Essay #5 “Video Essay Review”
Marvel’s Ugly Movies
Being a fan of movies, in particular Marvel’s movies, I always enjoyed the aesthetics of the films, yet I never had a true appreciation for the art of cinematography. I would tend to gravitate to the plot, the characters, and suspense present in the action-packed films. However another fan of Marvel’s movies, Patrick H. Willems, authored a video essay advertizing how unpleasing to the eye Marvel’s movies are, or in his words, why Marvel’s movies look “ugly.”
Willems began his video essay by making the focal point of his video essay about the problem that he had with Marvel’s color grading, or his reason as to why the movies looked so “ugly.” After he explained what color grading was, how
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First, he used many scenes from Marvel movies, clearly showing the dullness of color in the digitally filmed movies, as well as, move vibrant scenes from movies shot on film. Willems also used Adobe After Effects to show that there weren’t any “proper black values” used in a Marvel scene where truly black shade should be present. This program was also used by Willems to make simple color adjustments to a scene, making the picture visibly more vibrant. During the video essay, Willems used voice-over effectively to explain and analyze his points during the entirety of the film along with the aid of captions and arrows, which appropriately pointed out specifics or emphasised a point. Lastly, images of pages in Marvel comic books were used to draw a comparison between more vibrant comics and duller comics. The comics which were printed with truly black ink were clearly more vibrant than the comics which were not printed with truly black ink. Willems also very successfully dumbed down seemingly complex cinematography practices and explained them in a way that most viewers would easily understand. Because of the effective tools Willems used to convey his points, his argument was supported in a convincing in an easily understandable way. Although there is no doubt that Marvel’s digitally filmed movies are less vibrant than other movies, I believe that …show more content…
Assuming that Marvel’s movies are purposefully less vibrant, I believe that they made the picture duller in order to humanize the superheroes in the films and create a realistic, earthly setting. First, I believe that the muted picture was not an accident in Marvel’s movies. Willems showed one scene cinematographed by John Toll from Iron Man 3 and another scene also cinematographed by John Toll from Jupiter Ascending. The same cinematographer fine-tuned both scenes, even the same camera was used to film both scenes, yet the Jupiter Ascending scene was much more vibrant than the muted Iron Man 3 scene. Therefore, Marvel must be purposefully making their scenes duller. But why is an audience attracted to less vibrant superhero movies? I believe that instead of seeing a bold, flashy suit and overly bright scenes, the viewers are more able relate with realistically colored superheroes and a setting that clearly appears to be on earth. In addition to the visual reality of the film, I believe the duller colored superheroes allow the audience to see the character as more than just a superhero. As an alternative to distracting bold colors and the idea of superhuman powers, the audience can see more about a superhero’s personality and feelings
Just quickly looking at this page, something that stands out is the art style. While many comic books often do more of cell shading, this comic book goes for more of a realistic style. Even the color pallet that is used is different, as it uses more subdued colors compared to more vibrant ones. The color pallet that is used sets a darker tone and that the comic book should be taken more seriously. It also tries to
For example, the art work style of the film, precisely speaking of the color, in most film audiences are display a film in which they are to see color variations mimicking that of the real world, but in Andersons animated film it differs. It does not mimic that of the real world but the world of the characters itself. For instance, in the movies exposition specially at the beginning part in minute 0:1:25 of
Director Luc Besson’s 1997 film “The Fifth Element” is an incredibly imaginative futuristic film depicting the cycle of good and evil and the human factor involved with the infinite battle. Besson carefully constructs this film to provide a human feeling to the film, providing emotional gateways and glimpses of a character’s intentions or purpose using frequent symbolism. In addition to symbolism the use of vibrant color and lighting, or the lack of, is carefully considered within each shot which sets the mood appropriately for the film’s duration. “The Fifth Element’s” cinematography does portray an emphasis on the balance of light and dark and, in most cases, providing the effect of a very serious problem with hope constantly changing between foreground and background as it does in life.
A. As for the colors present throughout the film, Disney digitally took a turn in
It turns out, what the viewers were watching on the big screen was not the same thing that director George Miller wanted to release. He always had his heart set on releasing a black
In the famous television show ‘Breaking Bad’ the audience will see the main character, Walter White’s, evolve from a tedious, monotonous and weak-minded high school teacher who has to have two jobs just to get by to a wild, bold, strong-minded methamphetamine manufacture. The event causing up to Walter’s strong character development was the discovery of Walter’s illness. Film techniques such as lighting, camera angles, hued colours and sound effects have been utilised to convey the strong identity development of Walter.
I have chosen these two particular Superhero films because these two are my favourite Superhero films of all time, I never get tired of them and love exploring and learning new things about them. Their graphics and new elements that come along with every new film really fascinates me. Observing how many details and elements of the films differ and change throughout the each film is very interesting and something I personally look forward to. These two specific Superhero films differ to a large extent yet still have a lot of similarities and also show the audience just how much technology has evolved through the years.
