#eli; aesthetic [the shadow cast]

[vixlenxe]

Minor Character tags. pt. 2/2

[musicallisto]

this is cursed and would hit such a niche audience, but,,,,, if you're up for it,,,, cym as books from playchoices? alternatively, you could just do video games in general or books.

(idk. i was just hit with the realization that idk what choices book you associate with me. you are cLEARLY endless summer, for me.)

you're right this is so cursed asjfdfhjdfhj and that's exactly why I'll do it. also, I'm endless summer to you? this is the highest of praise, omg. not to be dramatic but this choose-your-adventure book genuinely changed me as a person

you, olive, are 100% blades of light and shadow. you are the blades arbiter of taste. it's in your blood. just as clearly as I am endless summer to you, I suppose.

@missameliep is desire & decorum, obviously!

@noesapphic is also desire & decorum, but if I can't pick the same book twice, then the haunting of braidwood manor. historical sapphic paranormal romance? uhm??? yes????

@mendesxruel is across the void because you told me you loved that book, and it's genuinely underrated

@onceupon-a-decembr is the royal masquerade. so regal with all the best romance tropes (the bodyguard romance was so good but you guys are not ready to talk about that), but also court/political intrigue and action? definitely a YA book I'd love and that I think lindsay would love as well.

@amortensie is the elementalists. obvious harry potter vibes and a lot of fantasy fun.

@johnskeating is veil of secrets, because the aesthetic of that book is to die for. we don't talk enough about vos.

@destourtereaux is bachelorette party because I can just imagine the powerhouse she must be at a party. we're super similar so she must be as unhinged as I am. I want to go absolutely wild with you rosie

@maybanksslut is platinum because she could rise to fame by becoming a singer and meet maneskin probably ;)

@eveenstar is with every heartbeat, though I haven't played it but I think it's a bittersweet romance kind of like the fault in our stars and I think Eli would vibe with that?

@murswrites is the heist: monaco because I can totally see them planning a complicated heist with every parameter taken into account and then going on "you know what fuck it" and improvising everything on d-day. and it STILL WORKING.

@caelys is it lives in the woods because that's still one of the best books I've read on that godforsaken app and the horror element was executed so brilliantly

@softeninglooks is the unexpected heiress because it's a historical mystery set in 1910s england and I feel like pauline would vibe with that

@genyaakostyk is most wanted but specifically sam massey from most wanted because she's a badass and could probably find who beheaded hayley rose after five years of waiting for the sequel. rip queen :(

@the-radio-star is hero because. superpowers, obviously, and I can definitely see emcon as a superheroine defending the city and fighting galactical monsters

@oceanspray5 is high school story because it's such a fun story? it wasn't my favorite but the cast is super sweet and as someone who played the original hss before choices, it made me feel nostalgic?

[ravenkings]

Hey, what’s your favorite vampire movies? And werewolves movies?

i’m flattered that you’re interested in my opinion, anon! this is also one of my favorite topics to geek out about, so get ready…

vampire films (in no particular order):

- francis ford coppola’s dracula (1992) - not a particularly faithful adaptation of the novel and pretty absurd at times to boot, but the aesthetic is absolutely off the fucking chain and i love gary oldman’s take on dracula

-  interview with the vampire (1994) - a gorgeous and ridiculous vampire soap opera, and i love it to pieces. it’s sexy, it’s melodramatic, it will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will make you want to slap every single character in the face at some point, watch it!! lestat de lioncourt is tom cruise’s best role as well as one of my favorite fictional characters ever, so there’s that. 

- thirst (2009) - a korean film directed by park chan-wook. i’m surprised more people don’t talk about it bc it’s incredible and park chan-wook is a fairly well-known and highly regarded director. i haven’t seen it for a few years, but as i recall (and from checking the wikipedia page lol) it’s about a catholic priest who is in love with his neighbor’s wife and gets medically turned into a vampire. it’s very bloody and gory (even by the standards of a vampire film) and the ending is absolutely batshit. great if you love your vampires with a heavy helping of religious guilt (which tbh i think we all do). 

- nosferatu the vampyre (ger: nosferatu phantom der nacht) (1979) - werner herzog’s remake of f.w. murnau’s nosferatu (1922). i believe they did versions of this in both english and german. a very artsy take on the vampire film (re: herzog). really gorgeous and atmospheric. both klaus kinski and isabelle adjani give great performances and the soundtrack is incredible. just a really high quality film imo. 

- dracula (1931) - a classic obvi. basically required viewing if you’re into vampire films tbh. it’s fun and campy, and it shows you the origin of a lot of the classic vampire tropes and cliches. also bela lugosi’s performance is iconic.

- byzantium (2012) - directed by neil jordan who also directed interview with the vampire (dude knows his gothic horror imo). i love this film. it’s great as a vampire film but also as a compelling feminist mother/daughter story. it follows the life story, more or less, of a mother and daughter vampire duo who live on the english coast and move into an abandoned hotel to escape other (male) vampires who are trying to hunt them down. really well written with great performances all around.

- let the right one in (2008) - also a classic. a swedish film with a slightly more horror-oriented (?) take on the vampire story. follows the story of a boy named oskar who gets bullied at school and then strikes up a friendship with his mysterious neighbor, eli. things progress from there, as you can imagine. doesn’t follow a lot of the typical vampire story beats, which makes it p fresh and interesting imo. 

- only lovers left alive (2013) - directed by jim jarmusch and starring tom hiddleston, tilda swinton, john hurt, and mia wasikowska. obviously the cast is quite good and the aesthetics are incredible. tbh the plot is a bit self indulgent and didn’t totally grab me, but the film is so well made and acted that i kind of forgive it that. 

- what we do in the shadows (2014) - THE BEST. GENIUS. one of the funniest (if not the funniest) movies of the 2010s. a comedy and fake documentary about a group of vampire roommates in wellington, nz directed by and starring taika waititi and jemaine clement. not only is the film hilarious, but you can also tell that waititi and clement really know their vampire lore and use that knowledge to incredible effect here. every moment in this film is brilliant and so fucking funny and i stan it forever. the end. (they also made a really great tv series based off of it that is getting a second season!!!)

