Film opening analysis pres

1. Hancock

2. Main cast of Hancock:
 Will Smith – Hancock
 Charlize Theron – Mary Embrey
 Jason Bateman – Ray Embrey
 Jae Head – Aaron Embrey
Director: Peter Berg
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jKS---
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3. For my film analysis I have decided to do the movie “Hancock”
The movie “Hancock” is an action, fantasy movie that occasionally
consists of comedy within some parts. Technically it’s about a
superhero that has severely fallen out with the favour of the public
and suddenly entering into a questionable relationship with the wife
of the public relations professional who's trying to repair his image.
Within this presentation I'm going to be analysing all the elements
and components that make up the movie opening. Within my
analysis I will be taking into consideration costumes being worn,
make-up being put on, props being used, actions being displayed and
the different types of lighting being done.

4. Genre
The movie, “Hancock” is a superhero comedy-drama. The genre, comedy-drama
is clearly revealed at the opening of the film. The director uses
elements such as natural lighting, diegetic sounds, props and the specific
movements of each character to illustrate comedy and dramatic side of
the movie.
All these convention were capable of meeting the stereotypical units of
drama and comedy. For example:
 Hancock has to stop some criminals from getting away – Drama
 You would hardly expect a superhero to be drinking while trying to
save the city- Comedy
 Hancock smashes into the post because either he wasn’t bothered to
fly over it or he was simply drunk – Comedy
 The criminals weren't expecting a hero like Hancock, they even said to
each other that he smells like alcohol, Lastly when they were shooting
at him one of the bullets got reflected and hit one of them. But one
crucial part was when Hancock discovered that his drink was in
pieces, he was clearly not happy and for that he grabbed the car in
which they were all in and left it on top of a building, leaving the
criminals inside – Comedy/Drama

5. Costume and Makeup
All costumes being showed within the opening of the film seem to fit
the scene, obviously criminals/ thieves would wear a type of dark
clothing to signify that they’ve done something that isn't of good and
they want to be hidden from anybody to prevent people from
knowing what they've done. But this time that particular stereotype
has been challenged because the thieves are seen wearing ordinary
bright clothing, which is clearly understandable because they
obviously don’t want to be spotted out, they want to blend in.
But Sadly the same cant be said about Hancock. Hancock, as said
earlier, has fallen out with the public, and because of that he doesn’t
care about how the people see him as. Normally, as a superhero, you
would be expecting him to be wearing some sort of bright flashy
colours to stand out from the crowd. He does stand out but not in a
heroic way. His particular choice of clothing portrays not only to the
public but also to the audience that Hancock doesn’t want to stand
out as a hero. Probably he's tired of trying to show affections to the
public. That’s why he's dressed up as a drunken homeless person.

6. Props
For the opening scene of “Hancock” there aren't that many props being
used. At the beginning Hancock is laying down on a bench as is
woken up by a little boy, the alerts him that a group of people have
committed a crime and that they need to be stopped. Before Hancock
takes flight he reaches for a nearby bottle under the bench, that bottle
would be considered as a prop because from the point at which he took
flight to when he actually gets to stopping the criminals he is seen holding
and drinking it through out that journey, and when one of the criminals
shattered the bottle glass he took it seriously and got angry.
Another Prop that could be considered are guns that the criminals used to
defend themselves against Hancock. Obviously because of the unique
abilities that Hancock possess the bullets have no effect on him. Hancock
carrying the bear around adds more to the point that he doesn’t care
about his image, and the criminals with the guns not only shows that
they're ruthless but that they are really scared of Hancock because they
know what he's capable of doing.
Lastly another prop could be the dark shades he wore while stopping the
bad guys. The fact that he wore it could signify that he didn’t want to take
the scene seriously and that he was tired.

7. Character
Hancock at the beginning of the movie comes on as a strong, sturdy
kind of person with a hint of care free attitude. His body movement
gives the impression that he’s tired and really couldn’t care less about
what happens to anybody but himself. He especially couldn’t care
much about the damage he causes to his surroundings – (the part
when he flew straight through the post, and what he did to the car).
If you were to look closely you would notice that Hancock didn’t smile
throughout the any of the scenes. This displays him as a kind of
reserved person, someone who doesn’t like sharing feelings as
opposed to a “normal” superhero.
Lastly he's always seen wearing dark shaded glasses, this could also
insinuate that he likes keeping things to himself and that he's
secretive, probably he doesn’t like looking people in the eyes due to
them not liking his characteristics and the way he acts towards them.
(He’s also the type to be really rude and use foul language – from the
time when he told the criminals to pull over or else he's going to put
one of them into the other ones bum.)

