Kick-Ass

Find out how it was produced, what it was based on, problems in making the film. The directors views on the British film industry, how they saved money, the tech they used, how the films rating affected its performance, controversy surrounding the film, promotion and the soundtrack.

The film was produced at the same time as the book/comic was re-released, but they chose to change the film for the comic because Matthew Vaughan ‘doesn’t do happy endings’. He changed it so that the lead got the girl, unlike in the book. Another reason for why he had to do this was to gain money to make the film in the first place.

The film was based on the comic book which was first released in 2008 and the last one only six week before the film came out, as I have said the comic and the films are slightly different as they have a different ending. 

The makers of the film came across a few problems, the main being that they had cast a 12 year old girl that swears. This then slapped a certificate 15 onto the film. The problem was not only did people disagree with the swearing but as the film was marketed at 14 year old boys, they had released a film that the target audience couldn't view.

The director views on the British film industry is one that in a few years time (he suggest 3) that Britain could have the worlds largest film industry. He says that to have this we need directors to stop taking big sums of £20 million up front and only take £5 million. At the moment he thinks we have the best films but just no industry. 

To save money the team chose to shoot the film in the UK instead of Manhattan where the film is set. To do this they had to use huge green screens and high resolution pictures that of Manhattan that were edited to make it seem as if it was actually shot there. The cost saving here was that it would too expensive to get streets closed down in Manhattan. 

The tech involved with the film was state of the art ive explained why they had to go about shooting in london and how they did it but they also did something with the sound. They made sure they got the best sound recording so that the actors didn’t have to re-record the sound and try to put the same emotion into at a later stage.

I have already gone over this but having a rating of a 15 made Kick-Ass a non four quadrant film before it was even shown. In the section that couldn’t see the movie was what the film was actually made for young teenage boys. 

Controversy over this film obviously come from the fact they have 12 year olds swearing but only is it this that makes people have a controversial thought about the film. It also features the same 12 year old getting shot by her dad. The film also seems to almost glorify crime and weapons with showing a room full of guns in several of its scene. The room belongs to the ‘good guys’.

The marketing and promotion of the film was seen to be bad in the eyes of its creators. They believed it had been wrongly marketed. In the trailers they played on tv it showed all the humor of the film, which in normal circumstances would of been good, but it made movie goers to think it was another spoof such as the ones like, date movie and superhero movie. This may be because the comic was unknown to allot of people so unlike the spiderman and hulk movies people didn’t have a background for their ideas to grow from.

The soundtrack for the movie had many different and ranging artists. It has artist ranging from The Prodigy to Elvis, this does add to the dimensions of the film but like most thinks about the film it has been criticized because it isn't its own music’. The opening scene for example closely resembles the opening scene to superman with the clouds and writing. The same music a superman confirms that it is a copy of the film. This does nothing to dispel the thoughts that the movie is nothing but a spoof.