The structure and techniques used in film trailers have changed a lot over the years. What better way to get to grips with just how much has changed than by looking at the evolution of the trailers for a franchise ...
Read More »Urban Enemies: Urban fantasy villains laid bare
The premise of this short story collection is a winner. Take some of the bestselling urban fantasy writers and have them write stories focusing on their villains. Who doesn’t love a villain? Most of the time, I find villains more ...
Read More »Heartland: You won’t know you’re dead until you hit the ground
Back in 2015 I came across a debut author, Lucy Hounsom. I loved Starborn – from its subversion of fantasy genre tropes, to its flawed protagonist and excellent prose. Since then, I befriended Lucy and she has been one of ...
Read More »The Defenders: It’s too late for heroes
Marvel’s relationship with Netflix began so well. The first season of Daredevil was exquisite. Since then, however, it’s all gone downhill. While many critics lauded Jessica Jones, I was not one of them. Luke Cage had some redeeming features but ...
Read More »The art of the trailer: Genre tropes
The genre of a film determines a lot, from typical plot points and character arcs to visual style. It’s no surprise then that trailers follow a similar pattern. It might sound obvious that the trailers for comedies and thrillers follow ...
Read More »Age of Assassins by RJ Barker
I love going to conventions. Not only do you get to indulge in your geekiest loves, you discover so many new things you never encountered before. I discovered RJ Barker at Nine Worlds. When I heard him and – more ...
Read More »The art of the trailer: A marketing soundtrack
Trailers are, like the medium they are representing, both audio and visual in nature. While we may watch trailers for the snippets of the feature to come, it is the music that is often most successful in setting the tone. ...
Read More »Nostalgic Impulse: Tank Girl
Tank Girl was barely a blip on the radar when it was released in 1995. It flopped both with critics and audiences, only recouping in US$6 million of its $25 million production budget. Critics tended to agree on its faults: ...
Read More »The art of the trailer: Misleading the audience
Trailers are like mass market elevator pitches for films. They are meant to hook the audience, telling them enough about a film to fuel interest but not so much that the entire plot of the film is ruined. Writing a ...
Read More »Binge watching: Bluestone 42
BBC shows have such short seasons that I often feel as though I blink and miss shows entirely. I had never so much as heard of Bluestone 42 when I stumbled across it on Netflix. What’s this? A military sitcom ...
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