- vampire hunter d: bloodlust (2000) - like if you ever wanted a gothic post-apocalyptic space opera vampire anime, do i have the movie for you. based off of the vampire hunter d light novels and the anime. i don’t think you really need to be familiar with those to watch this (bc i certainly wasn’t lmao). the animation is really stunning and i love the world that this film takes place in. the plot basically follows d, a dhampir, who is a vampire hunter for hire and who is tracking down a woman who ran away with her vampire lover across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. as i said, i love the super unique fantasy world this story takes place in and it kind of makes me want to get more into the vampire hunter d franchise. 

- a girl walks home alone at night (2014) - an iranian film that also has a more feminist take on the vampire story, which we always love in this house. advertised (according to wikipedia) as “the first iranian vampire western”, so really, what’s not to love? filmed in black and white, it follows the story of a vampire girl who skateboards around a rundown city and kills shitty men and spends her spare time wearing cool striped shirts and listening to her record player. a legend tbh. 

- van helsing (2004) - okay, so this is not a “good” movie. like it’s actually really bad. but i love it. it’s completely ridiculous and fun. tbh the only reason it really makes it on to this list is for one scene (which you can find on youtube) and which i’m going to link here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJRGBmVOJ5I

like….i was obsessed with this scene when i was younger and was formative in a lot of ways….so yeah. 

as to werewolf movies, i’m going to be honest, i really don’t know a lot about them. i should watch more of them. however, one that i can recommend is:

the company of wolves (1984) - directed by our friend neil jordan and based off of the short story of the same name by angela carter (who also wrote the screenplay). kind of like little red riding hood seen through the eyes of david lynch and with a lot more sex. 

[comicteaparty]

January 11th-January 17th, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from January 11th, 2020 to January 17th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

What’s an unplanned idea you had through your story part way through that forced you to change things?  How did everything go?

eli [a winged tale]

After my beta feedback there were some characters that needed further fleshing out with stakes and relationships. Therefore I had to change some backstories to make certain interactions impactful. Thankfully im at the start so nothing i had to go back and fix. I did think of some alternative openings should the comic goes to print but that can be future me’s worries

snuffysam

simultaneously very little and a huge amount, lol. in terms of big story beats, they've pretty much all stayed the same since i first started planning the comic. the twists have been set up and paid off and the like. but there's a bunch of things i've improv'd at the last minute. one notable example that was pretty well-received - in book 2 chapter 4, taci has a fear of puns (basically only shown in facial expressions and a single comment from mizuki towards the end of the fight). this was added because... otherwise the fight at the end of that chapter is just a bunch of walking around in near-identical dark tunnels. the way the fight ends is fun, but the fight itself isn't really anything. with taci having a reason to be afraid of coruby, the fight has more stakes & entertainment value, and it makes coruby feel much more interesting as a character. another huge example is the love triangle in book 1 - in that in the script, it was non-existent. mizuki being into girls was originally only gonna be introduced in book 2 (guess where), and the relationship between cahe and pejiba was going to advance with no real competition (besides bullets). it was gonna be mentioned in like book 3 that she had a thing for pejiba, but nothing in book 1 itself. (similarly to the pun thing, you may notice that mizuki being into pejiba isn't referenced at all in the dialogue besides pejiba saying "i know what mizuki thinks of me" which is kinda vague. i... don't like changing scripts last-minute lol.)

Mei

Not gonna lie, everything I do is entirely unplanned. I focus a lot on improvised comedy and what feels right 'at the moment', and considering I write scripts way in advance, sometimes it leads to jokes falling flat when I read them again a few months later. Which is all fine, honestly, it's part of the process. The main unplanned idea for My Husband is a Cultist was turning it from a 12 page one-shot into a fully fledged webcomic, now with 3 chapters and more to come. It was very 'on a whim', and from that very first chapter I came up with more silly ideas. And the more I talked to friends, the more ideas I had for chapters. So the biggest change personally was going from a pure slice-of-life comedy and spending time actually building the world around it so that there was structure to the chaos. I'm still working on it all. I now have an underlying plot that I'm hoping to explore, and I have the arcs planned out way in advance. So it's wild that I went from 'random ideas spewed on a document' to 'I now have a plot and several arcs to cover'. That being said, I still come up with a lot of things on the fly, so I'm changing things constantly as I go and hoping that there aren't too many inconsistencies!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

One of the most important story elements of Phantomarine (http://www.phantomarine.com/) came up early in the second chapter, when I was asking myself some more questions about the world - and came upon a crucial opportunity. Luckily I didn’t have to change too much to make it work, and while it didn’t really change the plot, it upped the emotional stakes 100-fold. Which is just what I wanted. In this world, I have a big naval force, of which my heroine is (was?) the future leader - but with relative peace and cooperation between the different island nations, who the heck does the navy fight? Pirates? Eh, maybe. But vanilla pirates have been done to death, and while they can be awesome, I wanted to do something different. I wanted to tie them into the world’s supernatural element - while strongly avoiding the Pirates of the Caribbean cursed-buccaneer aesthetic. I decided to tie them to a particular blight that affects some of the characters - so as to up their stakes and better convey why they’re societal outcasts. And finally, I wanted to give them a freaking awesome name, something both nautical and supernatural. Thus, for those reading - the Fata Morgana. What didn’t even exist at the beginning of the second chapter is now an absolutely crucial story element, and I’m so happy they came into the picture. They’ve changed everything for the better. This is one reason why I resigned myself to revealing the world in bits and pieces - I’m revealing it to myself as I go along, too. It helps to be slow sometimes

eli [a winged tale]

The Fata Morgana introduction in the story was A W E S O M E! I’m so glad you have them in the story and looking forward to that amped up stakes!

