Analysis on Hancock poster

As you can see from this poster, 'Hancock' (Will Smith) is a laid back character, as he is the main protagonist some sense of strain and pressure shows be seen through actions however he feels none of this, portraying himself as a un-stereotypical representation of how a superhero should be.

Further with the caption underneath "NOT YOUR AVERAGE SUPERHERO" underneath him lying down on his is name, it further suggests that he is not this as he is just relaxing which strengthens my opinion of him not having a care in the world.

The ragged clothing contrasts with the slick silver typography as it clearly displays the term 'from rags to riches' therefore enhancing the optical sense of laziness and manic disarray.

Assessment Objectives

AOi = Key Concepts (M.I.G.R.A.I.N)

AOii= Wider Context (historical, social, economic and political). Must offer both analysis and contextualisation of the text.

AOiii.1 = Issues, debates and theories

AOiii.2= To be able to analyse critically and comparatively two texts in order to account for their similarties and differences.

AO5= The ability to use appropriate investigative and research techniques.

The ones I feel are the hardest listed 1-5, 1 being

the easiest 5 being the hardest and targets on how to improve:

1) AO5 - Get outside knowledge not only about my main text but other texts (look at media guardian website at least once a week).

2) AOi - Look at loads of trailers and clips and just practise MIGRAIN.

3) AOiii.2 - Watch texts and just practise comparing the texts together showing the similarities as well as differences, also do it in time conditions to prepare myself for the exam.

4) AOiii.1 - Research about all the theorist and try to find ways into how I could use them in media, as well as my essay.

5) AOii - Same as AO5 but this is harder because it asks for social, political, economic and historical, so again further outside reading like library books and not just using the internet.

Review

If you can remember the seismic upheaval in the superhero order that was ‘Superman III’, during which the square-jawed one grew stubble, hit the whisky bottle and flicked peanuts at barmen, you may get flashbacks when watching Will Smith’s Hancock. But the big difference between Christopher Reeve’s trade hero and this latest lazy, drunken member of the caped fraternity is that Hancock was never a Samaritan in the first place.

He looks like a tramp, he kips on benches, and he leaves behind him a trail of destruction wherever he tries to lend a hand. He doesn’t even own a cape.He’s a selfish lay about in need of some old-fashioned movie redemption. Which is exactly what we get. Oddly, it takes a suburban PR executive called Ray – played with charm by Jason Bateman – to correct Hancock’s behavior, even if Ray’s wife Mary (Charlize Theron) is strangely wary of their friendship. As Ray gets to work on Hancock’s image, the film offers some comedy and Smith, as ever, is fairly charismatic.

For the first half, there’s a laid back, knowing vibe to the script and Smith has some fun with the whole bizarre idea while director Peter Ber swings his camera about as he did for ‘The Kingdom’. It’s a very modern conceit: that behind every successful man lays an even better publicist. And it’s no coincidence that Hollywood, with its reliance on a well-oiled PR machine, has come up with a fictional publicist who’s more angel than Svengali. But then the rest of the film – after an hour – flops spectacularly.

The big problem is that the script tries to have its cake and eat it, first ribbing us with nods and winks emanating from this sideways view of a superhero and then abandoning this detachment in favour of a traditional comic-book showdown that feels out of place, rushed and squeezed into the film’s remaining minutes. Put simply, the filmmakers bottle it.

Hancock’s reinvention as a good guy coincides with the emergence of a super-criminal played by Brit actor Eddie Marsan, who in the facial hair department looks like he’s stepped off the set of ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’. He’s a lame villain. There’s an unexpected twist that throws some weird, distracting logic into the mix, followed by a crisis, a fight, a spurt of apocalyptic digital larks – and it’s over. The film bows out not as a wink-wink pastiche but as a straightforward superhero movie – and a bad one at that.

From:

http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/85048/Hancock.html

Genre

The genre of 'Hancock' is hybrid genre as it is a mix of action adventure and comedy.

Generic conventions: The frequent CGI effects used when destroying or when he saves people; this is recognisable and repeated in the film which helps to identify the genre.

Iconographic features: At the beginning we know it is an action because of the opening scene, the crashing and damage caused is pictorial as it illustrates the film.

