The document discusses a student group's superhero film sequence and how it was influenced by and compares to other superhero films such as Spiderman, Iron Man, and Kick-Ass. The student analyzes the sequence and believes it effectively introduces the main character while challenging some conventions of the genre by having a non-Caucasian protagonist and being set in the UK rather than America. The student also feels the sequence realistically portrays some stereotypes of teenagers.

2. Question 1
My group’s sequence is similar to the introductions of other superhero films, primarily because we looked for
other superhero films for inspiration. As with most other superhero films, the opening two minutes do not
reveal any of the character’s powers, or even provide any major insight that the character onscreen will gain
any powers. We were heavily influenced by Spiderman, which is evident in our sequence as it follows a similar
path. In the initial two minutes of Spiderman, we are introduced to a character that it not very popular and is
bullied by his peers, we also find out he is in love with the most popular girl in school, who he is not confident
enough to speak to, but she takes pity on his plight. Our sequence is similar to this with the story of a teenager
being bullied and rejected by the girl he loves, and we used voiceovers in a similar style. The main difference
between Spiderman and our sequence is the character; in Spiderman, the character has very low self-esteem,
even in the voiceovers, the character seems insecure. In our sequence, the character attempts to come across
as a very confident and enigmatic individual, and the voiceovers re-enforce this idea; however as the sequence
progresses, the audience are shown that it is all an act and the character truthfully is an unpopular and
uncharismatic character. This is also contrasting with Ironman as the character in that film is much older, and is
a very confident and successful individual. Our sequence focuses more on introducing the main character of
the film, which will allow the audience to familiarise with him and become more accustomed to him in the film;
whereas the start of Ironman introduces the action to the audience and gives them an idea of what to expect
in the rest of the film. Despite the focus being on the inclusion of the action sequence, Ironman still manages
to leave a positive impression of their protagonist on the audience in the introduction, and from much of the
positive feedback we have received from our audience, I feel we have managed to do the same although our
audiences feel empathetic for our protagonist, while they were impressed by the protagonist of Ironman.

3. Question 1
I also think our sequence can be related to Kick-Ass with the similar style of
the introduction. Both films are alike as both have weak and ostracised
protagonists that have found themselves unsuccessful in love. Both films
feature a love interest which is out of reach of the protagonists until much
later in the films; the difference is that in Kick-Ass, the character is not
popular enough to approach her confidently and succeed in wooing her, while
in our sequence the love interest is not interested in males until the end of
the film. One of the main similarities between the two introductions is that
Kick-Ass are set in a American high school, and our is set in the British
equivalent. They both begin in very light and humorous moods however the
mood of our sequence ends off on a more deep and emotional note. Kick-Ass
draws humour from crude, vulgar adult jokes, while we attempted to
incorporate basic comedy with few indecorous gags although they appeal to
our target audience. In both our sequence and Kick-Ass, the protagonists
aspire to become something great; the main character from Kick-Ass wants to
become a superhero, while the character from our sequence desires to
become a powerful and renowned police officer, and is forced into becoming
a superhero.

4. Question 1
We maintained some of the genre conventions in our sequences for instance, as in the
majority of superhero films, our superhero is male, in the story we created he fought
the antagonist twice as well as his minions, and the hero ends up besting the villain
and getting the girl. I think the footage we recorded was edited effectively and this
increased the realism of the piece and made it look professional. The use of voice-
overs further supplements the proficient look of the sequence. In my opinion, we have
challenged more of the conventions than we have retained. Unlike most other
superhero films, the main character is portrayed by an Indian actor; most other
superhero films feature Caucasian actors. Furthermore, our superhero is in his late
teens while most other superhero films have older protagonists. Additionally our
protagonist is not born with any superhuman powers, and does not gain any later on,
instead his damaged bone structure is replaced with a metal skeletal structure, our
character is more like Batman who does not have any powers either. Another
convention we defied was that most superhero films are filmed in America, while our
sequence is filmed in the UK.