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I think the biggest example would be the last-minute inclusion of Jonathan as a main character in my comic Dark Wings: Eryl (https://www.flowerlarkstudios.com/dark-wings-2/). I had originally planned for him to be a temporary character that we said goodbye to at the end of Chapter 5. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised the main travelling party needed another character to balance things out. I was really struggling with planning future scenes because the pool of characters felt too small. I also realised that I had developed Jonathan’s character quite a lot for him to be dropped so early. So halfway through drawing chapter 5, I rewrote the second half and he’s now a major part of the cast.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

A second example is Anor in my other comic, Children of Shadow: Ashes (https://www.flowerlarkstudios.com/cos/). He was originally written as a far less sympathetic character. In fact, he was going to be a borderline antagonist who only became sympathetic close to the end. But my characters often do things I don’t expect, and as I was planning the story, he and one of the other main characters, Rava, started falling for each other. I honestly loved this, and so I reworked the entire story to make Anor part of the main cast and much more sympathetic. He’s still a tsundere, and at the point where the story is now, still in constant friction with Rava, but I feel he’s now a much stronger character and is contributing a great deal more to the story than when he was a vaguely ominous frenemy in the original draft.

varethane

ooooo I am intrigued by this factoid about Anor

re: unplanned story elements, in Chirault..... [spoilers obviously] Ridriel and Trillia being sisters was something that hit me out of the blue about halfway through the story, and I immediately reworked a lot of things to make it happen http://chirault.sevensmith.net/(edited)

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

In ghost Junk... We actually avoided a major character death and had revised it literally a chapter before it happened!! We had everything written out right the the very end, but were seeing the readers reactions and reflected on the importance/and if it was absolutely necessary! So with that said, we saved the character, and kept the necessary impact and growth that it was to bring, and honestly- I'm so happy we did it

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

@varethane Yeah, Anor’s character has evolved a LOT since the first draft.

Phu

With Blackblood, we actually created the 2nd and 3rd chapters and then thought we wanted a chapter ahead of those as sort of a prologue to give some world building and lore elements haha. Worked out well i think! https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/blackblood/list?title_no=300252(edited)

Erin Ptah (BICP 🎄 Leif & Thorn)

This is kind of the opposite, since I did the "include a new thing in the story" part first, and that's what forced me to come up with a previously-unplanned idea to explain it... In Leif & Thorn, I had a character drop a reference to "that country doesn't allow interspecies marriages" before there's any canon reference to nonhuman species that human characters might want to marry. ...and even I didn't know what that species was going to be. Had some vague idea about revealing that mermaids existed, but in my head I never managed to integrate them with the rest of the plot or the worldbuilding real well. A few months later, I finally remember that I like drawing Tiny People (not like hobbit-size, think Borrowers-size), and realize this is the perfect setting to have a Tiny People Species! Now I get to come up with plot-based excuses to draw them wherever/however I want. Plus it opens up a whole new mine of jokes: https://leifandthorn.com/comic/somethings-cooking-26-29/

Can't for the life of me remember where I got this quote from, but there's an author who, when readers would ask for details about future developments in her books, would only give answers with the disclaimer "I reserve the right to have a better idea." Words to live by.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Damn, I love that quote.

DanitheCarutor

Admittedly there isn't a whole lot I've changed, maybe a couple small things here and there, but major stuff has been the same since I started. During the very beginning of the planning phase Daniel wasn't even going to be in the story and Julian was going to be homeless, but I wasn't quite satisfied with it. The story would have been too short, contrived and the resolution didn't feel satisfying. After some brainstorming and reflection on my feelings on certain experiences I've had, I added Daniel and 'The Guide to a Healthy Relationship' as it is kinda fell into place. It's weird thinking about how important Daniel is in spite of how new a character he is. Usually it takes me a little time to build one up before throwing them into a story, they gotta age like a fine wine first, but he popped out all ready to use like one week hooch.

Not sure if it counts, but I've also made changes to future parts of my comic. Like recently, even though I know what the ending is, I put a more final image in my head on what the final frame will look like. Also I changed an event that will happen at some point revolving around Apollo and his friends. Originally something skeevy was going to happen with Brandon and Apollo involving video uploads, and a homemade contract that was signed with Apollo was drunk. I thought it was too... I dunno, stupid? impractical? So I changed it to Julian was going to (unwillingly) attend a party at Brandon's (Apollo's friend) apartment, then some big, jealousy induced fight happens where Julian gets kicked out and Apollo feels bad. I didn't like that either, felt too reaching, so I'm going with another event that is a little out there but does happen in real life and something I have done some good research on.

Gonna be as vague as possible because it's spoilers.

keii4ii

Surprising myself is pretty much every step of my writing process. For good or bad.

I do plan things in advance, but find that sometimes things aren't what they seemed from 15 chapters ago.

I think what it is is this particular comic is such a visual story. I could plan out my previous comic with far greater accuracy. That comic was more dialog-driven; you could convert it into an audio drama with minimal changes, and it would still make sense. Whereas my current comic, you can't turn it into an audio drama without very VERY extensive changes (not even sure if possible... Many silent scenes). So I need to actually draw the pages to feel it out. And I can't draw out of order. Brain just won't that way.(edited)

carcarchu

totally agree with you @keii4ii sometimes u have to actually draw it out to get a feel for it. when i write out all the dialogue for my chapters i feel like it always ends up coming out so stiff, thats why i prefer to let it flow naturally and if something happens that i didnt account for just roll with it and adjust the story accordingly

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I'm kind of weird about always needing to know exactly how many pages a chapter is going to have, so I script right down to the panel. It can create flow problems on occasion, so I wish sometimes I could plan my pages more visually, but my brain just doesn't work that way. >< It's a good thing my stories mostly rely on dialogue because they're pretty much novels in comic form.(edited)

Cronaj

When planning a scene at the end of Chapter 3 of Whispers of the Past (https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/whispers-of-the-past/list?title_no=191366), I was having a hard time writing the dialogue. I had the images of my lead characters, Agatha and Izrekiel, talking by the docks in the moonlight, and I knew generally what they talked about, but I couldn't script it. And then, one day while walking to work, my characters straight up had the conversation in my head! And as the dialogue unraveled, the characters (mostly Izrekiel) did something completely unplanned (which I won't reveal because spoilers). This unplanned change has completely upped the drama and sexual tension for the entirety of the future story. The second event of this is in Chapter 2, where Izrekiel is helping out on Kelan's farm. Initially, there was going to be some dialogue that mostly served as world-building, but when actually writing the scene, it occurred to me that they would likely not talk too much, too absorbed by the work of harvest. And then, I suddenly visualized/heard Kelan and the other farmhands SINGING. I don't know why it popped in my head that way, but they began singing a working song. Now, I am not a musician, but I used to sing in choir and do musicals and such, and like half my family members are musicians, so I have a bit of a musical background. Anyway, all this to say that the characters started singing, and in response, Izrekiel (who has amnesia) has a flashback to some repressed memory of men marching and singing the same song, with altered lyrics. This can get extra spoilery, so I won't delve too deep into what his memory means, but.... The lyrics go as such: Oh earth, oh rain, Oh sun in the sky, You grant me with your fruit In this land. And they are directly mirrored in the flashback with: Oh strength, oh grace, I'll raise my sword, With victory in mind In this land.(edited)

Deo101

For me, I totally changed the ending! I was going to make it a tragedy, and then at some point I realized I didnt NEED to... that a story can be happy and good. So, I rewrote a ton of stuff, and actually ended up adding in some new characters! I'd say It's gone very well ^^ I'm much happier with everything now (for one, I can think about the ending without crying!!) I've changed a lot of other little things as i've gone along too. too many things to count, really.

