: Similar films - The English Patient and Made in Dagenham

Production Log 3 (15th Oct.2013)

During the class we have watched the opening of The English Patient (dir. Anthony Minghella, 1996). The movie opens with a close up shot of a hand painting a human's figure as if on a cave wall. Then it cross dissolves to an areal shot of sand dunes with a similar colour tone. This also inspires our group as we can open our first scene with a close up shot which creates enigma. To add on to that we can open our scene of a person writing something - maybe a marriage certificate, death certificate or even a psychiatrist's report.This will build up suspense as the audience will not know what this is all about and will want to watch more and find out.

We have also watched the opening of Made in Dagenham (dir. Nigel Cole, 2010). The scene opens with a wide shot of a crowd of factory workers going to their work place as their work day starts. This inspires us as we could find realistic establishing shots for atmosphere. We could shoot in places such as the railway station or shopping centres to make the opening more realistic.

RESEARCH: Similar films - Spooks

Production Log 2 (7th Oct.2013)

(Spooks, 2002)

I watched the opening of this TV series. The genre of it was spy. First you have the build-up of what has previously happened. Then comes the opening sequence. The whole opening sequence seems really modern and computer generated. The colour tone of the opening sequence contains generally blue and grey colours which makes the opening look cold and stark. It looks very realistic, in contrast to the opening of Pacific Rim that I have analysed in the last production log. Also, as you can see in the picture I have above, the font makes the whole opening look very modern, almost like CGI and the brackets add on to the affect. After the opening, the first scene was when a person woke up by the phone. Then you see a lot of quick cuts of people speaking on the phone simultaneously, which shows us it is a busy world and creates tension. After that the audience can see there's a man sitting on an arm chair, listening to music and looking very nervous and sad. Suddenly, people break into his house through the windows wearing black costumes and holding guns. This is what makes the genre spy, since there are a lot of action shots (breaking in the windows) and the mise-en-scene which includes guns, helicopters also black costumes.

Planning: The Brief

I am working in a group of 3. The other members of my group are Sisi and Bertie. We have chosen Brief 7 (video). The opening sequence from a new film, including titles, in any genre or mix of genres such as a comedy or thriller together with a storyboard. Maximum length: 3 minutes.