Blake Snyder Superhero

The codes and conventions of a superhero film are that they must go through some sort of struggle throughout the film in which they struggle to solve, this struggle will usually surround their life and something important to them that is at risk. It then has to end with them outsmarting the 'bad guy' and prospering over evil. They are also very dramatic and include some sort of life or death situation that leaves the audience on the edge of their seats.

The genre that I have chosen is superhero, from analysing the movie trailers iron man 3 (2013), Thor 2 the dark world (2013, not released full film). I have noticed many similarities that link the trailers together such as the character type, music used throughout the trailer, the voiceover used, the scenes shown and the tempo of the trailer.

Firstly the characters used in these 2 trailers are very similar as they are both shown as the hero of the movie and that they have immense power. Also they are given a distinct look that makes them noticeable and so that they can be recognised by many. The characters are also shown to be dealing with major problems with in iron man he’s threatened by the mandarin and in thor he is threatened by ‘the darkness’.



The music used throughout both of these trailers is almost identical with the music being extremely dramatic and tense. The music is also similar in the fact that at the beginning the music stays at a slow speed as it is going through scenes slowly. Then as the trailers progress the music speeds up as the scenes turn into more of a montage. Also the music prompts a build-up as it goes on as it slowly speeds up and then stops with a long last note at the end of both trailers. This shows that in the genre of superhero the music is very dramatic and is used to build up suspension.

The voiceovers used in both of these trailers are also similar as in iron man it is iron man who is talking (Robert Downey Jr.) and in thor it starts with his father then later on thor (Chris Hemsworth) takes over. Tis showing how the superhero is the main voiceover this makes the trailer feel more real as it’s like a diary from the hero as he talks about the problems and dangers that are coming. The voiceovers are also very dramatic as they talk in a slow pace which makes it overall more dramatic.

The scenes shown in the trailers start off with only a few scenes involved. They change through transitions such as fades which give a dramatic and calm feeling. Then later on transitions such as jumps, this gives the overall feeling that a lot of action is going on and create excitement. This shows that in superhero films they usually start off very dramatic then jump into a montage of clips which show a lot of action in a short period of time.

The tempo of the trailer is relatively slow with the use of the voice over as it sort of gives a very brief over view of the story at then at the end it jumps into a fast paced montage of clips which lead up to the big end text that gives the film title. This showing how the title of the film is given at the end of the clip and through the speed of the clip this is built up throughout. This showing how the text in a superhero genre is left to the end as the tension builds up throughout the trailer.
 

Blake Snyders Save the cat genres

 

Trailer Terminology and Definitions

Trailer: A trailer is a number of selected clips from throughout the film that show off part of the film and give a brief, but vague story line, however these clips do not give any big spoilers to the main feature. These are used in ways such as a teaser trailer, which is a clip around 30 seconds to 1 minute long and its sole purpose is to draw in the audience and to build up excitement. The main trailer is called the theatrical trailer, this is a longer trailer that can reach up to 2:30 minutes and gives a deeper insight to the film.
 

Plot summary: This is the way that a trailer is set out, it is organised into 3 sections act 1,2 and 3. Act 1 is the start in which the the premise of the story is shown. Act 2 is is the section which drives the story and often ends with a climax. Act 3 is the ending which often shows a montage of clips and is accompanied by a piece of signature music that is strongly recognisable.
 

Voice over: this is a narration which tells the audience what is happening at certain points in the movie. It is also used to set an atmosphere through the voice actor used such as morgan freeman who is a very effective voice actor.
 

Music: the music sets the tone of the trailer and creates an atmosphere for the trailer. This music track is usually just used not the trailer and not in the full feature film.
 

Cast, crew and studio information: the cast run is the list of actors that will feature in the film. The billing block is the list of the cast and crew and is featured at the end of a movie or on posters.
 

Technical elements: sound mix - movie trailers are often presented by Dolby digital and sound effects are done by Stereophonics. Video resolution - movie trailers are in the same format as the full feature and are presented digitally or on 35mm film.