Tuyetnhi

Initially I was writing the story timeline to 5 days but it spanned to something about a year. Which means I had a chance to develop it further than trying to rush plot points. Used to be like 3 chapters originally but now its like ....I guess 20 chapters? I don't remember the full count but lmao I'm ready to endure.(edited)

varethane

most of the biggest changes to Chirault were decided on during the first 3 years of me making it..... I completely threw out the first plan I had made, lol. There was no specific trigger for this, except maybe for 'I don't like this, actually'

keii4ii

Oh! I remembered something specific. My tiger character used to have a 'generic lean-ripped' build. Kinda like the rabbit from Juuni Taisen. Then I posted a random beach day picture, and someone (who wasn't used to seeing characters with visible leg muscles... A lot of comics they read have characters who suffer from Skipped All The Leg Days syndrome) pointed out how insanely muscular his legs were. I ran with it. Today his legs are 2x bigger than they were in that beach day pic, and it's all muscle. Also while this character stays very lean throughout the story, I as the author guarantee you that if he were to put on fat, his thighs will be the first to expand, and the most. 8)

Tuyetnhi

omg

Cronaj

@keii4ii I'm so glad for this change. Lu's legs are majestic

Capitania do Azar

Interesting replies here

In o Sarilho https://www.sarilho.net/en/, I have avoided one major character death in the first part of the story because I grow super fond of them and also because it wasn't really going to build up to anything... Which felt really unfair. So now I had to come up with narrative lines for them and I'm quite enjoying that. Furthermore, I was halfway through chapter 3 when I figured out Eurico's looks but especially his role in the story. It involved drawing a lot of trucks (and there will be more trucks in the future) but I'm really excited for him as a character

Desnik

As I was writing my comic I was trying really hard to keep the POV limited to one character, but that character doesn't have enough perspective to set up the plot very well at the beginning. This meant hopping POVs to some other characters and now I'm gently trying to squash a lot of these subplots before they go completely out of control...

[angrylizardjacket]

Could you tell us more about your job with lighting? Not like where you work or something creepy like that, I do lighting for my school and the stuff you talk about is really interesting

Okay so I’ve been doing lighting for a few years now and I’ve had a few roles. This isn’t all of what I’ve done, especially not in terms of what I’ve done in uni, but these are my most noteworthy, and it’s basically just me rambling. hope you enjoy it.

(I’m putting it under a read more because I’m including production photos.)

Assistant/Roadie for a rock band

I took a gap year after high school where I basically worked 3 days a week at a pizza shop, had rehearsals for a show I was acting in and assistant directing during the other two week days, and on weekends I would travel with my dad up and down the coast for his gigs. Basically the setup we had was 4 quad 12s; one lighting up the bass drum, one lighting up the guitarist’s amp, and the other two positioned to hit the guitarist and the bass player. we didn’t have an operating desk, so the bass and amp lights were set at a specific colour (i favour blues/purples/reds) while the other two would fade through colours automatically. it wasn’t super difficult, but it was fun, and was a good way to get me into it. I spent a lot of time coiling leads and setting up amps, i was just a general assistant more or less, and it was just a little pub-rock setting, but i spent basically every weekend, friday & saturday, for a year doing it.

Roadie/Bump In Crew

Okay so this is the other thing I did during my gap year; I was assistant director, as well as having a minor acting role, in a musical that as being put on in the big theatre in my city. in terms of tech, I didn’t have a lot of involvement, i helped bump in the equipment, and i was a walker when they were doing the focus/plot, and i remember 2 specific moments where i was like…… lights give me heart eyes; 1, we had LED movers (i genuinely don’t know the technical term, that’s just how everyone around me has referred to them, they’re the lights that move) with swirly gobos on them and i was In Love. 2, getting to talk with the lighting designer and the director about what we wanted for the show, walking around looking up at the rig with the worker lights on, trying to work out how to best light the show, and seeing the affectionately nicknamed ‘rock and roll bar’ just hanging up there ready to be lowered for the final scene, my Heart Burst I Fell In Love With That Lighting Rig.

I’ve been in theatre for 12 years, spent about 7 of those years in and around the production side of theatre, and about 4 years within lighting specifically.

Lighting Operator/Assistant

Earlier this year I worked on the same show twice, first in June and then in October, it was a retelling of Shakespeare but like… more supernatural. The first iteration was very bright, quite camp, we used primarily traditional lights, and the rig was super complicated; i lived my life at the top of the scaffolding refocusing shit after every show where i could see it was Just A Little Bit Off. So we had 2 LEDs in total that were used for the really rich colours, but the rest are just traditional lights with gels over them. I also spent a lot of time cutting gels and frankensteining them together for different effects the designer wanted. also, so many spotlights with blue gels over them to make the normally warm lights cool toned. i spent literally 2 hours with the on-site techie derigging them all after the last show, got mad rope burn too.

The October iteration of the show, or as it was known ‘The Halloween Season’ felt like a completely different show, again we had the three big LEDs, but we also had a lot more quad 12s, and two long, rectangular sets of LEDs that absolutely terrified me. more importantly, we had floor lights with rich blue gels over half, the other half still being warm white, and they cast these beautiful, eerie shadows on the back wall. i’m a big fan of shadows and backlighting and being a part of this really hit all the right notes for me.