The genre in my opinion mocks all superhero movies as 'Hancock' does not conform to what a superhero should be, further this film comes across as a spoof so therefore involving another genre, however they do not mock other superhero movies; unlike the film 'Superhero Movie'.

Furthermore the star of the film Will Smith is multi successful, and has had great experience playing both comedy and action for e.g. 'Bad Boys 1 & 2' this film was funny and it was still full of action, like 'Hancock' this thus defines the genre of the film, as it has an actor who conforms to it.

Values and Ideologies

'Hancock' is not really a typical representation of how a superhero is meant to be, as he is not the stereotyped macho exterior such as Superman. The ideologies drawn from this is that firstly this is the first superhero movie with a black man as a superhero, therefore breaking away from stereotypical roles.

More so the character is seen as a tramp, and later on he ('Hancock') changes himself and his personality, this brings in the value factor as it has a hidden agenda and that is everyone can change. This film is mainly about finding yourself and fitting in these ideologies are displayed throughout the whole film but can only be really seen if you read in between the lines.

Media Audience

The target audience of 'Hancock' would be males and females as there is a girl in the movie therefore suggesting a relationship, the age will be a broad one from 12 (the certificate) to about 21, however there are a lot of people out there who are older that enjoy superhero movies. Further they would come under the social class as C as most people who would watch this would be blue collar workers, and maybe even C1 and C2 white collar workers.

Since this film was shot by one of the biggest movie companies in the world, huge amounts of money was poured in, therefore showing that they were trying to reach a much wider audience as this film was releast not only in the States but in England, and some other countries like France.

The uses and gratifications for this movie is predominately escapism this is so that the audience can just sit back and relax and just allow the viewers to escape from reality. But furthermore it was made to entertain; since this film is based on fiction.

Narrative

The narrative within 'Hancock' is a straight forward linear narrative, as the film is organised in a linear sequence. This film's linear narrative proceeds from the beginning through the middle to the end without deviations, usually tracing relationships of cause and effect, therefore showing that it is in a chronological order and has only one type of narrative. We follow 'Hancock' as he goes through his own day to day life, and the narrative shows his progression and urge to change who he is. However there is no sudden changes to the narrative such as flashbacks (e.g. 'Kill Bill'), we see one mans mission to be better person, this also raises enigmas such as can he really change?

Media Representations

'Hancock'

'Hancock' is represented as a clumsy alcoholic "do-gooder", he has all the best intentions however, unlike other super heroes he is lazy and even though he has powers he is reluctant to show them and further to use them.

He is portrayed like this through the eyes of the economy living in the area that he "works in". Furthermore in my opinion the alcohol symbolises his own personal way to get away from things (escapism) and it seems that it gives him confidence when everyone points blame at him. More so with the cloths he wears he is seen as a lazy person (tramp), as in the beginning he is sleeping on a bench, this not like a super hero as they all have costumes they where, however later on in the movie he trys to change and improve his shabby image. This is all done to try and improve his representation amongst the committee living there.

Institution

Columbia Pictures

Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. It was one of the so-called Little Three among the eight major film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. Today, as part of the Columbia Tri-Star Motion Picture Group—owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony—it is one of the leading film companies in the world, a member of the so-called ‘Big Six’. It has no connection with CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System). Established in 1924, Columbia is tied with MGM for the fifth-oldest American movie studio still in operation. The predecessor of Columbia Pictures, Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales, was founded in 1919 by Harry Cohn, his brother Jack Cohn, and Joe Brandt. Brandt was president of CBC Film Sales, handling sales, marketing and distribution from New York along with Jack Cohn, while Harry Cohn ran production in Hollywood. Many of the studio's early productions were low-budget affairs; the start-up CBC leased space in a Poverty Row studio on Hollywood's Gower Street.

Info from www.wikipedia.org

M.I.G.R.A.I.N analysis on 'Hancock' trailer

M.I.G.R.A.I.N

'Hancock'
This is the main film I am going to be using and will be the main film that I will be referring to.

