Comic Film Classification

Most Comic-based feature films, both DC Comics produced and Marvel Comics produced, are classified as 12A. Films under this category are considered to be unsuitable for very young people. Those aged under 12 years are only admitted if accompanied by an adult, aged at least 18 years, at all times during the motion picture. However, it is generally not recommended that children under 12 years should watch the film. Films under this category can contain mature themes, discrimination, soft drugs, moderate swear words, infrequent strong language and moderate violence, sex references and nudity. Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Sexual violence may be implied or briefly indicated.

 

Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises are just some examples of 12A Rated Comic-adapted movies

Iron Man - Information

 

 

Spiderman - Information

 

 

Analysis - Spiderman (Timeline)

[First 2:30]

 

 

 

Columbia  00:01-00:18

Marvel  00:20-00:30

Columbia Pictures presents  00:34-00:37

A Marvel Enterprize/Laura Ziskin production  00:40-00:43

Spider Man  00:48-00:52

Staring Tobey Maguire  00:54-00:57

Willem Dafoe  00:59-01:02

Kirstan Dunst  01:03-01:07

James Franco  01:09-01:12

Cliff Robertson  01:13-01:17

Rossmary Harris  01:18-01:21

J.K. Simmons  01:23-01:26

Gerry Becker, Bill Nunn  01:28-01:31

Jack Betts, Stanley Anderson, Ron Perkins  01:33-01:37

Casting by Francine Maisler and Lynn Kressel  01:38-01:42

Co-producer Grant Curtace  01:44-01:47

Music by Danny Elfman  01:51-01:55

Costume Designer by James Archeson  02:00-02:04

Visual Effects Designed by John Dykstra Asc  02:05-02:09

Edited by Bob Muraski and Arther Coburn A.C.E.  02:10-02:14

Production Designer Neil Spisak  02:15-02:18

Director of Photography Don Bergess ASC  02:20-02:24

Executive Producers Avi Arad, Stan Lee  02:27-02:31

DC Universe

DC universe was founded in 1934 and along with Marvel is one of the biggest comic book publishers in the world. They to have created many characters that has survived the test of time. Heroes such as Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman and villains such as Joker, Penguin and Catwoman.

DC's films often show the characters in much more in a much darker Gothic light. Batman for example goes against the stereotypes of the typical hero. Batman being dressed nearly entirely in black, and Joker wearing the bright more vivid colours shows how DC like to eradicate stereotypes. Also with DC they make the villains likable, unlike Marvel. We still connote them to be evil, but there's something about their character that we can't help liking, going back to The Joker he is a fun, zany and outgoing character that, if he weren't evil would be a fun guy to have as a friend.

DC's logo instantly makes us think of the comic book heroes. When the logo appears before a film starts we think back to how good the other films we have seen and assume this one will be just as good due to brand trust.

Marvel

Marvel comics first began as Timely Comics in 1939 and since then it has signed up with Walt Disney and has become a multi-billion dollar corporation

Marvel comics are the creator of many of the well known superheroes we know today. Characters such as Iron Man, Hulk and Spiderman are some of Marvels creations along with teams such as The Avengers and The Fantastic Four. These characters are known and loved by millions, children and adults alike. Action comics attract possibly widest audience range of all the film genres. As children we often dream of being a superhero and performing the stunts that our favourite characters do.

When we see the Marvel logo we instantly associate the film to be an action film, not the aggressive and danger associated with the likes of Die Hard, but instead with more fun-loving characters that we can relate to emotionally. With Marvel films, they have made the difference between the hero and villain very clear. Everything we see of the superhero, the colours, lighting, his whole character influences the audience to like them and be on their side.

Film Opening - Planning

Our main, end of year media task is to produce a film opening for one of the following genres

• A "relationship" comedy/drama made by an independent production company, aimed at young adults.
• Science fiction British adult audience.
• A mainstream action film that will appeal to both 15-25 year old males and females, based on a comic book. (The comic can be either real or fake as long as it has not already been made into a film of course)
• A film that is based on real event from the last 10 years, that appears to be independently funded.