Lighting Designer

So I’m in uni currently studying to be a lighting designer, and since literally no-one else in my course is specialising in it, it means I get to do it A Lot. I usually work with my uni theatre’s standard rig, which consists of 8 lx bars, 4 in front of the proscenium arch, 3 behind, and the cyc bar at the back. the standard rig is comprised of entirely LEDs, favouring quad 12s for colour and we have approximately 6 that mimicked traditional, non LEDs that were used as just front lighting and a general wash.

okay, so i’m gonna talk about my favourite show to date; SHELTERED (2017).

basically the show was set in a bunker, so the set was designed with this bigass set piece at the back made to look like the back of a bunker, which means we didn’t have a cyc, instead what I did put in was 2 parcans on either side of the door that would shine whenever the door would open to create the illusion of overwhelming light from the outside world;

I was also insistent that to really replicate the feeling of the bunker, there be a fan with a light above it, spinning very slowly, however the set designer didn’t want a fan on stage, but he loved the idea, so we rigged a truss warmer (little but powerful LED) above a fan with a show moving motor that the tech officer at the uni had to build, and the whole thing was out of sight behind the proscenium. also i was in charge of the smoke machine, i die for a good bit of theatrical fog.

i made a radio that could be carried around and played with on stage, but also could be operated by me in the bio box when a certain character touched it in one scene? it’s got a truss warmer inside of it, and i was Fucking Adamant that it worked, because it comes out of Nowhere, it’s this prop that’s super important, it’s meant to be a broken radio, but it lights up and music starts to play?? like the character just touches the top of it so it’s obvious he’s not like, turning it on or anything, it’s just meant to light up because it’s a little bit supernatural, And It Lit Up Because I Don’t Do Things By Halves

i die for backlighting

also, you can’t see it in the photos, but each of the three characters in the show that wear red (and the surprise fourth character who only appears in the last scene) have a colour story.

Anyways, here’s an excerpt from my report of the show:

“Any practical lights – the radio, the letter box – were originally in the script but neither the director nor the designer had really considered what it would take to bring those practicals to life. Every light that is not part of the standard rig is one that I have carefully thought about, from the placement, to where it’s use would be most effective in the show – the two truss warmers that light up every time the announcer segments play, thereby creating that association between the gold lights, a colour that is not used anywhere else in the show, and the announcer, enhancing the unsettling nature of his entrance by having those lights fade in, and the cyclorama lights and backlights lighting the stage in the same dirty orange. Every colour, every lighting change is one that I had thought out thoroughly to enhance the experience of the show, considering both the context of the show – the lighting tends to stay away from blues and green because they are very unnatural for a bunker, and are only used in memory sequences and the dance number, which is strange and unsettling in its own right – and the context of the characters, using the lights to draw focus to whatever Eli is focused on, as it’s technically all inside his head, therefore whatever catches his attention must also catch the audience’s attention.I also wanted to develop a reoccurring colour theme for each character;

Sammy; Yellow, like sunshine.

Frank; Red, meaning danger.

Zoey; Purple, soft and feminine.

These are then played back when each character confronts Eli at the end, and even though the audience might not realise it, there has been an association built up with each colour and character, which contrasts the stark white of the bunker at the end, it’s natural lighting.

Every lighting change is well thought out as both an aesthetic choice, and a dramaturgical one.” 

[thephantomprojectionist]

Review: The Man with the Iron Fists 2 (2015)

“You are mine”

Source

This review is based on the unrated version of the film.

SPOILERS AHEAD

The Man with the Iron Fists had its moments, but I don’t think it did nearly enough with its resources. I wasn’t a fan, so my hopes weren’t high when its lower-budgeted sequel was released. As a matter of fact, I didn’t bother checking it out at all. However, having finally seen it now, I realize it wasn’t necessary for me to avoid it. The Man with the Iron Fists 2 is bereft of most features that defined its predecessor – a supergroup cast, the wuxia influence, and a general over-the-top style – but this is actually what makes it for me. More sober-minded and focused on its characters, this is a surprisingly worthwhile adventure and definitely the best action feature I’ve yet seen from director Roel Reine.

The story: En route to Wu Chi Temple to cleanse his soul, the blacksmith Thaddeus (RZA) is embroiled in a treacherous conflict between a small mining village and the oppressive Beetle Clan.

The most obvious way the film deviates from the original is the lack of major names. With the exception of the lead star, no one here’s been anywhere near top billing for a major release in years. Nevertheless, this one’s cast isn’t without cult charm, and they’re all clearly acting their butts off. Dustin Nguyen is the real star as the de facto leader of the village, and Carl Ng makes a surprisingly strong impression as the despicable villain. Cary Tagawa is solid as the wheelchair-driving mayor, while Eugenia Na does good work as an archer and Nguyen’s onscreen wife. Action hero-in-the-making Charlie Ruedpokanon enjoys the best role of his young career as Nguyen’s brother, while action regulars Kazu Tang and Ocean Hou are memorable enforcers. Grace Huang and Andrew Lin reprise their roles as the Gemini Twins for a flashback scene. RZA easily slips back into his character but reduces his impact by not having much to do with the first half of the movie. While this cast ultimately appeals less to people used to theatrical fare, I love how the lack of name emphasis requires the actors to focus on their characters all the more. No award-winning performances, but there are some good exchanges that elevate the otherwise humdrum plot.

Aesthetically, I declare the film a complete triumph. Director/DP Reine and production designer Lek Chaiyan (Anna and the King) create an absolutely beautiful flick composed of exotic on-location shots and intricate costumes. At the risk of comparing the film to its predecessor too often, this one eschews the original’s lavish style and focuses on a more realistic and detailed look, smoothly incorporates the local countryside for a sense of scope. This organic style carries over to the action content, which is considerably scaled back from the predecessor’s wirework bonanza. The fighting is almost entirely grounded and less reliant on special effects, and this works well for the performers and the Thai stunt crew. Of course, the results aren’t perfect: over-editing works its way into more and more of the brawls, and the mass battle scenes are one thing that the original film did better. I was excited when Cary Tagawa unexpectedly became a combatant in the 11th hour, but he’s stunt doubled to within an inch of his life. Nevertheless, we get some good matches in the Charlie Ruedpokanon/Ocean Hou and Dustin Nguyen/Carl Ng encounters, so the adrenaline department gets an overall passing grade.

I’m disappointed that the animal motifs are downplayed this time: RZA mentions in the DVD’s special features that he sought to explore insect themes, and while we get the Beetle Clan, everything else is downplayed to the point that appears incidental. (E.g. the miners as ants.) The overabundance of gore ensures that executive producer Eli Roth got to eat for another day, but the over-the-top violence isn’t very creative. Again, die-hards of the original won’t be happy about these things, but I find the faults forgivable. With fewer resources at its disposal, the sequel finds a harmonious balance much easier than its richer predecessor. It’s still a take-it-or-leave-it feature for casual viewers, but it’s hard to deny the effort and skill that went into this. The Man with the Iron Fists 2 is utterly watchable on its own merits, and if you’re like me and enjoy seeing small productions succeed against all expectations, you’ll definitely have fun. Rent it.