8. Lighting
The lighting before he takes off is natural, but when he's reaching out
for the drink under the seat within the box its kind of low key, in fact
the entire scene of when he's getting up in front of the boy is low key.
This low key lighting on him signifies his shady character, his dark side.
Probably a side that the public sees very often and the one he likes to
show to them.
The scenes in which he was chasing the criminals were all high key if
not natural lighting, when he was warning them to put an end to what
they were doing in the car it was slightly low key. But when the
camera did a long shot of the car its was high key. Even when Hancock
carried the car to the point in which he left it pierced by a building it
was still high key lighting.
Probably the reason for the lack of low key is due to the time of day
this particular scene was filmed at or possibly this is to be expected
within a comedy drama since comedies most of the time contain high
key lighting to suit the mood.

9. Camera Shots and
Editing
Shots used within the opening scene:
 There were a lot of editing cuts from one scene to another but still
on the same focus – ( for example at the beginning when the
camera zoomed in to the car then it suddenly cuts to the criminals
within the car then to them shooting at the cops. Then when
Hancock had to fly to the scene of he crime.)
 The most common shot used was the tracking shot because the
camera had to constantly follow the cops and the criminals driving
around. And when Hancock flew to the scene.
 Medium shots were used and so were shot reverse shot when
Hancock was talking to the criminals within their car.
 Canted angle shots were used when Hancock picked up the car
and the criminals within the car were forced to the end of car, you
could tell that it was from an angle, it could also be considered as
a high angle shot.
 Lastly there was a close up of Hancock when he was carrying the
car.

10. Sound
At the beginning there is a non-diegetic sound being played and the style
of this particular sound is quick, intense and very loud. Especially when
the criminals are shooting at what seems to be the police. This only
backs-up and signifies the idea of how thrilling, epic and dramatic they all
most feel at that point in time of the chase. – That scene was just full of
violence. But when the scene cut to Hancock sleeping on the bench the
non-diegetic sound cut and there was slightly string plucking sound being
played, showing how peaceful Hancock felt.
When Hancock woke up and took flight you could hear the bench which
he slept on being destroyed, which showed how strong he was. The non-diegetic
sound changed again to another epic-like sound while he was
soaring through the sky, then lastly when he was lifting the car it then
finally changed into particular sound that seemed to fit that particular
mood. That scene was a kind of comedy scene in the sense that Hancock
was really mad at the criminals not because they were shooting at him
but because his bottle got shattered. – (which is kind of an unreasonable
reason). So the non-diegetic sound being played seemed to have fit the
mood because it was fast paced.

11. Conventions Met and
Challenged
 In a film that’s genre is comedy you would expect there to
be most of the time high key lighting on the scenes that are
about to be funny. – ( met )
 Obviously within a drama based film you would expect there
to be scenes when the characters are deadly serious about
what's happening within the movie. – ( met )
 He's a “different” kind of superhero in the sense that he
does things his own way. Like he uses foul language and he
doesn’t put the environment into consideration. – (
challenged )
 He’s drinking while trying to stop a bunch of criminals as
oppose to what a “normal” superhero would do. – (
challenged )
 At the beginning when the boy told Hancock to the criminals
stop there was an enigma there because you would have
been wondering how would Hancock be able to stop a
bunch of armed criminals. – ( met )

12. Why I chose this.
There are many reasons as to why I chose this particular
film to present:
 It’s a comedy movie that contains the least of things
you would expect to be in a superhero, that’s what
makes it so funny.
 Its very interesting in terms of the level of graphics
used to make all the effects look so realistic-like. I like
the way in which the story line knows when to switch
from comedy to drama.
 Lastly it’s a comedy so no matter what dramatic scene
you're bound to see its eventually going to change
along with the mood of that movie. – and there's
nothing wrong with a little laughter.