Hey, everyone! Just wanted to clear up the confusion regarding the hospital explosion in The Dark Knight. The delayed explosion was intentional. Nolan clears this up in a featurette called Gotham Uncovered: Creation of a Scene. Here's a clip: th-cam.com/video/yUFiNuRAmmc/w-d-xo.html Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction to Film Tropes 01:01 - Spoilers 01:17 - Trope Definition & History 02:07 - Chapter 1: Character Tropes 08:36 - Chapter 2: Plot Tropes 14:55 - Chapter 3: Tropes in Dialogue 20:12 - Chapter 4: Cinematic Imagery 24:18 - Takeaways
One trope that I cannot stand is the "miscommunication" because a character doesn't take 5 seconds to explain or the other character won't take 5 seconds to listen. Like Character A walks in on their partner (B) at a restaurant with another person (C) and immediately assumes it's cheating, but won't listen to B explain that C is a sibling. OR B just doesn't explain. It's such a lazy way to create a conflict.
I think Hot Fuzz really needs special commendation on this, as they did the first 75% of the movie subverting buddy cop and creepy small town tropes, and then joyously dove right back in and played them all straight for the last 25%. Masterclass.
Spiderverse has a good subversion of the 'yup that's me' trope as they all intorduce themselves as if they are the main character and then also shows the character arc pf Miles as he becomes his spiderman and gets his own comic book intro
One thing I'd like to comment on is how I absolutely love and appreciate how every movie title is listed at the bottom of every clip displayed. Makes life a lot easier.
As the sites do tell, "tropes are tools", so a trope's quality, wether one uses it it straight, subvert it, or deconstruct it, do depends on the users.
One comedy trope I love is when a character says a cool exit line in a car and hits the gas but the car goes backwards. I’ve seen it a thousand times and it always gets me
The trope of characters who initially don't like each other getting paired to work together is really worn out but I think it will never go away. Same with the character of the cop's wife who is trying to keep her man at home instead of him going to work. "Do you have to go? Can't you stay home?" So tiring and can't be much fun for the actors knowing its been done so much. Thanks for showing so many different tropes and how some can be made to work.
Ok but Walter White and Jesse Pinkman fit the "characters who initially don't like each other getting paired to work together" trope to a T and their dynamic is GOLD 😅
@@firiel2366 Well it can be fun. It's just funny how often in police dramas they figure out that if "they just work together" they can get ahead and solve the crime!
And the rogue cop who can't get along with anyone but is always right, making his bosses look bad, so he gets suspended or canned, but he carries on his own investigation and solves the crime, once again saving the day. zzzzzzzz
@@maryclaremayo6157 The Dirty Harry films really worked the trope of the hero cop against the system. I liked a recent film called Dragged Across Concrete. Instead of just getting yelled at two cops get suspended. They then decide the way to make some money is to rob some dangerous criminals.
I love setting up a familiar trope, and then turning it on it's head. It's the best kind of subversion. Like in Home Alone where the old man across the street is setup to be some kind of psycho killer then he ends up saving Kevin at the end and reuniting with his family, but then again I'm sentimental.
I like it where the director has put time into making people think it’s going to be turned on its head because we all know the trope and then it plays out just as the trope would, but with extra comedy. 😂
One of my favorite trope subversion is in "Palm Springs". A character says 'we're trapped in your basic reliving the same day over and over time loop'. But since audiences have seen this so many times, they can make a more complicated version
There's a time loop episode of The Magicians that makes great use of the characters' awareness of the trope. One character is even a fan and recites a list including Groundhog Day and Source Code
One of the most noticeable tropes I've seen in action and horror movies is the "in weapon's vicinity" trope. I don't know if it's known by some other commonly known term, but in this kind of trope we see a character held down by another (usually at the neck) holding onto his/her life while reaching his/her hand out to anything a few inches away that would serve as a weapon and in time would help the character to get released and fight back. For example, in Kill Bill vol 1 the bride's neck is squeezed by Gogo with ball-chain thingy weapon, while bride tries to get hold of broken wooden leg of chair. Something similar happens during the hospital scene in Spider-man 2, with one of the doctor and doc ock's arms, and also in Spider-man 3 during Peter-Venom fight and many more movies which I can't seem to recall at the moment but I'm sure others must have noticed it as well. Also, in mostly horror movies there's a trope of character being suddenly dragged or pushed by unseen or unclear entity (not counting jumpscares because jumpscares are the cheapest trope in horror).
I hate that. I do krav maga, and my friend and I tried this to see if there's actual blind spots are tunnel vision when your adrenaline is pumping when you have someone pinned down. Nope you see exactly what their arms are doing.
Well you must hate any Jackie Chan movie then, because that's what he does, it's called interacting with the environment. And it's actually pretty common in dirty bar fights when one or both of them just grab onto anything close to their vicinity and uses it to hit the other person.
In movie Saw, the guy cannot reach the mobile phone with his arm, so he cuts his own leg with the saw, however he could easily reach the mobile phone WITH the help of the saw, elongating his arm with it.
In Walking Dead season 1 they’re looking for Glen and get into hot water with seemingly violent local survivors who work out of an industrial, grimey warehouse. Then in the span of a few moments so many tropes are subverted when the leader’s Abuela comes down to check in, asking to see if medicine is available. The warehouse turns out to be a place where they care for the elderly, and the “hardened survivors” are really just looking out for them and trying to protect them. The subversion does so much to establish a theme of good people forced to do hard things, and is one of the reasons the show was so good early on.
Pouring rain to signal sadness and thunderstorms to signal a huge internal conflict are among the most overused clichés in cinema. Especially when they are used as a link between the second and the third act in a romantic context. It is like one of those flashing "applause" signals in TV studios who inform the viewers that, in case they haven't noticed, the protagonist is now sad or struggling with conflict.