Although in recent years Hollywood has begun to attempt to make movies with more diverse casts, for the most part, the RomComs that were made from 2005 and onward are mostly just boring
Color is commonly used in various art forms as a way to represent feeling and symbolize a greater meaning than a written text or black and white shading could. In David Mazzucchelli’s graphic novel Asterios Polyp color is used to express both emotion and time through his use of the printer primary colors, cyan, magenta and yellow. Because of Mazzuccehlli’s use of color and the abstract form of his comic panels, his comic is considered an alternative comic. Breaking the barriers of what readers are familiar with when it comes to the aesthetics of a comic, while at the same time being able to make it not seem vastly unfamiliar. Asterios Polyp takes the reader to a whole other world as they are navigated through the mind and memories of Asterios by narration from his dead twin brother. Similar to Mazzuccehlli, Paul Thomas Anderson incorporates meaning through color in his film Punch-Drunk Love (2002). In this essay I will compare the use of color in both Asterios Polyp and Punch-Drunk Love with regards to its significance in both, and how form is used to express both emotion and time. With regards to form, I will focus on the Mazzuccehlli’s eccentric panel distribution and the variation of space in between the panels, which separates it from most comics. Anderson’s film alike separates itself from the classic romantic movie form through both its plotline and cinematography. Had either Mazzuccehlli or Anderson not incorporated the symbolism of color within their works, I feel
In October 1939, the world required heroes. Hitler had recently attacked Poland. Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand had proclaimed war. The US remained unbiased – but it was already taking the first steps towards the Manhattan Project and the making of the nuclear bomb. As Nazi Germany 's shadow fell over Europe, it appeared the planet was on the edge of demolition. Who might save us?
There are many aspects in film today that help make it what it is. A film couldn’t live up to it’s full potential without lighting, sound, and actors. However, quite possibly one of the biggest advances in film was the introduction of color. Nothing brings a movie to life more than seeing every hue of the rainbow. Today’s world demands the use of color in film, but is very underrated. For the most part, every film is different and uses color in many ways to please the audience, but there is one film in particular that uses it very differently. That film is Sin City (Frank Miller, 2005). While normally a movie is shot in full color, Sin City is shot in black and white, and then color is later added. The
The failure of Fantastic Four 's Reboot has been arguing since its global release in theaters in 9th of august in 2015. The reviews by critics led the earnings of the movie to reach approximately $29.4 million in its debut in cinemas. In one hand, the most noticeable final impression of reviewers is that the majority agreed to consider Fantastic Four 's Reboot the worst superhero movie ever. On the other hand, almost all of the critics did not blame the actors and actresses to be the reason of the movie 's failure. Yet, There were several aspects affected the movie to not be worthy of audience 's attention in the Box Office such as visual language superficiality, more realistic and dramatic than a fantasy movie, promising actors and actresses in an under qualified movie, in addition to a confusing trailer. However, this essay will seek critically to find the major mistakes that occurred in the final montage as well as spoiled it with a supporting evidence.
Nolan uses the colour technique to effectively portray the dark and evil, that is the
Bellatoni (1995) said that color influences one's choices, opinions, and emotional state. Colors in our environment can intensify feelings of euphoria or rage, calm or agitation. This information is very powerful for video maker. Each color affects us in their own unique way. Even the slightest variation of one color can have a huge influence on one’s behavior. Color can become a strong tool for filmmakers to make a situation look ironic, or absurd in a video. Audience rarely recognize that color is one of the elements used to manipulate them. This thoughtful quality may be magic in the hands of the director, or may not. To make it clearer, if we have to realize the powerful impact of a color or else we might abandon a large part of our control to chance. Color will not stop resonating, sending out signals, and irrespective of our goals (Bellantoni, 2005). The writer will show a few of colors and their meaning in Table 2.1.
Superhero movies have become increasingly popular over the past two decades. From the success of comic book adaption movies such as Batman in 1989, the 21st century could arguably be called the age of superhero movies. Nowadays, comic book companies such as Marvel and DC Comics are making much more money from motion pictures than from actual comic books. As University of Calgary professor Bart Beaty (2016) states, “… it has become clear that [superhero comic books] are no longer a significant popular cultural phenomenon in their own right; rather, superhero comic books have become the source material for more lucrative media forms ranging from movies and television, to video games and licensed properties like toys and t-shirts” (p. 318). In fact, three of the top ten highest grossing movies of all time (Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and The Avengers) are based on superheroes (All Time Worldwide Box Office Grosses). Ever since the inception of superhero movies in the nineties, film companies saw the potential to making a lot of money by capitalizing on bringing the many stories of various superheroes to the big screen. However, with film companies so focused on financial gain, it is easy to unintentionally disregard context and deep characterization in favour of big action set pieces. While the superhero genre brings fresh and creative ideas to the cinemas, since they are initially created due to profitability, most comic book adaption movies are poorly-written and