Watchmen (2009)

What did you notice about the visual style of the film?

The film follows the same style as the comic books, it creates all the same visual effects in which you would expect from the comic as the film carries on the same stereotypical style of the ‘superhero’s’. This is shown in the film by the different sound effects added to the footage, effects which are magnified in the fight scenes and the special power which the characters add in the moment. The colours in the film continue to follow the brightness of the comics, but this is slightly changed by the added effect of the colours reflecting the mood of the characters or the topic of the dilemma. An additional style which is shown is at the beginning of each new scene a shot of the location is shown, to be able to see where it is sent.

Do you think it’s obvious the way the film was based on a comic?

You can tell that this film was based on a comic due to the thought out effects of this movie, it helps bring the seriousness of the film down; these effects include the different timed rhythm added to the moving images. In some sections of the many fight scenes the speed rapidly changes, this is to follow the connation of the super hero being invisible, controlling everything; including time. This makes the fill easier to watch in the difficult scenes where you see the gruesome picture of the torcher and injuries in fight scenes. This connotes the way the characters in the movie see the way the hurt and kill people, ‘it is all a big joke’ said by the comedian.

How does the narrative of the film follow typical comic book conventions?

The film follows a strong form of comic conventions, the structure of the film shows many of the typical ‘super hero’ acts with main aspects added. The character formations include a villain, a super man, a super girl, and a powerful weapon which in this film consist of Doctor Manhattan. The plot line is formed out of the personal backgrounds behind these ‘super heroes’ and their fight to save the world including the struggle which goes with it such as love and death. Many famous comics including Superman (1938) and Spiderman (1962) also follow the same structure, due to their success other comic writers have also picked it up which makes it a very stereotypical storyline for a comic with forms of ‘super hero’s’ included.

What social message was the film trying to get across?

The film has a very strong message of always staying true to yourself and what kind of person you are. We know this because in the film, due to the struggle which is shown with a few of the characters, Laurie Jupiter and Dan Dreiberg. These characters continually try to fight the urge to get back in their suits and help people in need; finally at the end of the movie they give in, due to this they save many lives from a fire. Other characters go through the same struggle such as Rorschach, he has lived so many years wearing his mask to hide his beaten face; but in the end he feels in the face of death he would take it off and face his true self.  After this a last additional message of the movie came through at the very end of the film, God is not to blame for the disaster of the world, society is.

Who do you think the target audience is for the film?

The target audience for this film is very broad, but because of its heritage of being a comic book the film try’s to target the people who are the comic book fans of Watchmen, this audience would be the main critic to please and this is way the film has thought so hard to include as many different aspect of the look of the book in the film. But because of the way the film has done this it additional attracts many other non-comic book fans to the screen to watch it, this is due to the way the film gives enough information about the different characters to understand the film without reading the books.