Good ol' Pathetic Fallacy in visual form. My English teacher had a particular hate for this literary device, so it sticks out like a sore thumb for me. Not always bad, I love a dramatic vista, but always noticeable.
Another variation is when they show a time lapse shot of clouds moving quickly to signal things falling apart or events out of control in the character's life. I think I first encountered it in the non- narrative film, Koyanisqusi, then saw it used effectively in Oliver Stone's Nixon. Since then, it appears so frequently that it has gone from cliche to parody fodder.
With the cost of an stunt that can't be duplicated, there is no way everyone wasn't on script for the scene. I could see using a louder 'bang' on the delayed explosion that Ledger may not of known about, but it was all planned.
@@brucea3103 Again, Christopher Nolan explained this in the behind the scenes. Its actually more common than u would think that there are mishaps in movie explosions. But it was just a simple delay, Ledger rolled with it, they used the take instead of doing it again
My favorite trope is when a character in a movie is facing hard road ahead and says "A storm's coming." Bonus points when it's accompanied by a clap of thunder or ominous clouds.
"If it's done well, it's a trope. If it's done badly, it's a cliche." There are two awesome "Walk away from the explosion" subversions that get me every time. One is the mentioned Joker scene, which was purely accidential. Ledger was expecting more explosions, since they were in the script, but they didn't come. He just rolled with it and the rest is epic history. The other is in Megamind, when he is too close to the explosion of the museum and is "genuinely scared right now".
The Ledger improv is an internet myth; Nolan and special effects supervisor Chris Corbould stated it was rehearsed so Ledger would have enough time to get away from the rest of the explosion
Two recent additions to the collection: The Wise Teen, always on hand to teach all of the adults profound moral righteousness from the depths of their 15 years of experience, and the Sad Sack Detective who is struggling with depression/having relationship issues with his family/haunted by an incident in their past (or all 3) but is still on the force functioning as a ticking time bomb for his fellow cops.
Tropes are perfectly fine as long as the film isn't overrun with too many of them...and the performances are captivating enough. Even if a movie IS overrun with tropes then it can be okay as long as the performances are hammed up enough to make it clear that the tropes are being made fun of.
You got me exited about the Time Bandits reference. I loved that film. I think one of the more famous trope subversions is Indiana Jones where Indiana takes the simpler solutions and just shoots the guy with the sword. Subverts all the monologuing that's done in action movies that The Incredibles satirized. A personal favorite trope subversion was in Scicario when Emily Blunt Pulls a gun on Benicio Del Toro, and instead of doing the "let's talk it out..." with the strong female character, he shoots her and says if she does that again he'll kill her. Really solidified his character and how extreme the world the characters deal with really is. Tropes I'd like to see go away permanently are the "Nooooooooooo....." undramatic moment. The arch enemy that the good guys finally are able to capture, but it turns out he's the only person that can help them with their next mission. And of course, he gets away while helping them in their next mission. Third, mistakenly picking up someone else's cell phone or knocking over somebody's computer, and the one picture or thing that the cell phone/computer owner would never want that person to see, is right there on full display on the screen. And fourth, women who are able to beat up trained missionaries or guards that are twice their size.
Time Bandits is great. I haven't seen it since it came out! This is dumb, but I still remember that scene where the whole gang is standing in the woods, and you might miss it, but one of the guys picks his nose. I remember because my sister was so grossed out.
"Mad Max: Fury Road" (2015) subverts - or avoids - all six main tropes associated with women in violent films. The channel "Innuendo Studios" has a great series of videos on this topic called "Taking Back What's Stolen". Highly recommend. Thank you, StudioBinder, for another great video!
@@StudioBinder I really enjoyed Tangled and Green Book, very different examples that I consider functionally similar. Of course The Bodyguard plays it straight, but I also enjoyed it for the modern twist on Knight Servant that it was at the time.
My favorite trope is the ticking bomb. I’m know is a little tired trope, but I feels like it’s add to suspense in any movie, doing it in a right way. It’s a classic one. The one I dislike the most is the hero walk out explosion, to catch a cool image. It’s so overdone and lazy nowadays. Even for me, I personally love (a good) action movie. Fantastic video, guys! Appreciate a lot for educating about the film media.
@@StudioBinder Goldfinger in *1964* did the "stop the countdown at 007 seconds" which I've always taken to mean that directors thought the trope was overdone *60 years ago* :-)
Die hards bomb on the roof and jumping off the side of the building. Improved the trope because the explosion was a ticking bomb and he wasn’t in control of any of it.
The presentation, research, and production of this video are all first class! Highly informative and entertaining. This must have taken so much time to create. I don't understand how you do it.
The transition from the John Wayne film being screened in The Postman to actual riders on a trail is a great transition in trope from wild west to post apocalyptic.😉
We've all heard of a "whodunit " before, but maybe a video on "whydunit's" if not already made. As the audience, we know who the killer is, but the protagonists may not. They may even be close friends with them, or even family - thus greatly raising the tension of individual scenes where both are present. In the end, it's up the main characters in order to uncover the mystery behind the killers true intentions, even though they may not like what they find. A somewhat recent example of this is "Invincible", who did this with the character of 'Omni Man' (The main protagonists father).
Great video, as always. One trope I'd like to end is the "I'm showing how angry I am by breaking things". Particularly, a glass or a cell phone. Are we supposed to believe the character is so distressed they aren't even thinking about the hassle of getting a new phone or cleaning up tiny fragments of glass? On the subject of phones, treading on a screen doesn't normally damage the SIM which can then just be put in a new phone and retain all data.
