Scriptwriting and Genre LJMU
Would you like to react to this message? Create an account in a few clicks or log in to continue.

X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000)

3 posters

Go down

X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000) Empty X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000)

Post by Admin Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:51 pm

X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000) X_men10
What genre is this movie? What characteristics and genre conventions have you found during the screening? Please post pictures or clips to support your comments, if available.

Admin
Admin

Posts : 145
Join date : 2015-07-07

https://ljmu.forumotion.co.uk

Back to top Go down

X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000) Empty Re: X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000)

Post by Kevin_Eire Wed Oct 07, 2015 12:46 pm

Home Work One.
Film: X - Men
Director: Bryan Singer
Year: 2000
By Kevin J Mc Corry
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Film: X –Men
X – Men was originally created by Stan Lee as a comic book in 1963, it has went onto becoming one of the biggest comic book movie franchises in the world igniting the fire to future comic book movies we have today.  In 1998 it was announced that the comic book X – Men would be adapted into feature length film by Bryan Singer which created a lot of mixed emotions from the public and even the studio itself as they believed these types of stories/genre would not appeal to the public in anyway as they weren’t really a public fan favourite.  In the year 2000 when the first X – Men movie was released it became a major hit among the public which lead to future X – Men films such as Days of Future Past (2014) being created.
I have decided to do my homework assignment on the film X – Men as I believe that this film holds a lot of responsibility in terms of genre that comic book movies are based in today and the path it has unfolded for the filming industry in general with these types of movies.
 
What type of Genre is Bryan Singer’s  X – Men (2000) ?  
I personally believe that Bryan Singer’s X – Men falls into multiple genre categories such as Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller Fantasy and Adventure.
Action/Thriller:
Throughout the majority of the film X – Men we see a lot of action and thrill taking place in certain scenes and we can feel and see when action and thrill is going to take place by the look of the surroundings, dialogue and music. A great example of this taking place in the X – Men film would be the cage fighting see with Hugh Jackman, were the audiences gets its first look at the character Wolverine in action. When you watch this scene we can see the camera focusing on a man being dragged from the steel cage with the sound of a large crowd gathering around the cage shouting, this follows up with a ring announcer announcing the winner of the following match. This creates a thrilling build up to introducing both the character and the action genre, we can also see the thrill and darkness taking place in that scene as it has a major effect on the second character (Rouge) as she stands out of place knowing she doesn’t belong in that type of surrounding. We see action take place almost immediately when the announcer challenges the audience to fight wolverine as this happens we get a first glimpse of Hugh Jackman as wolverine. I have attached the following link of this scene to show the thrilling build up to the cage fight and the action it holds between the main character showing the type of character wolverine is and the threat he holds.
X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000) Clip_image002(Cage fight) Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ-fVsDn58I
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Action plays a main crucial role throughout the entire film along with thriller as these two key components are crucial to keeping the audiences interested in the film and engaged. Each scene in the film has its own style and genre especially in the flash backs of wolverine were we see him being experimented on which falls into the thriller category making the audiences become more and engaged and interested in the character’s mysterious back story. Even when we look at these flash backs we quickly see in each shot what the location and surroundings are like for that character creating a dark thrilling atmosphere both in the film and cinema for audiences. I have attached the following link below for this particular scene to show how the thriller genre fits into this scene and how it plays a role in creating the style and layout of the film especially with these scenes which make it more engaging for the audience.  I believe these scenes fit best as it makes the audiences think more and want more as not knowing makes the audiences more interested and concerned and having this type of thriller genre involved in this scene makes it more dramatic.
(Wolverine Flash Backs) Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WHEBnA6idA
X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000) Clip_image004
 
 
 
 
 