5. Question 2
I think our sequence re-enforces the modern stereotype of teenagers and their
consideration that “image is everything” and I think we have shown the stereotype
generally in a negative way, with the protagonist still remaining as a positive character,
allowing the audience to empathise with him. The section of our sequence where a
kid is being bullied by the other boys shows the criminal and thuggish stereotype of
teenagers that is commonly exaggerated and blown out of proportion by the media
which we also demonstrate in a negative approach. When the protagonist arrives to
assist, he too is beaten up by them. The whole idea running through the sequence of
the protagonist attempting to create this artificial image for the audience of himself as
a strong, popular guy that is a “hit with the ladies”, this maintains the idea of the
popularity contest that is school life for teenagers. The central character fails in trying
to create a macho image, and again trying to be a ladies man, it is then that the
audience see him for what he really is and feel empathetic. I think in trying to show
teenagers in this way, we also managed to represent the male gender. The idea of the
male character trying to create and uphold his manly, macho persona and the heavy
focus on the guy trying to get the girl he wants is a negative stereotype of males,
which I think we have displayed in an amusing manner.

6. Question 3
I think that there are two major independent film distribution companies that
could consider distributing our product; North American entertainment giants
Lionsgate Entertainment, and the formerly major studio American media
company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). In my opinion MGM would be the
primary candidates, as they have more experience in distributing films similar
to ours, with Superhero movie of 2008 being a venture similar to ours. MGM
also have two other endeavours lined up which are in the same genre as our
film; they are going to distribute the sequel of G.I. Joe: Rise Of Cobra entitled
G.I. Joe: Retaliation later on this year, and they are going to concentrate on
the home entertainment distribution of Robocop which is to be released in
2013. I think that despite their high popularity, Lionsgate would consider
distributing our film as in 2010 they distributed Kick-Ass which was another
project similar to ours, and it introduced many new actors which is something
we have done in our film. Kick-Ass turned out to be a successful venture
despite the introduction of new talents; this may encourage them to take on
our project.

7. Question 3
I think the product should be initially released in the UK and in India and then
expanded further internationally to Europe and America. I feel this way because low
budget films without any well-known actors or directors produced in the UK do not
usually succeed straight away in America. If the film’s popularity increases in the UK, it
could spark interest in America and this could be a springboard for its international
success. My reason for saying the film should also be released in India is that it is a
film made in the UK, which features many Indian actors. These types of films are
generally received well by the Indian public, and films such as Bend It Like Beckham
2002 and Bride and Prejudice 2004 are testament to this. Despite it being a low-
budget film, it will be received well by the Indian public as it will be the fourth ever
film to feature Indian actors as superheroes.
In my opinion, it will be most profitable to release the film originally in the cinemas,
before moving onto home entertainment and then television. I think because we
would release the film internationally, television would not be such as successful
method of distributing the product initially, and although distributing the film through
the internet would allow it to reach large amounts of people at once, it would not be
as profitable as distributing it through the cinema first.

8. Question 4
The film is principally aimed at males. The film’s target audience is
predominantly teenagers regardless of their interests or lifestyle as I think our
product is well rounded and so would have something that would appeal to
everyone, although the product is also aimed at young adults. As our age
rating of 15 indicates, the film is not suitable for younger audiences. I think
that psychographic factors may influence the target audience; however our
film will feature comedy, action and romance and so will cater to the interests
of many people. Our audience feedback showed interesting results, our film
was aimed predominantly at male teenagers, and the male teenagers that
saw it provided us with very positive comments on its humour and ambition,
and requests to extend the sequence. A surprising result for us was that many
of the female teenagers that saw our sequence also provided us with positive
feedback remarking particularly on its humour, cheek and style. I think if we
really want to draw in more females as a secondary audience, we could make
the existing female characters a more integral part of the film, or introduce
more female characters for a subplot.

9. Question 5
In my opinion, the mise-en-scene in our sequence effectively appeals to the audience, as it
is set in a location and with situations they will be familiar with. Our sequence is filmed in a
secondary school, and so our teenage target audience will be able to relate to it easily. The
use of teenage actors and extras will assist them further in relating to the setting. Our
feedback confirmed that we made the correct decisions when selecting our locations. We
used some locations within the school such as the faith centre, in which not many people
from our school have been, however along with the audiences not from The King’s School,
they too appreciated the idea. I think our selection of the stereotypes that we used in the
sequence was a key factor in enabling the audience to engross themselves and genuinely be
able to relate to it. Our piece significantly changed from our initial ideas as we progressed,
we initially had the main character as a superhero already, however we would not be able
to execute the initial plans and so we decided to have it so that the main character had not
yet become a superhero, and instead focused on the introduction of the main character
and helping the audience familiarise with him. Many of the things we incorporated in the
piece will help our target audience to relate to it as fights and getting rejected by girls are
common occurrences in schools.

10. Question 6
After producing this sequence, I now appreciate the difficulty of filmmaking, as I didn’t
assume that it would be as challenging as it actually was. I personally have learnt
several things through doing this; I learned that it is wise to take several different
shots of the action in different angles and positions to ensure a wide range of possible
clips, which makes the editing easier. I now appreciate the rule of thirds and the 180
degree rule as we paid close attention to them, especially to the 180 degree rule while
filming in a narrow corridor. Also, the different types of shots and that are used imply
different things, for example, we end the piece with a high-angle shot of the main
character; this makes it seem as though the audience is looking down on him. Using
the Apple Macs to edit the sequence was an interesting and challenging process, as
well as being an enlightening one. I have learnt the difficulties faced when editing, and
how the process of editing is where the film really takes shape. The use of iMovie has
taught me different things such as the manner in which to add effects to the video,
how to import sound, edit volume levels, and polish the clips and transitions between
them. I think one way of improving would be if we used more voice-overs, I think this
would have been more effective in certain parts such as the very beginning. Also, I
think the application of credits is another area which we could improve as there were
issues and we faced difficulties while adding them, I think they could be used in a
more impressive way had we not had any issues with the Macs and in uploading the
footage.

11. Question 7
I feel that there has been a significant improvement in the planning and preparation of
this sequence from our preliminary task. Our introductory task was heavily
improvised, we had our main idea which was that two unwise agents were
interrogating a man using heavy force and accusing him of something despite him
being innocent. We had no idea of the location, dialogue or any action and so we just
found a room, made it appropriate by closing the curtains and blocking light from
entering and leaving two mobile phones on for illumination. We then just improvised
dialogue and physical, violent sequences. Contrastingly, for this sequence, we had a
large amount of time to prepare and so we decided on the initial story, dialogue,
actors, locations and then we wrote the script and selected shots using a storyboard.
We later realised that we would be unable to complete this idea and so we changed
the core of our sequence, while maintaining some of the dialogue. We also made
changes to the cast and found the most appropriate locations to film. We didn’t
receive permission to film in two of the locations and so were compelled to go against
the script and the storyboards and we replaced those two sections of the sequence
and resumed filming. Despite these problems, we had a good idea of what shots we
were going to use as well as the dialogue and so it was not too difficult to film despite
these changes. In the sequence, the filming and footage quality was of a much higher
standard than that of our pilot task.

12. Question 7
In the pilot task, we had the camera panning twice as the characters entered and
exited the room, while they were in the room; the camera remained in the same
place, held by the cameraman who was sat on a desk. We were strapped for time and
so we just ran through it section by section with the camera running, we only took one
shot for each component of the small sequence and didn’t vary the position of the
camera. On the other hand, when filming the new sequence, we had access to a
tripod which stabilised the camera and allowed easy panning and tilting without the
camera wobbling. We incorporated many different angles and shot types to keep the
audience engaged and we constantly repeated things placing the camera in different
positions to get several takes which gave us a wealth of options during the editing.
After uploading the footage onto the Macs and selecting the desired footage, we
compiled the shots chronologically and then began bringing the piece together. We
trimmed many of the clips to allow smoother transitions between them, we also
added the misty effect to support the dream sequence and make the idea of it being a
daydream more obvious, we also had a slight change of costume for the dream
sequence to help make it more evident. We heavily incorporated music in this piece
using three songs in the sequence to make it more entertaining and to help it flow, as
well as adding a voice-over to add to the authenticity and to assist the flow of the
piece further.