Please, do something on those seemingly UNAVOIDABLE totally worn out CLICHÉS! For example: - people falling from tall buildings always land on the roof of a car - when someone unsure or with stage fright grabs a mike, there is always a feedback shriek - people do not just awake out of bad dreams, they always jerk up 90° and sit upright, panting - the two men watching the entrance from across the street are completely invisible... because they sit in a car! - bullets fired into the back windshield of a getaway car only smash the rear glas, then evaporate, never touch the front windshield! - there are slits under doors high enough to push even thicker envelopes through and so on and on! I would LOVE to see this episode!
I don't know how you would frame the video, but I'd love to watch one on the different ways films interpret history. Whether they're based on a real event, use historical inspiration, or intentionally rewrite history to explore a new narrative outcome.
That's a very good topic! All the different levels of authenticity that storytellers use to label their work. What do they actually mean regarding amount of artistic freedom, and why does it matter so much whether a story is "true" or not? "Based on a true story". Documentary. Biopic. "Inspired by real events". Etc. It can be quite embarrassing and even dangerous if you take a made-up story for a historically accurate record and internalise it as facts.
I appreciate y’all for even mentioning “The White Savior”, I wish y’all gave more examples. Could y’all do a video on stereotypes & how they play a role in a screenwriters character development? Whether it be related to race/gender/nationality/sexual orientation?
The Blind Side is not an example of the “white savior” trope, it is about a Christian family extending a helping hand to a young man who is intelligent, but had his potential stifled by his environment and simply needed more resources and love in order to recognize his full capabilities. It’s about people helping other people. There is nothing objectionable about that.
The biggest trope is the one where they say the line twice to end the scene, "We must do what what we need to do, no matter the cost, no matter the cost."
As a screenwriter, I do the best I can to subvert every other genre trope I've seen in every other movie that made it big, and it's fun doing that. The script/story feels fresh with every read thru. Thanx for reminding me of some of these tropes I've seen and heard in so many movies out there.
"The montage" is probably one of my favorite, especially when the sequence of events have not happened yet, a single character or a group are playing it out. I also love the old Miami Vice styles. Example Sonny Crockett is driving in his Ferrari, rayban sunglasses at night, florescent colored lights flashing by, Phil Collins is singing in the background and a witness to a murder and it's emotional consequences replay in Sonny's mind. Never gets old for me.
The Scream movies are great with the way they play with the tropes of Slasher movies. One of my fave bits from Scream 2 is when the black camera man tells Gale he's leaving because he's read her book and the black guy always dies in these situations.
I want to give a shout out to Hitchcock and North by Northwest : clean sunny day, open field and a plane. Hitchcock himself said he did it like this to do total oposide of an expected crime place, dark alley.
Opening of Lego Batman movie also is a good example of trope subversion where batman narrates that all important movies start with black screen and edgy music and long logos. it essentially subverts the narrator dumping exposition about movies by instead making it kind of Meta commentary on movies itself
I can't believe there was no mention of the "hero falls off cliff. There is a 7-second pause. Hero's hand grabs edge of cliff and hauls himself up" trope. It's one of my personal favourites.
The thing that strikes me about that Blind Side trope is that it really happened. A case of art imitating life imitating art etc. Tropes aren't all just artificial story-telling constructs and contrivances. And they work best when they feel real, and sometimes that means they run true, and sometimes they get subverted. I didn't like the end of Inception because to me it was predictable and felt like the weaker choice, but apparently it worked for some people. But tropes are just tools, and it's how they're used that matters. Excellent video!
agreed on both points.. end of inception was predictable and frustrating but anything else happening to the spinning thing would have maybe taken away from the philosophical approach of the film
@@lauracgc Well, I never expect any movie "based on a true story" to be all that close anyway. The story is supposed to take the core and fantasize it for us, and when it's "based on" real life, filmmakers have a tendency not to care about the truth if it doesn't serve their story. (Woman King, for instance.) So I guess I'm not really surprised at recent events with respect to how the film told the story. That's pretty standard. It's usually just a matter of how long it is before the whole truth comes out.
Love all this! Another great video. (One small request; can you make the text where you list each movie that's being played in the bottom right/left corner a little bigger/brighter? My millennial old lady eyes would be super grateful!)
Another great video. Suggestion: a comparison of character arcs between Groundhog Day, where only the main character has an arc, and Being There, where only those around the main character have arcs.
I’d like to see you look at scripts like Wind River.. scripts that may not be as popular as Star Wars, but subjects that deal with semi real story lines that are hard edge reality. There are so many aspects in which you might look at the subject and I’m sure your knowledge of this subject far exceeds mine. I find your selections do focus on the brilliant directors and the successful movies, but there must be an amazing assortment of movies that feed all the right baskets which you can develop brilliant content from movies that are a little off beat.
The Dark Knight delayed hospital explosion was a blooper left in because of the subversion mentioned. It was originally going to be the trope played straight. But the issue caused the comedy/tension/tragic underpinning combination that made the scene awesome, so they kept it in... Besides, they only had one take because they were blowing up an actual closed hospital, which was scheduled for demolition anyway, IIRC.
LOVE your content @StudioBinder! Always get so much out each video. The way you all analyze scripts & clips side-by-side, is such an invaluable tool. Plus they're so well researched & written & VO'd. And of course, gorgeously edited. Often wind up just watching them like mini TV marathon style. :) The "movie open" video is a fav. I would love to see your take on TV, &/or on "effective prologues" as well. Also, on musicals! Bc a lot of videos & articles cover how their songs & themes should speak to characterization, but not how to find/write song themes. Thanks again for all your work! All the best!
Great content as always! I hope, I'm sure others as well, to see more beat sheets breakdown. Its such a great learning tool to see a story from conceptualization to final product. More power to your channel!