‘Hancock’ is a 2008 superhero film directed by Peter Berg and starring Will Smith, Jason Bateman, and Charlize Theron. It tells the story of a vigilante superhero, John Hancock (Smith), from Los Angeles whose reckless actions routinely cost the city millions of dollars. Eventually one person he saves, Ray Embrey (Bateman), makes it his mission to change Hancock's public image for the better. The story was originally written by Vincent Ngo in 1996. It languished in development for years and had various directors attached, including Tony Scott, Michael Mann, Jonathan Mostow, and Gabriele Muccino before going into production in 2007. Hancock was filmed in Los Angeles with a production budget of $150 million. In the United States, the film was rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America after changes were made at the organisation's request in order to avoid a "restricted" (R) rating, which it had received twice before. The film was widely released on July 2, 2008 in the United States and the United Kingdom. Hancock has received mainly average reviews from film critics. To date, Hancock has grossed $225,214,837 in the United States and Canada and over $330 million in other territories. http://www.wikipedia.org/

http://www.youtube.com/

M: (media language) - The sound at the beginning is slow and is a classical non digetic sound, the slow classical music at the beginning reflects upon the moving image on the screen, as the camera goes through the sky and gives the audience the feeling that someone or something is coming down (heaven bound). While the camera goes through the sky typography is seen, the writing is plain white and bold and it comes towards the screen making it more eye catching and therefore emphasising the main captions in the film. The camera suddenly points down and the audience see the caption 'Hancock' and the CGI effect of the land down below the camera does a fast zoom towards the earth; and then we see the feet of someone lying on the bench, the music suddenly turns in to a more rock type of song, as the complexion of the scene changes. Then there is a montage of shots showing his destructive path, it ends with the caption 'this summer' a plain black background and white writing. Also there is natural sounds digetic these are the one's of the characters speaking while the scene changes, making it seem more realistic and not as boring, as it would be with just music and no digetic sounds.

I: (institution) - Columbia, Sony pictures entertainment. The makers of this movie have shaped it towards their own personal view, as Columbia pictures have had numerous successess such as 'Casino Royale' (2006), 'Spiderman' (2003 - 08), 'You don't mess with the Zohan' (2008), 'Saawariya' (2007) etc. They also our known as one of the 'big 6' therefore showing they have the money and power in this industry, as well as having the ability to show off their digital effects.

G: (Genre) - Action/adventure.

R: (representation) - The clouds at the beginning represents someone coming from the sky like someone coming down from heaven or flying, typical "superhero". The little kid trying to wake up 'Hancock' symbolises innocence, maybe the innocence and the good intentions of 'Hancock'. 'Hancock' is a heavy drinker this portrays how he has issues and the drink seems to be the only thing keeps him going and keeps him sane.

A: (audience) - This seems like the type of film to appeal to everyone females and males from a very wide range however the certificate of the film is 12 so any male or female over the age of 12 can watch it, further the age range in my opinion is 12 - 21.

I: (ideologies) - Patriarchy beliefs as it is a man who is the hero, as well as capitalist views, as the film is based on 'Hancock' causing the country to much money as he destroys things so re-building costs are high.

N: (narrative) - The trailer seems to be a linear narrative as it does not jump from one bit to another, it has a clear and noticeable chronological order making it easy to follow and not get confused with the plot without really giving too much away.

Theorists

Theorists:

•Vladimir Propp - The villain, the donor, the helper, the princess and her father, the dispatcher, the hero and the false hero.

•Claude Levi Strauss – Binary oppositions.

•Tvzetan Todorov – Equilibrium, disequilibrium, new equilibrium.

Vladimir Propp

His theory of the villain, the donor, the princess etc, conforms in ‘Hancock’ as it is based around a theory like this. However ‘Hancock’ is not the typical representation of a superhero, as he is a drunk as well reckless; this takes the edge out of him conforming to Propp’s theory of a “fairy tale” type film.

Claude Levi Strauss

The theory of binary oppositions runs throughout the whole film, such as good vs. bad, reckless vs. responsible, drunk vs. sober etc. This theory brings in to mind the challenges ‘Hancock’ is facing as he is trying to change after saving Ray Embreys life.

Tvzetan Todorov

This theory applies to almost all superhero films, as they all usually run in a smooth chronological order, with a beginning, a middle (usually where the disruption/incident occurs) and an end where the disruption is solved. ‘Hancock’ is not an exception as it reforms to this theory of order.