Source

The Man with the Iron Fists 2 (2015) Directed by Roel Reine (Hard Target 2) Written by RZA, John Jarrell (Romeo Must Die) Starring RZA, Dustin Nguyen (Once Upon a Time in Vietnam), Carl Ng (Point of Entry), Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa Cool costars: Grace Huang, Andrew Lin, Charlie Ruedpokanon (Ninja: Shadow of a Tear), Ocean Hou (The Blood Bond), Kazu Patrick Tang (Dragonwolf), Eugenia Yuan (Jasmine). Seigi Ozeki, who seems to have dropped from the leading man spectrum following Muay Thai Warriors, plays a vengeful member of the Lion Clan. Sahajak Boonthanakit (Zero Tolerance) is one of Thailand’s rising dramatic stars and plays one of the featured minors. Simon Yin (Birth of the Dragon) is likewise memorable. Content warning: Extreme violence, group violence, lynching, childbirth, racist dialogue Copyright Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

[hitomishiga]

muse monster aesthetics

Honoka: a trustworthy exterior. close enough to humanity not to raise eyebrows. probably brings to mind friendly animals such as dogs and cats and bears. a good nose, good for finding trouble. devastating, world-shaking power locked inside a small body. constant warmth.

Umi: a cold stare twice as cold with more eyes. built for stamina, built for scaling mountains and taking on thirty men at once. shifting skin. people shy from her and attempt to touch her armoured carapace all at once. she carries herself proudly, generations of similar giants running through her veins.

Kotori: instils in you a fear of your own shadow. you feel naked and unprotected in the same room as her. a solid guise. unspoken terror ripples the surface. wings, downy and angelic, only bring tears to the eyes of those who stare. never bleeds. bones brittle as glass.

Maki: dazzling. breathtaking. rich colours and bright plumes. red means danger. death itself lurks on her skin, daring fools to touch her and die. she never casts a shadow or reflection. never speaks, only sings. aversion to iron. hides her scars well. spines and thorns and poison tipped quills.

Rin: wide grin, too wide. sharp teeth, too sharp. how many limbs? she moves too fast to tell. her image is of a feral animal and her instincts stay true. no ill intent despite the fear she inspires in all those who catch her curiosity. long sharp claws can tear through metal and flesh.

Hanayo: photosensitive and shy. eyewitness reports at near zero. absorption and consumption. do not ask about it. blind, eyeless. many rows of teeth. constantly growing out of her old body parts and into new, sleeker ones. a pupae phase.

Nico: small and vicious. behind her; the afterimage of a hulking creature that's not quite a shadow. do not underestimate her by her weak appearance. mismatched horns, chunks of flesh missing from previous scuffles. impossible to dissuade from a rampage.

Eli: something foreign, something ghostly. eyes that speak a thousand losses. eat of her flesh and live forever. during the day, an otherworldly beauty. in the darkness, indescribable. her blood is visible through her skin, and her veins are neither blue nor red.

Nozomi: eyes that are but vast pits of space filled with stars. an entire universe in her body. her mere presence tries to warp the fabric of space and time and rip your body into atoms. a wheel of fire behind her head. her voice is gentle but sounds forced. surely, she is not of this earth.

[aion-rsa]

15 Reasons Why “Batman & Robin” Isn’t the Worst Movie Ever

By any reasonable standard, “Batman & Robin” is not a good movie. Joel Schumacher’s film suffers from a multitude of bizarre choices that pull it in a thousand different directions at once. In 1997, both critics and comic fans savaged the film for being a feature length toy commercial defined by campy performances and an incoherent tone. After two decades of continued mockery, the movie’s reputation has rotted even more, and the film is widely considered one of the worst movies ever made.

RELATED: Digital Justice: 15 DC Comics Video Games You Forgot Existed

With “The Lego Batman Movie” weeks away from release at the time of writing this, it’s a perfect time to revisit the older toy-friendly Batman movie. Now, CBR is taking a look back at 15 reasons why “Batman & Robin” isn’t the worst movie ever. Although the film remains deeply flawed, it’s a fascinating production that reveals some truly redeeming qualities upon closer reexamination.

THE SPIRIT OF “BATMAN ‘66”

In the 1990s, Batman occupied a different place in pop culture than he does today. In the wake of the 1960s’ “Batman” show, the character had been primarily considered a children’s character for decades. By the 1990s, Batman had just started to step out of that show’s shadow thanks to the works of creators like Frank Miller, Paul Dini and Tim Burton. Instead of shunning it, “Batman & Robin” whole-heartedly embraced the legacy of the Adam West era and tried to update it for modern audiences.

While that move backfired spectacularly, lighter takes on the Batman franchise have become more accepted since 1997. In recent years, DC Comics has reclaimed the legacy of the 1960s’ “Batman” with comics like “Batman ‘66” and the animated film “Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders.” Like “Batman & Robin,” these newer projects are filled with tilted Dutch angles and corny jokes. Although darkness still largely defines the modern Batman franchise, “Batman & Robin” reclaimed a perfectly valid version of the characters years before anything else did.

UMA AND ARNOLD

One of “Batman’s” most notable features was its cast of over-the-top Technicolor villains. “Batman & Robin’s” main antagonists are perfectly logical extensions of that era’s campy foes. Uma Thurman’s Poison Ivy channels Mae West, Julie Newmar and Cruella de Vil in a performance that relishes every bad gardening pun. Since Ivy was created by Robert Kanigher and Sheldon Moldoff in 1966’s “Batman” #181, that era’s aesthetics are a foundational part of her character. Although Ivy never appeared in the old show, Thurman’s Ivy would’ve been right at home facing down Adam West and Burt Ward’s Dynamic Duo.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s turn as Mr. Freeze is one of the film’s most reviled aspects, but it’s a faithful update of the Mr. Freeze of the 1960s. In his three appearances on “Batman,” Mr. Freeze was portrayed as a heavily-accented, pun-loving villain by George Saunders, Otto Preminger and Eli Wallach. Schwarzenegger’s Freeze has the exact same traits with his TV predecessors. Even as Mr. Freeze tries to freeze Gotham City, Arnold’s good-natured, jokey performance keeps the character from ever becoming truly evil, which enables his redemption by the movie’s end.