Hey ho, thank you for yet another video of What is! Please, consider to make the second video about animation. I am keen to know more - especially about the principles of animation (Genndy Tartakovski says there is 27 of them, OMG)
I have five suggestions to videos that I think could be useful to get videos about, so I’ll just add them here. Firstly, a video on character work and ways to give depth to characters. You could use things such as The Last of Us, Chernobyl, and Andor as examples. Secondly, subjective filmmaking. Matt Reeves specifically. He always says he tried to get into the pov of a character, and bases his whole style on subjectivity. A video about that would be amazing. Fourth, a video on how to create mystery and payoff would be amazing, maybe using pieces such as Poker Face, the Knives Out movies, True Detective, and Se7en. Fifth: how to use action in service of the story. The Mission Impossible movies, Andor, and all James Gunn/Matt Reeves movies tie action into the themes and character progression, I’d love to see a video covering that. James Gunn has even touched on it from time to time. Finally, I’d like to see more videos breaking down unique styles of directors. James Gunn, Matt Reeves, Rian Johnson, and Christopher McQuarrie especially.
The heroics sacrifice is perfectly subverted by the scene in SCP secret laboratory where one of the MTF members guides his comrades into an elevator and tries to stay behind to face and distract SCP-106, but the SCP ignores him, going straight for the closing elevator doors and killing his allies as he screams.
The guy trying to sacrifice himself with the grenades only to get whipped into the cliff edge in Kong: Skull Island is a very good subversion of the hero’s sacrifice trope 😂
My favorite trope is the "George Lucas Ear Flick"--where you sit down to watch a movie you've seen one hundred times and suddenly it's different for no reason other than someone wanted to make you cry. It's like opening a bottle of fine wine or getting flicked in the ear with a bullwhip.
A very good trope which makes every movie very exciting, full of suspense is when the protagonist's team arrives just a few seconds late and misses to catch the villain, and they need to find a clue where to find the villain, then they arrive just a few seconds late again etc., for example in Angels and Demons.
I wish they’d added in the other kinds of tropes like the tea-break trope, where during fight scenes there’s a comic relief break, for example deadpool counting his bullets or two guys fighting off an army and then getting into an elevator for the chill music to play, then get out and resume the fight.
Great video! I always thought that the dark knight joker delayed explosion was an accident that was improvised. Great subversion by Nolan if he came up with it!
An interesting lesson, THANKS!!! I think using tropes in mainstream movies will have to depend on the writer/producer/director understanding their audience. You can either use an obvious trope to communicate with the audience, or a subtle trope to give the characters a sense of familiarity to which an audience can find something her/she may have in common. Too many tropes and you pull an audience out of the movie; subtle well placed tropes reminds the audience that the story is just a story but keeps them fastened to the journey. But an interesting question is this, should novice filmmakers use tropes in their work or should they rely on their script to tell the story? Also, should someone use too many tropes, is it a comedy or bad writing that defines the movie. The way this lesson breaks down a trope, I wonder, is it the movie giving a nod to real life, or does real life give a nod to the movie for when a trope is used. It is no doubt that movies have vastly shaped the lives of people in the last 100 years of cinema, but before celluloid we had plays/performances, oral storytelling and books that may have tropes written in them. As stated, this was an interesting lesson. Stay safe and stay blessed.
Not sure if it's true, but I read that the subversion of the trope shown at 22:10 was not intentional. They only had one shot for this due to the explosions, but it partially malfunctioned. However, the actor stayed in character which lead to this final result.
That's an internet myth, they delay was planned and practically a solution to get Ledger to a safe distance with an actual explosion occurring behind him
So many stories have been written and movies have been made that it's nearly impossible to make one without some Tropes. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to avoid some of the more obvious ones. Also if used enough even subverting a Trope can become a Trope.
22:18 FYI this was a movie set mistake actually, the bombs for the hospital were meant to go off but they were delayed. They kept rolling and Heath kept in character. Just a great moment of realism captured on camera
Can you please make a video on the process of audio recording and editing for movies? It would be great if you cover the process in depth with proper description of the devices and gears used. There are a lot of videos and tutorials on TH-cam for making "cinematic visuals", but almost no good video on how to make "cinematic audio". And I can't rely on any other channel on TH-cam other than StudioBinder.
Hey, everyone! Just wanted to clear up the confusion regarding the hospital explosion in The Dark Knight. The delayed explosion was intentional. Nolan clears this up in a featurette called Gotham Uncovered: Creation of a Scene. Here's a clip: th-cam.com/video/yUFiNuRAmmc/w-d-xo.html
Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction to Film Tropes
01:01 - Spoilers
01:17 - Trope Definition & History
02:07 - Chapter 1: Character Tropes
08:36 - Chapter 2: Plot Tropes
14:55 - Chapter 3: Tropes in Dialogue
20:12 - Chapter 4: Cinematic Imagery
24:18 - Takeaways
How about a video on the switcheroo?
Thank you for interesting videos! Can we have a video about hidden things and easter eggs in shots?
the voice of the old white man sounds pretty toxic masculine
@@candide1065 too subjective comment
Turned out not to be true
One trope that I cannot stand is the "miscommunication" because a character doesn't take 5 seconds to explain or the other character won't take 5 seconds to listen. Like Character A walks in on their partner (B) at a restaurant with another person (C) and immediately assumes it's cheating, but won't listen to B explain that C is a sibling. OR B just doesn't explain. It's such a lazy way to create a conflict.
agreed, it's insulting
That's why rom coms are so bad. They depend on things like that.
But this thing really happened in real life, a married couple can fall to this trope in real life when they no longer communicate with each other
So over this one!
@@boboboy8189right!! And stories are meant to teach us
I think Hot Fuzz really needs special commendation on this, as they did the first 75% of the movie subverting buddy cop and creepy small town tropes, and then joyously dove right back in and played them all straight for the last 25%. Masterclass.