Sci-Fi/ Fantasy
Sci- Fi and Fantasy play a major factor throughout the entire film of X – Men purely because of the type of story and characters that are a part of this universe, from the moment X- Men begins we are introduced to the super natural during the time of World War 2  were we see one of the main characters Magneto pulling a metal gate towards him, this scene automatically gets the audiences interested for simply two reasons, one being the opening scene which is based in a concentration camp and the second being the audience being introduced to the super natural almost immediately attracting the audiences eye. These two types of genres attach to on another greatly as throughout the film we see many strange locations and characters a great example of this would be James Marsden’s character cyclops and the use of an underground headquarters beneath a school, immediately when we see these surroundings we can automatically see that it is a fiction film involved with Sci-Fi.
The use of the Sci-Fi genre in this film has a major effect on the way the story flows and supports the characters and locations. Having this type of genre involved throughout this movie not only benefits the movie greatly but the audiences also as it allows the audiences to imagine that situation and become part of that world for a period of time to get lost in the illusion that is film. One particular scene which involves a lot of Sci-Fi and Fantasy is the scene where Magneto tries to drain Rogue's abilities, this particular scene is very Sci-Fi and Fantasy like, we can see this by the use of special effects and the location which is used. Many scenes throughout this film involve Sci-Fi and Fantasy another great example would be wolverine’s heal ability which we see for the first time near the beginning of the film again this particular scene has mix of both action and Sci- Fi due to the small fight that takes place. Below I have attached the following link to show the small fight and heal ability all in one scene creating to genres in one scene,  the use of music also plays a major factor in this scene as it creates tension and a build up to a fight taking place with the hit of Sci –Fi involved, I feel this is a great example of showing two genres in action playing through creating an engaging energetic film.
(Sci-Fi fight and Wolverine healing Ability)  Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AElabDAOqU
X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000) Clip_image006X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000) Clip_image008


Last edited by Admin on Thu Oct 08, 2015 2:42 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Embedding the videos)

Kevin_Eire

Student Number : 737591
Posts : 6
Join date : 2015-10-03

Back to top Go down

X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000) Empty Re: X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000)

Post by KevinK23 Thu Oct 08, 2015 2:12 am

X-Men (2000)
I chose to do my review on X-men because the X-men films are a personal favourite of mine and I feel that it was an influential film for the superhero genre. For example I feel the characters have different layers to them and are not as simple as just being a “hero” or a “villain”. The “villain” in X-men (magneto, played by Ian McKellen) is not completely evil, yes he does want to kill all humans essentially but he feels that is the only way to keep the mutant race alive whom he views as his “brothers” and “sisters”. Magneto fears the human race just as the humans fear him and the other mutants and he is willing to go as far as he needs to to ensure the survival of the mutants. Even the main character of X-men (Wolverine, played by Hugh Jackman) has good and evil in him. Wolverine is not your typical superhero, we first meet him in a worn down bar as he is in the middle of a cage fight (not your typical superhero hobby). We enter the bar through the character of Rogue (played by Anna Paquin) who has never been in this place and she seems new to this type of scene. There are men shouting and cheering at Wolverine and his opponent, the bar is dark and run down looking, we immediately know this establishment is a rough place.X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000) G_0CUqP_HbwboA_QsHVTrD_gu5MRAfBJnx3EKMpWf_F4HQy9cNXCPcvK6bbjOXgkWb8A0v_y0MW5VPIz05JYVqolS-9HWrtEa94xA428geZVmsFSYO-9Q1-PMHMVV-kTLEF7ocAM
We watch Wolverine defeat his opponent and can tell from his fighting that he is a mutant as the sound effects when Wolverine punches his opponent are the sound metal being hit makes (which obviously is not normal). Everything about this scene from the rough looking men shouting at the fighters to the dark lighting and voluntarily cage fighters indicates that this is an unfriendly place and is an inappropriate place for Rogue to be as she seems innocent and gentle. This creates an uneasy feeling we fear for Rogues safety and we wonder what type of man Wolverine is. However in the next scene Wolverine gets attacked by a man is forced to defend himself but does not do any serious damage to the man even know he could have. This shows us he does not want to be a bad man but circumstances have thrown him into this position. He is a much more complex character than I had seen in superhero films prior to the year 2000. Within these opening 15 minutes there has already been a considerate amount of fighting indicating that X-men is an action film. There continues to be fighting between the X-men and their enemies (Magneto and his followers) throughout the film with multiple encounters from characters from both sides. In these fights the characters use their “mutations” as weapons which makes the fighting more interesting. Visual effects were used to achieve the mutants powers. An example being the character of Storm (played by Halle Berry) who uses lightning as a weapon. This is also adds to the Sci-fi element of the film. The opening credits even give the film a Sci-fi feeling to the film as there are lightning bolts and all kinds of visual effects being thrown in there before the X-men title is revealed. Also the fact that these mutants have amazing abilities that are not humanly possible add to the Sci-fi feeling. The design of the jet that the X-men use is very futuristic and adds a sci-fi element to the film. As well as smaller things like Cyclops’ (played by James Marsden) glasses which look like he is about to shoot a laser beam from them (which he is) give the film a sci-fi feeling.X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000) O1uZxqzka-Kp5g_x3SuV0Kcxpjbo1MJor-kXxtgQCg4QUTlYqglXwbsztn6SNSHoq7tKpQULW1a-X4ARCwIzbjag8a09JreMtOoTkPBdEBsypWLP33RxlgfvdCD5UFYwtunKu004