HEART OF ICE

While “Batman & Robin’s” Mr. Freeze is largely an extension of his 1960s persona, the film recognizes that “Batman: The Animated Series” added a deeper dimension to the character. In the Emmy Award-winning episode “Heart of Ice,” Paul Dini and Bruce Timm gave Mr. Freeze a tragic origin involving his attempts to cure his terminally ill wife Nora Fries. That’s a compelling motivation for any interpretation of Mr. Freeze, even Schwarzenegger’s neon-blue decathlete.

Schumacher and scriptwriter Akiva Goldsman wisely incorporate Victor Fries’ attempts to cure Nora into “Batman & Robin.” While it doesn’t totally work here, the movie replicates a moving “Heart of Ice” sequence where an imprisoned Mr. Freeze stares longingly at a snow globe that reminds him of Nora. By injecting this pathos into Freeze, the filmmakers make him a sympathetic figure who realistically seems like he would help cure a terminally ill Alfred from the same disease that took his wife.

ALFRED’S STORY

After appearing in two Tim Burton directed Batman movies and Joel Schumacher’s “Batman Forever,” Michael Gough’s Alfred is tasked with carrying a lot of “Batman & Robin’s” emotional heft. While Gough had a fairly distinguished career as an actor, his Alfred was largely a supporting character in his first three Bat-film appearances. In this film, Alfred’s sudden terminal diagnosis becomes the driving force behind Batman’s emotional journey towards accepting his place among his adopted family.

While this subplot doesn’t have the space to cohere into something really substantial, Gough elevates the script with the warmth and tenderness that his Alfred shows Bruce Wayne. Although Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy doesn’t share much with “Batman & Robin,” this film sets a precedent for foregrounding the Bruce/Alfred relationship. While those later films would explore their dynamic to great effect, this film uses that same familial warmth to fast-track Alicia Silverstone’s Barbara Wilson, Alfred’s niece, into the Bat-family.

BATGIRL’S PRESENCE

Despite its faults, “Batman & Robin” contains the only live-action feature film appearance of Batgirl. Although Yvonne Craig’s Batgirl joined Adam West and Burt Ward’s Dynamic Duo after their big screen adventure, the character’s inclusion here is another nod to the 1960s “Batman” series. In the ’60s series and that era’s comics, Batgirl is secretly Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Commissioner Gordon. Since the elder Gordon hardly has a presence in this movie, Batgirl’s familial relationship to Alfred makes more sense in the context of the film.

Although she doesn’t share a last name with Barbara Gordon, Silverstone’s Barbara Wilson shares her aptitudes for computers and motorcycles. While she doesn’t get much screen time in-costume, the film treats Batgirl as an equal to Batman and Robin and gives her a pivotal role in the film’s climax. While Batgirl seems like a fairly likely candidate to show up in the upcoming “Gotham City Sirens,” “Batman & Robin” remains one of Batgirl’s most visible appearances outside of comics right now.

GOTHAM CITY RACER

In one of the film’s better action sequences, Silverstone’s Barbara and Chris O’Donnell’s Dick Grayson race each other through the streets of Gotham City in an underground motorcycle race. Within the context of the film, the event gives Barbara and Dick a chance to establish a kinship over their shared love of thrill-seeking.

In the race sequence, the film’s various tones coalesce into a stylistic delight. The crowded scenes that set-up the race feature several explicit references to films like “Mad Max” and “A Clockwork Orange,” and even an inexplicable cameo from the rapper Coolio. In a strange but inspired choice, the race plays out like a real-life level of “Mario Kart,” complete with balloons and explosions littering the track. Set against the pulse-pounding beat of Underworld’s minor techno classic “Moaner,” this sequence is legitimately thrilling. While the rest of the film struggles to find the right balance between campy comedy and serious action, this scene finds the perfect tonal blend.

BATMAN & ROBIN: THE ALBUM

While “Batman & Robin” was only a moderate commercial success, the album featuring “music from and inspired by” the movie was a smash hit, filled with an eclectic mix of artists. In 1997, the album produced several chart-making singles across genres. The album’s lead single was the Smashing Pumpkins’ “The End is the Beginning of the End,” a frantic mix of distorted guitars and electronica that won a Grammy in 1998. The compilation also featured R. Kelly’s “Gotham City,” a bizarre ballad that ends with a children’s choir praising Batman’s hometown as an inspirational “city of peace.” In addition to Underworld, the album produced memorable singles from rappers Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony, singer-songwriter Jewel and pop-rockers the Goo Goo Dolls.

Although Elliot Goldenthal’s score never reaches the heights of Danny Elfman’s seminal scores for Tim Burton’s Batman films, insertions of his bombastic theme are subtly woven throughout the film. While this might seem like a minor note, it adds a sliver of cohesion to the film’s tonal inconsistencies.

ROBIN’S ARC

The film’s puzzling plot seems to pull most of its characters in wildly divergent directions amidst changing motivations and shifting alliances. While he’s underserved in this overcrowded feature, Robin’s character arc has a clear trajectory that’s true to his comic roots. After being introduced in “Batman Forever,” O’Donnell’s older Robin expresses the same exasperation with being Batman’s sidekick that fueled Dick Grayson’s evolution into Nightwing in the comics.

While Schumacher’s Robin is called Dick Grayson, his quick temper, endless frustration and recklessness seem to be borrowed from the comics’ second Robin, Jason Todd. “Batman & Robin” is only this Robin’s second adventure, and recasting Grayson’s desire to move beyond the Robin identity as an extension of his Todd-esque immaturity works. Since Robin’s emotional arc encourages him to outgrow those emotions, it conveniently paves the way for a return to the status quo at the film’s conclusion. Instead of flying solo, this Robin reaffirms his status as a more equal partner to Batman and Batgirl.

BATMAN IS BATMAN

When this film was released, George Clooney’s turn as Batman was criticized for making the character supremely arrogant and intensely unlikable. Even though decades of stories have conditioned readers and fans to think otherwise, that’s not an invalid interpretation of the character. In the franchise’s most beloved iterations, Batman remains a regular source of frustration to his closest allies. Since most stories cast Batman as a protagonist, these unlikable failings can be easily glazed over in favor of showing Batman doing something cool.