Spiderverse has a good subversion of the 'yup that's me' trope as they all intorduce themselves as if they are the main character and then also shows the character arc pf Miles as he becomes his spiderman and gets his own comic book intro
That's a great example!
A perfect subversion! That moment is goated!
My Name Is Earl also did this to great comic effect 👍
@@wwjjss33 which episode and in what way. Are you referring to the general intro
One thing I'd like to comment on is how I absolutely love and appreciate how every movie title is listed at the bottom of every clip displayed. Makes life a lot easier.
As the sites do tell, "tropes are tools", so a trope's quality, wether one uses it it straight, subvert it, or deconstruct it, do depends on the users.
exactly
It would be great to see a compilation of the first usage of what later became an overused cliché or trope!
If studio binder had a trope it would be always posting insightful and entertaining content. Love your work
Hopefully a trope that will never die :)
And a narrator with a British accent to make us feel - and them soung - smarter lol
One comedy trope I love is when a character says a cool exit line in a car and hits the gas but the car goes backwards. I’ve seen it a thousand times and it always gets me
The trope of characters who initially don't like each other getting paired to work together is really worn out but I think it will never go away. Same with the character of the cop's wife who is trying to keep her man at home instead of him going to work. "Do you have to go? Can't you stay home?" So tiring and can't be much fun for the actors knowing its been done so much. Thanks for showing so many different tropes and how some can be made to work.
👍
Ok but Walter White and Jesse Pinkman fit the "characters who initially don't like each other getting paired to work together" trope to a T and their dynamic is GOLD 😅
@@firiel2366 Well it can be fun. It's just funny how often in police dramas they figure out that if "they just work together" they can get ahead and solve the crime!
And the rogue cop who can't get along with anyone but is always right, making his bosses look bad, so he gets suspended or canned, but he carries on his own investigation and solves the crime, once again saving the day.
zzzzzzzz
@@maryclaremayo6157 The Dirty Harry films really worked the trope of the hero cop against the system. I liked a recent film called Dragged Across Concrete. Instead of just getting yelled at two cops get suspended. They then decide the way to make some money is to rob some dangerous criminals.
I love setting up a familiar trope, and then turning it on it's head. It's the best kind of subversion. Like in Home Alone where the old man across the street is setup to be some kind of psycho killer then he ends up saving Kevin at the end and reuniting with his family, but then again I'm sentimental.
those are the best!
Like Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird.
I like it where the director has put time into making people think it’s going to be turned on its head because we all know the trope and then it plays out just as the trope would, but with extra comedy. 😂
Gotta love the ole antagonist/protagonist “we’re not so different, you and I”
One of my favorite trope subversion is in "Palm Springs". A character says 'we're trapped in your basic reliving the same day over and over time loop'. But since audiences have seen this so many times, they can make a more complicated version
always looking for new creative ways!
There's a time loop episode of The Magicians that makes great use of the characters' awareness of the trope. One character is even a fan and recites a list including Groundhog Day and Source Code
One of the most noticeable tropes I've seen in action and horror movies is the "in weapon's vicinity" trope. I don't know if it's known by some other commonly known term, but in this kind of trope we see a character held down by another (usually at the neck) holding onto his/her life while reaching his/her hand out to anything a few inches away that would serve as a weapon and in time would help the character to get released and fight back. For example, in Kill Bill vol 1 the bride's neck is squeezed by Gogo with ball-chain thingy weapon, while bride tries to get hold of broken wooden leg of chair. Something similar happens during the hospital scene in Spider-man 2, with one of the doctor and doc ock's arms, and also in Spider-man 3 during Peter-Venom fight and many more movies which I can't seem to recall at the moment but I'm sure others must have noticed it as well. Also, in mostly horror movies there's a trope of character being suddenly dragged or pushed by unseen or unclear entity (not counting jumpscares because jumpscares are the cheapest trope in horror).
Interesting point!
I hate that. I do krav maga, and my friend and I tried this to see if there's actual blind spots are tunnel vision when your adrenaline is pumping when you have someone pinned down. Nope you see exactly what their arms are doing.
Well you must hate any Jackie Chan movie then, because that's what he does, it's called interacting with the environment. And it's actually pretty common in dirty bar fights when one or both of them just grab onto anything close to their vicinity and uses it to hit the other person.
In movie Saw,
the guy cannot reach the mobile phone with his arm, so he cuts his own leg with the saw,
however he could easily reach the mobile phone WITH the help of the saw, elongating his arm with it.
@@szabolcsjobbagy30 Wow, True Point!
Studio Binder is saving my life. I can't afford film school. I'm addicted to every video.
Happy filming!
the trope of someone secretly watching a funeral happen from afar
In Walking Dead season 1 they’re looking for Glen and get into hot water with seemingly violent local survivors who work out of an industrial, grimey warehouse. Then in the span of a few moments so many tropes are subverted when the leader’s Abuela comes down to check in, asking to see if medicine is available. The warehouse turns out to be a place where they care for the elderly, and the “hardened survivors” are really just looking out for them and trying to protect them. The subversion does so much to establish a theme of good people forced to do hard things, and is one of the reasons the show was so good early on.
Great example!
Pouring rain to signal sadness and thunderstorms to signal a huge internal conflict are among the most overused clichés in cinema. Especially when they are used as a link between the second and the third act in a romantic context. It is like one of those flashing "applause" signals in TV studios who inform the viewers that, in case they haven't noticed, the protagonist is now sad or struggling with conflict.
Good ol' Pathetic Fallacy in visual form. My English teacher had a particular hate for this literary device, so it sticks out like a sore thumb for me. Not always bad, I love a dramatic vista, but always noticeable.
Another variation is when they show a time lapse shot of clouds moving quickly to signal things falling apart or events out of control in the character's life. I think I first encountered it in the non- narrative film, Koyanisqusi, then saw it used effectively in Oliver Stone's Nixon. Since then, it appears so frequently that it has gone from cliche to parody fodder.
As far as I've known, Joker's delayed explosion was unplanned and resulted in some explosives failure. Heath Ledger just went along with it.
did Nolan tell you that?
I can confirm this, I am Christopher Nolan
I think it was a part of the behind the scenes. So, yeah, Nolan did tell us that
With the cost of an stunt that can't be duplicated, there is no way everyone wasn't on script for the scene. I could see using a louder 'bang' on the delayed explosion that Ledger may not of known about, but it was all planned.
@@brucea3103
Again, Christopher Nolan explained this in the behind the scenes. Its actually more common than u would think that there are mishaps in movie explosions. But it was just a simple delay, Ledger rolled with it, they used the take instead of doing it again
My favorite trope is when a character in a movie is facing hard road ahead and says "A storm's coming." Bonus points when it's accompanied by a clap of thunder or ominous clouds.
"If it's done well, it's a trope. If it's done badly, it's a cliche."
There are two awesome "Walk away from the explosion" subversions that get me every time.
One is the mentioned Joker scene, which was purely accidential. Ledger was expecting more explosions, since they were in the script, but they didn't come. He just rolled with it and the rest is epic history.
The other is in Megamind, when he is too close to the explosion of the museum and is "genuinely scared right now".
The Joker scene was planned as it is.
No detonations can be executed on accident or improvised. They would cut.
The Ledger improv is an internet myth; Nolan and special effects supervisor Chris Corbould stated it was rehearsed so Ledger would have enough time to get away from the rest of the explosion
One stupid guy claims this on tiktok and everyone goes with it. Screen rants and snopes have debunked this myth.
@@BohoAstronaut0819that myth has been around a lot longer than TikTok. It sticks around because it’s such a compelling story even if it’s not true.
Third one would be from The Other Guys where they even hang lapshade on how loud the real explosions are.
Two recent additions to the collection: The Wise Teen, always on hand to teach all of the adults profound moral righteousness from the depths of their 15 years of experience, and the Sad Sack Detective who is struggling with depression/having relationship issues with his family/haunted by an incident in their past (or all 3) but is still on the force functioning as a ticking time bomb for his fellow cops.
Tropes are perfectly fine as long as the film isn't overrun with too many of them...and the performances are captivating enough.
Even if a movie IS overrun with tropes then it can be okay as long as the performances are hammed up enough to make it clear that the tropes are being made fun of.
As long as it's done right with a great direction
You got me exited about the Time Bandits reference. I loved that film.
I think one of the more famous trope subversions is Indiana Jones where Indiana takes the simpler solutions and just shoots the guy with the sword. Subverts all the monologuing that's done in action movies that The Incredibles satirized.
A personal favorite trope subversion was in Scicario when Emily Blunt Pulls a gun on Benicio Del Toro, and instead of doing the "let's talk it out..." with the strong female character, he shoots her and says if she does that again he'll kill her. Really solidified his character and how extreme the world the characters deal with really is.
Tropes I'd like to see go away permanently are the "Nooooooooooo....." undramatic moment.
The arch enemy that the good guys finally are able to capture, but it turns out he's the only person that can help them with their next mission. And of course, he gets away while helping them in their next mission.
Third, mistakenly picking up someone else's cell phone or knocking over somebody's computer, and the one picture or thing that the cell phone/computer owner would never want that person to see, is right there on full display on the screen.
And fourth, women who are able to beat up trained missionaries or guards that are twice their size.
That's why those scenes are iconic!
Time bandits is epic. RiP to Evil/ David Warner both a childhood cush for me
Time Bandits is great. I haven't seen it since it came out! This is dumb, but I still remember that scene where the whole gang is standing in the woods, and you might miss it, but one of the guys picks his nose. I remember because my sister was so grossed out.
"Mad Max: Fury Road" (2015) subverts - or avoids - all six main tropes associated with women in violent films. The channel "Innuendo Studios" has a great series of videos on this topic called "Taking Back What's Stolen". Highly recommend.
Thank you, StudioBinder, for another great video!
Thanks for watching!
Or...mad max fury road is woke feminist propaganda.
I guess you think Terminator Dark Fate also *subverts* tropes, it doesn't actually.
I'd love a video on Artifice vs. Verité style filmmaking, and why both exist, and why both are needed!
Thanks for the suggestion!
Bodyguard trope : used to be everywhere, very rarely seen now.
I enjoy it ; I find it very flexible and entertaining
What's your favorite example?
@@StudioBinder I really enjoyed Tangled and Green Book, very different examples that I consider functionally similar.
Of course The Bodyguard plays it straight, but I also enjoyed it for the modern twist on Knight Servant that it was at the time.
My favorite trope is the ticking bomb. I’m know is a little tired trope, but I feels like it’s add to suspense in any movie, doing it in a right way. It’s a classic one. The one I dislike the most is the hero walk out explosion, to catch a cool image. It’s so overdone and lazy nowadays. Even for me, I personally love (a good) action movie. Fantastic video, guys!
Appreciate a lot for educating about the film media.
As long as it's done well 💯
@@StudioBinder Goldfinger in *1964* did the "stop the countdown at 007 seconds" which I've always taken to mean that directors thought the trope was overdone *60 years ago* :-)
Die hards bomb on the roof and jumping off the side of the building. Improved the trope because the explosion was a ticking bomb and he wasn’t in control of any of it.
LOL.. Have you seen Galaxy Quest? There's an interesting take on this trope. And a different take in The Fifth Element.
