UNIT 26 - Film remakes

Film Remake

Spiderman VS The Amazing Spiderman

Spiderman the film (2002) was about a normal teenage boy who had gone on a trip with a school, he then go bitten by a genetically modified spider which had then given him super human powers like climbing walls and shooting webs. This then leads to him fighting crime against villains and wrong doers. Now in 2012 Sony Pictures had decided to remake the film and call it The Amazing Spiderman. This film was a remake of the original back in 2002. 10 years later producers of the film decided to make a few significant changes to the film.

Some people say the film was remade because producers weren't happy with how the original story planned out and how everything turned out to be. They then decided after months of meetings that there would be a remake featuring the same characters just played by different actors.

The story line hadn't changed much despite the fact that the well known and much loved actor that played Spider-Man in the original back in 2002 Toby Maguire was replaced by a new actor called Andrew Garfield.

One thing that did feature in the remake which did not show in the original was that in the beginning there was a short cut-scene / flash back memory to the time where Peter Parker was a child and this scene shows us and gives us more information as to what happened to his parents. In the original there wasn't much clarity on the subject however the remade version had added some more detail to what was the cause of his parents abondoning him. In my opinion I think the remade narrative was better with this as it gives the audience a subtle insight and shows more detail instead of just saying "Peter Parkers parents abondened him at a young age". This could also make the audience connect with the character emotionally that little bit more.

Another noticeable difference I noticed from the two films is that even though two different actors played the same characters the character within the film was portrayed differently to how he was before. Let me explain, in the original Peter Parker was the stereotypical nerd in high school, good grades, nerdy glasses, and was also getting bullied a lot and never really was noticed or fitted in. However in the remade version Peter Parker was represented in a nerdy way yes, but as this film was made 10 years on from the original people's view and opinions of the word 'nerd' has changed. Nowadays people would find 'needs' sort of cool (in my opinion) as a pose to how they're "different" and "interlectual". Peter Parker within this film is seen as a cool college student/nerd/geek who skates around the hallways of school with his ambitions in mind at all times. This can also engage itself with the audience as the whole scheme fits in with the audience and time period of how people interpret and think so this is a really effective way of engaging with the audience.

Within all Spider-Man films there is a high use of editing. The editing within the film may take up most of the past-preduction as in most of the scenes within the film is Spider-Man himself roaming, shooting webs, jumping off buildings, explosions and other various crazy action scenes. So the importance of technology being used in this remake is very high. This also links me on to talk about a reason as to why producers may have wanted to remake the film again. One reason was that technology has come a long way now since 2002 so editing would be of a better standard and it would look more appealing in effect. This would also increase the enjoyability of the film. Also there was a huge cost difference in making the two films, the remade version had a budget up to $230million whereas the original had a budget of $140million. The ramada version would obviously come to a higher cost as it needed way more advanced equipment and technology.

Also within the film the director added some modernity in the remake. I watched a YouTube video called 'The Amazing Spider-Man (costume featurette) HD', which explained how the director wanted technology everywhere within the film. For example in many scenes we within the film we see people, and what are they usually holding?, a phone. Seeing as this film was made in 2012 it is going to be the usual seeing everyone with a phone or earpiece to their head. This adds some realism so that the audience can engage with the film that little bit more. If there wasn't this small detail then it would seem pretty fake in my opinion. Furthermore the film then developed Spider-Man himself with a technology based mentality. Let me explain, in the original Spider-Man Peter Parker had super human ability which meant that he can shoot webs naturally. However in the remake Peter Parker develops these electronic web shooters to shoot the webs for him, he does still have his natural ability to shoot webs but this was made invade he ran out. This shows an advance in technology in the film because I think the director wanted to reach out to today's audience and relate to them as much as possible (mainly through technology). Seeing as most young people are interested in technology I'd say that the primary audience would be young kids of the ages 10-12 then the secondary audience would be young adults/teens of the ages 

13-23.

In my own personal opinion I think that the original Spider-Man was very unique and had many classical features to it and it also has that 'old school' touch. However the remade version was also very fun to watch for me as Andrew Garfield is a funny person and the use of modern day things within this film made it very appealing to me. In an overall conclusion I'd say that the original Spider-Man is always going to be the best as it was one of my childhood favourites and j always looked up to Spider-Man as a role model. The original sticks with me more as it was known as an all time classic.