We are allowed to do pretty much anything we like as long as it fits within one of these genres, here are our ideas for each of the genres

1.We tried to of different story lines for this genre rather than stick to the common RomCom convention of 'Boy meets girl...' For example I proposed the idea of a bromance themed film similar to 'I Love You Man' (possibly the funniest film in the world). We also discussed the idea of a relationship between gay people or even the relationship between an owner and his/her pet. We're trying to be different and expand the relationships genre by thinking outside of the box.

2.Although we wanted to be seen as different when presenting our film opening we wanted, with this genre to take this subject extremely literally by using stereotypes, codes and conventions to show things such as space and technology. We would like to focus on something related to either aliens, space or time travel as we think this would make an interesting and exciting film opening. We would have to seriously consider our settings and costumes to make our genre choice as obvious as possible and to make our story line clear if we were to choose this genre. 

3.When we thought of action within comic-adapted media I immediately thought of the old Batman series with Adam West, I suggested we could include creativity into the film opening by making our own sound signs of things saying "pow" and "wham" in a sort of pop art technique. We then started to think about using stop motion and create a comic book sort of layout or have scenes with comic book images in to give you the retro action superhero feel. Imogen being a Psychology student thought back to something she learnt about Dissociative Identity Disorder/DID (formerly know as Multi-Personality Disorder/MPD) and suggested we could create a typical comic book superhero with a twist, he has DID and is also the villain but doesn't know, however she later told us about something else she learnt about, The Three Faces of Eve, in which a woman, Eve had multiple personalities some of which knew about the others. We decided that if we picked this topic our hero would also be our villain but only the villainous personality would know about the disorder. We haven't thought much into the powers or names of the villain or  the hero but we can decide this at a later date. We have to try to make this so that it isn't at all funny as it could be seen as mocking DID and people with DID.

4.We like this genre as we have thought of a lot of story lines and techniques we could use to present scenes and can even indicate that flashbacks happen. The story line we have came up with is an ex mental patient who had a diary during her time in her ward. If we choose this genre we'll use an inner-monologue to make a personal connection to the audience as she tells her story. We then want to include cut away shots of the scenes she is talking about which had previously happened in her ward to give the impression that she is having flashbacks and is often thinking about the events that took place during her time on the ward. We'll also have a councilor character so that we can see the events from two perspectives.

TA - Avengers (Timeline)

Click the image below to view 'The Avengers' opening credits

TA - Iron Man Opening (Timeline)

Analysis - Comic Adapted Action Films

We were mostly leaning towards the RomCom and Action (Comic Adapted) genres so have analyzed these genres to a greater extent than Real Life and Sci-fi

Comic themed films are often films based on real comics and graphic novels. It is common for these films to be based on superhero comics such as Iron Man, Spiderman, Xmen etc. However lots of comic themed films aren't superhero based for example Alien Vs Predator, Surrogates, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World (based off of 6 awesome graphic novels) etc.

I honestly had no idea that Surrogates was based on a comic, but it's a pretty cool film.

Comic book films based from superhero comics often use a similar narrative: A normal guy lives a normal life (usually). Something happens for him to have some sort of power(s). A villain or criminal arises, creating havoc over the main protagonist's home town. The protagonist triumphs over the criminal and he's sent to prison (or in some cases is killed by the main protagonist). However comic adapted films which aren't superhero themed do not follow any particular narrative ie The Mask, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, Sin City and 300 have no formulating pattern in their narratives.

Comic adapted superhero films are often set in real life places such as New York (Spiderman) or Kansas (Superman) however certain comic adapted films are set in fictional cities such as Gotham (Batman)

In superhero movies such as Superman, Batman, Iron man, Spiderman etc the audience first get a preview into their normal life, ie in the first Spiderman film we see a nerdy Peter Parker living his remarkably average life, we also get a feeling that there's something wrong, he lives wit his aunt an uncle which gives the impression that his parents are gone/dead which makes us feel sorry for and get closer to him, the more the audience like the protagonist the more we want to see him succeed. A similar thing happens in most superhero films.