The presentation, research, and production of this video are all first class! Highly informative and entertaining. This must have taken so much time to create. I don't understand how you do it.
The transition from the John Wayne film being screened in The Postman to actual riders on a trail is a great transition in trope from wild west to post apocalyptic.😉
Whoever voicing this, should narrate a book.
haha maybe in the future
We've all heard of a "whodunit " before, but maybe a video on "whydunit's" if not already made.
As the audience, we know who the killer is, but the protagonists may not. They may even be close friends with them, or even family - thus greatly raising the tension of individual scenes where both are present. In the end, it's up the main characters in order to uncover the mystery behind the killers true intentions, even though they may not like what they find.
A somewhat recent example of this is "Invincible", who did this with the character of 'Omni Man' (The main protagonists father).
Thanks for the suggestion!
Great video, as always. One trope I'd like to end is the "I'm showing how angry I am by breaking things". Particularly, a glass or a cell phone. Are we supposed to believe the character is so distressed they aren't even thinking about the hassle of getting a new phone or cleaning up tiny fragments of glass? On the subject of phones, treading on a screen doesn't normally damage the SIM which can then just be put in a new phone and retain all data.
Evil mastermind says “it’s so hard to find good help these days”
👍👍
22:17 The JOKER walking away in a nurse's uniform solidified HEATH LEDGER as THE BEST JOKER for me. Sorry, Mark Hamill.
haha it's iconic
Please, do something on those seemingly UNAVOIDABLE totally worn out CLICHÉS! For example:
- people falling from tall buildings always land on the roof of a car
- when someone unsure or with stage fright grabs a mike, there is always a feedback shriek
- people do not just awake out of bad dreams, they always jerk up 90° and sit upright, panting
- the two men watching the entrance from across the street are completely invisible... because they sit in a car!
- bullets fired into the back windshield of a getaway car only smash the rear glas, then evaporate, never touch the front windshield!
- there are slits under doors high enough to push even thicker envelopes through
and so on and on! I would LOVE to see this episode!
I don't know how you would frame the video, but I'd love to watch one on the different ways films interpret history. Whether they're based on a real event, use historical inspiration, or intentionally rewrite history to explore a new narrative outcome.
Thanks for the suggestion!
That's a very good topic! All the different levels of authenticity that storytellers use to label their work. What do they actually mean regarding amount of artistic freedom, and why does it matter so much whether a story is "true" or not?
"Based on a true story". Documentary. Biopic. "Inspired by real events". Etc. It can be quite embarrassing and even dangerous if you take a made-up story for a historically accurate record and internalise it as facts.
Would love to see this channel dissect more of these tropes soon!
Feel free to mention what tropes you'd like covered!
My favorite trope is when is monday night and i see my favorite channel release a new video of pure cinematic quality.
I just say: here we go again.
Let's go!
I reached a point where I don't care if a movie gets spoiled for me,I am gonna watch your videos anyway.😅
The trope I continue to hate even when it’s done well is the villain who rises again for one more round after the climactic battle.
The bad guy always comes back three times😅
Except in Aliens - best ending ever
I appreciate y’all for even mentioning “The White Savior”, I wish y’all gave more examples. Could y’all do a video on stereotypes & how they play a role in a screenwriters character development? Whether it be related to race/gender/nationality/sexual orientation?
The Blind Side is not an example of the “white savior” trope, it is about a Christian family extending a helping hand to a young man who is intelligent, but had his potential stifled by his environment and simply needed more resources and love in order to recognize his full capabilities. It’s about people helping other people. There is nothing objectionable about that.
@@AnonymousC-lm6tc If that makes sense to you then okay
The biggest trope is the one where they say the line twice to end the scene, "We must do what what we need to do, no matter the cost, no matter the cost."
The trope I wish wouldn't be used so often is the "Nobody's ever talked to me that way before" as reason for romantic interest.
haha nice
As a screenwriter, I do the best I can to subvert every other genre trope I've seen in every other movie that made it big, and it's fun doing that. The script/story feels fresh with every read thru. Thanx for reminding me of some of these tropes I've seen and heard in so many movies out there.
Happy writing!
"The montage" is probably one of my favorite, especially when the sequence of events have not happened yet, a single character or a group are playing it out. I also love the old Miami Vice styles. Example Sonny Crockett is driving in his Ferrari, rayban sunglasses at night, florescent colored lights flashing by, Phil Collins is singing in the background and a witness to a murder and it's emotional consequences replay in Sonny's mind. Never gets old for me.
I like “the Mexico filter” that was popularized by Traffic. Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul made excellent use of this color grading style as well.
Interesting!
I would like the sympathetic villain/ killer trope to end, along with the sad backstory of a villain/killer.
👍
The Scream movies are great with the way they play with the tropes of Slasher movies. One of my fave bits from Scream 2 is when the black camera man tells Gale he's leaving because he's read her book and the black guy always dies in these situations.
The antagonist's monologue when they think they've won and just before they get dispensed with.
Specifically a villain monologuing in a superhero film. a trope to the point some superhero films reference it
Man this episode was unexpectedly funny. Great class as always! Thank you guys!!
Thanks for watching!
What about a video about the dystopian genre? There are some interesting examples.
we might!
@@StudioBinder Yes! One of my favourite things!
The letter voice over trope is also one of the effective ways to deliver a lot of info on the image or screen at once.
I want to give a shout out to Hitchcock and North by Northwest : clean sunny day, open field and a plane. Hitchcock himself said he did it like this to do total oposide of an expected crime place, dark alley.
brilliant shot!
I wish you talked more about the differences between tropes and clichés.
Regardless a great and informative video once more.
Thanks for watching!