X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000) PUS2iE1I0845p3u4pt0WoEydRn4ivxfdHJ-vh_f-f1HLo-lTaTIEkIETP5EZuRjjcBbCWVbO6iMrETtmSl7IZbqWo616grvLebmo9M_WdCbB5kKhzIusfkfdb1AhzHTV-N-Xla2S

I feel that X-men is also an adventure film as the heros are on a quest to stop Magneto and his followers. The X-men have their own costumes to show the side they are on and to show they are united in their quest which for me makes the film feel like it is an adventure film as well as being an action/sci-fi film. There is a scene where Wolverine wakes up and does not know where he is. We hear his heartbeat as well as a lingering uneasy piece of music and see his confusion. The tension in this scene is being built up by the second through this. Also the camera is moving along with Wolverine so the audience does not know where he is either and we are also wondering what this mysterious place is and if Wolverine is in danger by being here. Through these techniques we feel like we are in Wolverines position. I feel many action/adventure films do this type of scene to achieve excitement for the audience and X-men uses it very well.

My conclusion is that X-men is a Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi film and the evidence I have shown supports this.

KevinK23

Student Number : 738481
Posts : 4
Join date : 2015-10-06

Back to top Go down

X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000) Empty Re: X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000)

Post by Admin Thu Oct 08, 2015 3:05 pm

Kevin_Eire, you have thought about the implications of adaptation and how certain films sometimes establish the genre conventions, such as in this case. Although (as you well said) the producers did not initially believe a superhero film could be a big success, X-Men came after Blade, which was a box office success and also based on Marvel’s comics. That said, Blade also came out in the middle of the success for Buffy, the vampire slayer  and the film adaptations for Anne Rice’s vampire novels (Interview with the vampire, Queen of the Damned…).

Good analysis of genres, well thought and argued.  Great selection of clips. Excellent work!

KevinK23, it is very interesting the way you identify these characters as not being simple archetypes, but complex characters that can portray both bad and good qualities depending on the circumstances. The way these characters are created, we can understand their rationale even when their aims are harmful to humans, as you mention with Magneto. You have done excellent work and identified many of the characteristics of the genre. As you mention, one of the elements that X-Men introduce is the fact that the “good” and the “bad” is not a clear cut and a character can behave either way due to a personal transformation, trauma or greed, not necessarily out of external manipulation or “mind control”, as it was the case with some older superhero films.

To add to your commentaries, the costumes in the films are very important, as it creates the sense of a team, especially within Xavier’s academy. Wolveryie’s rebellious side is highlighted by his refusal to wear a costume and stick to his leather jacket. Additionally, we can also add the inclusion of top technology and great special effects. The pure Sci-Fi element is the idea of mutation and genetically different humans. A lot of discussion has taken place on whether this kind of film can be considered Sci-Fi or just Fantasy/Paranormal, as a different genre. Jule Selbo in Film Genre for the Screenwriter, however, argues that although the characters live in a “fantasy genre” with their extraordinary abilities, the theme is linked to science by ideas of radiation exposure, mutation and even qualities present in Nature, such as Wolverine’s healing and regenerative ability.


Last edited by Admin on Thu Oct 08, 2015 3:08 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Trying to sort out paragraphs without success)

Admin
Admin

Posts : 145
Join date : 2015-07-07

https://ljmu.forumotion.co.uk

Back to top Go down

X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000) Empty Re: X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000)

Post by Sponsored content


Sponsored content


Back to top Go down

Back to top

- Similar topics

 
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum