Iron Man Case Study

I

This case study is on Iron Man an action thriller (as tagged by IMDB). Iron Man was directed by Jon Favreau and the production company for this film was Paramount Pictures. It was released in the UK on the 2^nd of May 2008 and was filmed in the USA. The film had an estimated budget of $140,000,000 and pulled in  $102,118,668 on the opening weekend in the USA (4 May 2008 - 4105 Screens) and grossed over $585,172,222 worldwide.

 

II

I think that the intended audience for this film is generally aimed at males but has a vast age range. The reasons for me thinking this would be that younger males would like this film due to how they interact with super heroes and how they’ll aspire to be them. The film could also be aimed at the more teenage male group due to at this age they’re more into guns and explosions and have female interests of which there are many in this film. This may also be aimed at the older generation, as Iron Man was a cartoon series back in the 1960s so it may be a “blast from the past” experience for them. On the IMDB website Iron Man has a user rating of 7.9/10 (175,873 votes).  A user who rated the film 10/10 had this to say:

“Film That Lives Up To Its Hype And The Expectations Of Comic Readers

16 April 2008
Author: z-mbe

As an avid reader of the Iron Man comics, I was excited but also very scared that this movie would flop. While Robert Downey is not the biggest name in Hollywood, he plays the part perfectly and I was greatly impressed by how he portrayed Iron Man so well. The humour works well for this film also. It's well-written and has a great cast. What impressed me the most was the CGI! They're breath-taking, but aren't distracting enough to let you miss the finer points of this movie. In conclusion, while not perfect, Iron Man lives up to its hype and my expectations as a reader of the comic.”

III

You can argue that it wasn’t just modern technologies that have increased audience knowledge and access to the film. The film was based on a Marvel comic, which was in turn titled the same. Iron Man first appeared in the comic in “issue #39 of Tales of Suspense (March 1963)”. Some people would assume that Black Sabbath’s song “Iron Man” was written specifically for the Iron Man comic but in fact has no connection “Geezer Butler wrote the lyrics as the story of a vengeful villain” which contradicts Iron Man as a comic and a film. Nonetheless, instrumental sections of the song would be used for Iron Man in 2008, which in turns has become to this song being associated as the Iron Man theme tune. People now have access to downloading this song through programmes such as iTunes and also the ability to learn the song through tabs posted by users on instrument websites such e.g. (link to ultimate-guitar.com iron man). More modern technologies that would increase audience knowledge and access to the film would be on the Marvel official website has a dedicated page to the film in which you can view trailers, interviews with the actors and directors also view so scenes from the film. Youtube has also increased the audience knowledge and access to the film due to user created videos of different clips of the film (Click here for an example). Users on Youtube also comment and have discussions of events and their views on what happens in the film.

IV

I have decided to analyse the opening to Iron Man to assess how thriller conventions have been utilised. Looked at the first 4 minutes and it is quite apparent of what thriller conventions have been sued despite this film being mainly action. Right at the start we get a sense of isolation as there is an extreme long shot of a small army convoy of about 5 vehicles driving through a desert with massive mountain ranges either side which may give us the idea of keeping something in or out. It them cuts quickly to a closer view of the convoy with AC/DC’s song Back in Black playing which we would assume to be non-diegetic sound but soon find out it’s diegetic when it cuts to inside one of the convoying vehicles where we see three soldiers, what seems to be a business man (Tony Stark) and a cd player. The inside of the vehicle is very plain and could be described as prison cell like. The yet to be named business man (Tony Stark) is wearing a black suit, dark tie, white shirt and sun glasses this is hiding us from who he really is, the back of the vehicle is relatively dark as well adding to this effect. An attack is sprung on the convoy and “Jimmy” is told to “stay with Stark”, but jimmy gets out leaving Tony on his own for him to try and flee when a small missile lands next to him with “Stark industries” printed on the side luckily Tony is wearing body armour but doesn’t protect him fully as blood runs through his shirt also knocking him unconscious. It then cuts to a dark room which gives a sense of hiding something (this dark room is actually in a cave which is found out later on. Caves are usually portrayed as to hiding something). We then hear something being read out in a foreign language, the camera zooms out very quickly to see Tony tied to a chair with 6 men guarding him with guns. These 6 men are dressing in dark clothing with their faces covered with scarves, the audience instantly assume these are terrorist and are the bad guys. It then sharply cuts to the title of the film. In relation to thriller conventions sharp cuts from scene to scene are used throughout the opening, this creates a feeling on tension and suspense leaving the audience to wonder what’s going to happen next.
 I have also annotated some screen shots from the film on how some thriller conventions have been used. 

Pepper and Iron Monger Screenshot Annotations

Iron Man and Iron Monger HUD Representation  

V

There a several represented in Iron Man on of the first would be the soldiers in the convoy are referring to Tony Stark as sir this shows that the soldiers don’t really have much status when compared to Tony, however they are probably on roughly the same level as Tony as they are giving their lives for their country by being part of the army. The second would be how the captures of Tony are Middle Eastern and are dressed very stereotypically. They also have guns and a wide range of explosives also giving them the name of terrorists. Tony Stark’s assistant “Pepper” is female and she is portrayed to do pretty much everything for Tony whilst he works on what he wants to do.  You could say that this is like separated conjugal roles when talking about the family i.e. this is how women are stereotypically portrayed.