The first iconic Action/Adventure spy film franchise of all time I looked at was James Bond, more specifically "Skyfall". The obvious reasons for choosing this film were to borrow ideas from is its classic British ideology of a fearless spy and someone who is willing to put their life on the front line to help defend his country. When a mission to kill a fierce assassin goes wrong for James Bond, a hard drive is stolen which contains the names and whereabouts of several agents from MI6. THis forces M to relocate the agency underground and her position challenged by Garreth Mallory, the new head of Intelligence and Security Comittee. Whilst MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.
Overall, my thoughts for Skyfall and the James Bond series in general have really impressed me and other fans of Action/Adventure genre films. The film franchise is an iconic portrayal of British Action films and is now expanding its audiences across the whole world. The smart suits, glorious cars, props and landscapes which are shot in this film are typical conventions of a spy film which Alex and I would like to incorporate into our short film.
Another worldwide popular franchise is the Harry Potter series. Since Alex and I want our short film to be following the conventions of a typical British film with a mixture of American stylised shots and action sequences, we would also hope to incorporate some more fanstastical themes and ideas into our short film as this will broaden our audiences viewing. In this trailer for Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Harry, Ron and Hermione continue to find the rest of Voldemort's Hprecruxes, until Harry discovers that on is at Hogwarts, they flee there as soon as possible but Voldemort instantly finds out about their mission. The battle is drawn at Hogwarts as students and staff fight to protect Harry Potter. Harry then realises that people are dying constantly for his mistakes and then eventually fights Voldemort for the last time. Along the way, crucial secrets are unraveled, and the mysterious but legendary Deathly Hallows reappear.
The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and the rest of the Harry Potter franchise incoporate many fanstastical themes and ideas which make this series one of the more iconic Action/Adventure films in the fictional world. Some ideas for visual and sound effects which have really caught our attention where the smoke effects made for the death eaters the rumbling thunder noises to enhance the presence of these characters. Another key feature of the Harry Potter franchise is their ability to create new landscapes and characters using CGI effects. Due to our inexperience in these techniques, we are likely going to be filming in real locations since this is also a typical convention of British films.
Alongside the Harry Potter series, the Star Wars franchise is one which has gathered mass audience over the last few decades. It's impressive use of both visual effects and real life stunts are what make Star Wars such a success whilst keeping the storylines of the film very gripping and original too. In this trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the scavenger (Daisy Ridley) and a renegade stormtrooper (John Boyega) enlist the help of legendary smugglers/freedom fighters Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca to transport a drois carrying information regarding the whereabouts of long lost Jedi Master Luke Skywalker to General Leia Organa of the Resistance before it falls into the hands of Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and the First Order.
The Force Awakens and the rest of the Star Wars franchise mix a variety of action sequences and shots which we would like to replicate. A very common shot used in the Star Wars films is the tracking shot since they follow the action sequences when the characters are fighting or traveling between dimensions. Many of their camera shots are CGI created, however the fight scenes are generally done using dolly cams and steadicams too.
The last Action/Adventure film which I recently re-watched is the Kingsman: The Secret Service. Since its release, there have been many interviews with the director Mathew Vaughan about this film tying many controversial topics with post-modernism. This is due to the film attempting to represent a James Bond like action film, but the result is more comical and stylised than the traditional look and feel of a James Bond Action/Adventure film. The film shows the agent Harry "Galahad" Hart helping the troublemaker Gary "Eggsy" Unwin, who is the son of an agent that saved the lives of Harry and his team sacrificing himself seventeen years ago. Harry invites Eggsy to be a candidate to the vacancy of a new agent in the agency. He would eventually be trained by Agent Merlin and competes against the other candidates. Meanwhile, the Kingsmen investigate the industrialist Valentine, who is an insane genius of technology that is plotting a deadly plan with his assistant Gazelle to save Earth from global warming eliminating most of the population with a chip and saving only those that he has chosen.
Aside from this film being on the crux between reality and fiction, there are plenty of camera shots and themes which Alex and I are closely thinking of taking inspiration from when we redraw our storyboard and create our new screenplay for the film.
Having now looked at several examples of classic Action/Adventure feature films which I like, I will continue to sit down and write the improved screenplay and storyboard for the short film. In the meantime, Alex and I will be meeting to discuss the new ideas we have come up with for the short film and potentially change some of the ideas around to make this short film fit with the typical conventions of an Action/Adventure film.
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