As 2014’s “The Lego Movie” proved, an unlikable Batman can still star in a compelling story. Given Batman’s fundamentally altruistic mission, the interpersonal flaws enrich the character. While Clooney’s Batman seems uncaring, he spends a great deal of time rescuing civilians and thawing out frozen civilians. While some more recent superhero films have featured wanton destruction and loss of life, Batman repeatedly goes out of his way to save Gotham and protect its citizens from danger. Regardless of any other factors, that concern for the well-being of others cements the validity of Clooney’s Batman.

IVY’S POISONS

Despite Thurman’s delightfully exaggerated performance, Poison Ivy never really comes into her own as a multi-faceted character. Although she plays an increasingly less important role as the plot progresses, the script finds some clever ways to tie her into some of its more outlandish aspects. Before she’s doused with plant chemicals and becomes Ivy, Dr. Pamela Isley is seen doing research cross-breeding animal and plant DNA. While the full extent of this Ivy’s control over plant life is nebulous, these experiments explain how she can facilitate the growth of sentient monster plants so quickly.

Brilliantly, “Batman & Robin” also gives Ivy a role in the creation of Bane. As part of her experimental research, Ivy inadvertently creates the Venom serum. While Bane is reduced from a criminal mastermind to a gurgling plant monster, he is given super-strength from Venom just like his comic counterpart. Even if Bane is used as Ivy’s glorified henchman, the revelation of her involvement in his creation ties the characters together well.

JOHN GLOVER’S JASON WOODRUE

A few years before John Glover started his lengthy tenure as Lionel Luthor on “Smallville,” he played a small but essential role as Jason Woodrue in “Batman & Robin.” In comics, Woodrue, also known as the Floronic Man, has had a fascinating trajectory from a minor plant-based DC villain to a mystical “Swamp Thing” antagonist. While Woodrue is only a human here, he plays the mad scientist who’s in charge of Pamela Isley’s research lab and is responsible for her evolution into Poison Ivy and the creation of Bane.

In a sequence that would be right at home in the “Batman” TV show, Woodrue tries to sell the Venom serum to a group of dictators called the “Un-United Nations.” As the character, Glover seems to channel every B-movie mad scientist cliché there is with extreme gusto. Glover hones in on the maniacal glee at this movie’s core and embodies it perfectly during his brief time on screen.

BATMAN LORE

Even though this overstuffed movie barely has enough room for all of its characters, the film is still filled with a number of allusions to Batman lore. Although “Batman & Robin’s” Bane only has surface connections to the Bane of comics, the character’s inclusion here is still noteworthy. When the movie was released, the character had only been around for four years after his 1993 comic debut. Along with the inclusion of a Nightwing-inspired Robin costume and the “Heart of Ice” references, the film showed a remarkable willingness to engage with that era’s Batman mythology.

The film also includes several nods to older, more obscure Batman lore. Wilfred Pennyworth, Alfred’s rarely seen older brother, earns a mention in the film. When Batman’s recounting Mr. Freeze’s origin through the Bat-Computer, there’s a subtle reference to the villain’s original moniker Mr. Zero. The producers of the 1960s’ “Batman” series changed the character’s name to Mr. Freeze for an episode that involved a diamond robbery. The movie references that specific episode by making diamonds the source behind Freeze’s power suit, ice gun and giant freeze ray.

FLASHES OF BRILLIANCE

Despite the tonal confusion that plagues so much of the film, Schumacher and the production team manage to capture a few striking moments of brilliance from the midst of the film’s madness. In one blink-and-miss-it scene, an extreme close up on Poison Ivy’s toxin-filled lips highlights their neon hue and reframes them in the same way a documentary might showcase a poisonous tropical plant.

While some of “Batman & Robin’s” action scenes are very silly, most of the chase sequences work pretty well. In the middle of a chase with Mr. Freeze’s gang, Batman cuts power to the Redbird, Robin’s motorcycle. As Batman continues pursuit, Robin is left to cry out in agony on the fingertip of a skyscraper-sized statue. O’Donnell lets out a scream that releases years of unseen frustration in one of the movie’s best pieces of acting. Having already seen Robin’s exhilaration during the motorcycle street race, the audience is left to linger on Batman’s cruel indifference to his partner’s wants as the chase continues.

GOTHAM CITY

The Gotham City of Tim Burton’s Batman movies was a dense gothic urban environment, shrouded in perpetual dusk. In “Batman & Robin,” Schumacher’s Gotham, brought to life by production designer Barbara Ling, is filled with neon lights and garish color that seems to expand infinitely upwards. With dense pockets of buildings and elevated roads, the city seems to be built around giant figures that look like giant Renaissance era statues come to life and then trapped in steel.

While these design choices are deeply impractical, they bring a hint of operatic grandness to the fundamentally silly proceedings. The cavernous Batcave seems to reduce everything but the Batmobile into miniature size and the Gotham Observatory sits in the palms of a giant statue that towers over the city’s skyscrapers. Schumaker’s Arkham Asylum twists like a whimsical dungeon pulled from a hallucinogenic-fueled nightmare. Where most modern depictions of Gotham have some basis in reality, “Batman & Robin’s” Gotham boldly highlights the inherent unreality of a world with superheroes.

IT HAD TO HAPPEN

Despite its multitude of flaws, “Batman & Robin” was a necessary growing pain in the development of the superhero movie as a viable genre. The failure of this fascinating experiment killed the idea of campy superheroes on film and made it clear that the next wave superhero movies couldn’t just be live-action Saturday morning cartoons.

In the decades following “Batman & Robin,” filmmakers learned from its mistakes and, from its ashes, created the modern superhero film as we know it. These revelations led to a greater emphasis on the sci-fi elements of the X-Men franchise in the early 2000s. As the general public grew more accepting of superheroes, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and the early Marvel Studios movies found a streamlined story-driven approach to embrace full-fledged superheroics. The failure of a supposedly kid-friendly Batman paved the way for Christopher Nolan’s adult-skewing “Dark Knight” trilogy in the 2000s and Zack Snyder’s even darker take on the character in the 2010s. While “Batman & Robin” remains defined by misguided choices and tonal inconsistency, it’s never dull and hints at the future highs that awaited the resilient Batman franchise.

Stay tuned to CBR for the latest on “The Lego Batman Movie” and the Dark Knight’s continuing adventures! Let us know what your favorite Batman movie is in the comments below!

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