Get Hard Analysis: Research

Get Hard Opening Scene (2015)

Institutional Information

Get Hard is a 2015 American comedy/crime film, directed by Israeli director -  Etan Cohen. With screenplay written by Cohen, Jay Martel and Ian Roberts. Popular actors starring in this Gary Sanchez productions/Warner Bros. film include: Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Alison Brie, Edwina Findley and Craig T. Nelson. The entirety of the film was produced in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. The film was released on March 27th, 2015 and received negative critics, however achieved financial success as it accumulated over $111 million. Filming began  on March 17, 2014 in New Orleans and ended May 14th 2014. This period of principal photography had an estimated budget of  $40,000,000 and was therefore successful in redeeming this.

Target Audience

The primary target audience for this genre would be individuals aged 15+, due to the inclusion of moderate sex/nudity, some violence, moderate swearing/offensive language and mild use of alcohol/drugs/smoking. The film also includes more mature themes and humour which I believe, is targeted at an older audience.

Analysis

The movie begins with a black screen- displaying only the name of the production company. The white lettering stands out from the black background, making it easy to read.

The screen then cuts to just black. This does so for 2 seconds: separating the introductory shot of the production company name, from the next shot. Collectively, the first and second shots seem longer combined as they share the same black background. This creates anticipation from the audience and it prolongs the time that they have to wait before the movie starts.

The next shot is of a man crying. This is a mid-shot, allowing the viewer to clearly see the suit that he is wearing. One reason for this could be to emphasise the importance of this character through the use of formal dress. This is emphasised by the fact that he is the first character that we are introduced to. On the other hand, this shot could have been used to make the viewer feel almost uncomfortable by the close proxemic between them and the character. This could be showing us that this character is more powerful than us.  Furthermore, his over ruling of the screen space could be representative of the role that he plays within the movie as the main character.

Additionally, the sound used here is quite repetitive. This then suggests that the characters life is repetitive. The audience could connote

The camera then slowly zooms out. This gives the audience the impression that the character is loosing power. This is because he begins to take up less space on the screen which therefore connotes his loss of power.