Opening of Lego Batman movie also is a good example of trope subversion where batman narrates that all important movies start with black screen and edgy music and long logos. it essentially subverts the narrator dumping exposition about movies by instead making it kind of Meta commentary on movies itself
Liked that intro
I can't believe there was no mention of the "hero falls off cliff. There is a 7-second pause. Hero's hand grabs edge of cliff and hauls himself up" trope.
It's one of my personal favourites.
Deadpool 2 mercilessly parodied the "died in his arms" trope and turned it into one of the funniest scenes in the film.
The thing that strikes me about that Blind Side trope is that it really happened. A case of art imitating life imitating art etc. Tropes aren't all just artificial story-telling constructs and contrivances. And they work best when they feel real, and sometimes that means they run true, and sometimes they get subverted. I didn't like the end of Inception because to me it was predictable and felt like the weaker choice, but apparently it worked for some people. But tropes are just tools, and it's how they're used that matters. Excellent video!
agreed on both points.. end of inception was predictable and frustrating but anything else happening to the spinning thing would have maybe taken away from the philosophical approach of the film
Still have this opinion after all the stuff that came out recently? 😂
@@lauracgc Well, I never expect any movie "based on a true story" to be all that close anyway. The story is supposed to take the core and fantasize it for us, and when it's "based on" real life, filmmakers have a tendency not to care about the truth if it doesn't serve their story. (Woman King, for instance.) So I guess I'm not really surprised at recent events with respect to how the film told the story. That's pretty standard. It's usually just a matter of how long it is before the whole truth comes out.
Good points! I'll be mindful about how I use and subvert tropes in my own stories.
The wake-up kissing trope needs to go, because every time I see that I want to yell, “Cut! Tell the writer they need to brush their teeth first.”
Love all this! Another great video. (One small request; can you make the text where you list each movie that's being played in the bottom right/left corner a little bigger/brighter? My millennial old lady eyes would be super grateful!)
Yes! I was having trouble too.
Another trope is Studio Binder using Inception in every video! 🤣 The only reason I know is because I keep watching, so it’s all good. 😊
haha you can see our preferences
Another great video. Suggestion: a comparison of character arcs between Groundhog Day, where only the main character has an arc, and Being There, where only those around the main character have arcs.
I think it would be really Cool to make a video about Jokers on movies...that DC joker.... That Batman joker....cuz he is the trickster Archetype
we did! th-cam.com/video/7KjHsurAJpc/w-d-xo.html
@@StudioBinder wow man....thanks a lot, really love what you're doing.... someday I might make a movie too XD...
I’d like to see you look at scripts like Wind River.. scripts that may not be as popular as Star Wars, but subjects that deal with semi real story lines that are hard edge reality. There are so many aspects in which you might look at the subject and I’m sure your knowledge of this subject far exceeds mine. I find your selections do focus on the brilliant directors and the successful movies, but there must be an amazing assortment of movies that feed all the right baskets which you can develop brilliant content from movies that are a little off beat.
Thanks for the suggestion!
The Dark Knight delayed hospital explosion was a blooper left in because of the subversion mentioned. It was originally going to be the trope played straight. But the issue caused the comedy/tension/tragic underpinning combination that made the scene awesome, so they kept it in... Besides, they only had one take because they were blowing up an actual closed hospital, which was scheduled for demolition anyway, IIRC.
This video was brilliantly done. I felt like I was in film school.
My favorite Trope is the mean popular girl, great start for so many stories and social commentary
haha it's a fun character for sure
Maybe you could do a video on how to create a sequel that doesn't feel repetitive and unnecessary.
Thanks for the suggestion!
LOVE your content @StudioBinder! Always get so much out each video. The way you all analyze scripts & clips side-by-side, is such an invaluable tool. Plus they're so well researched & written & VO'd. And of course, gorgeously edited. Often wind up just watching them like mini TV marathon style. :)
The "movie open" video is a fav. I would love to see your take on TV, &/or on "effective prologues" as well. Also, on musicals! Bc a lot of videos & articles cover how their songs & themes should speak to characterization, but not how to find/write song themes. Thanks again for all your work! All the best!
Thanks for the suggestion!
Great content as always! I hope, I'm sure others as well, to see more beat sheets breakdown. Its such a great learning tool to see a story from conceptualization to final product. More power to your channel!
Cheers!
And you left in “I Heard Ramona Sing” beyond its place. Brilliant.
Hey ho, thank you for yet another video of What is! Please, consider to make the second video about animation. I am keen to know more - especially about the principles of animation (Genndy Tartakovski says there is 27 of them, OMG)
second one is coming soon!
I have five suggestions to videos that I think could be useful to get videos about, so I’ll just add them here.
Firstly, a video on character work and ways to give depth to characters. You could use things such as The Last of Us, Chernobyl, and Andor as examples.
Secondly, subjective filmmaking. Matt Reeves specifically. He always says he tried to get into the pov of a character, and bases his whole style on subjectivity. A video about that would be amazing.
Fourth, a video on how to create mystery and payoff would be amazing, maybe using pieces such as Poker Face, the Knives Out movies, True Detective, and Se7en.
Fifth: how to use action in service of the story. The Mission Impossible movies, Andor, and all James Gunn/Matt Reeves movies tie action into the themes and character progression, I’d love to see a video covering that. James Gunn has even touched on it from time to time.
Finally, I’d like to see more videos breaking down unique styles of directors. James Gunn, Matt Reeves, Rian Johnson, and Christopher McQuarrie especially.
The heroics sacrifice is perfectly subverted by the scene in SCP secret laboratory where one of the MTF members guides his comrades into an elevator and tries to stay behind to face and distract SCP-106, but the SCP ignores him, going straight for the closing elevator doors and killing his allies as he screams.
The guy trying to sacrifice himself with the grenades only to get whipped into the cliff edge in Kong: Skull Island is a very good subversion of the hero’s sacrifice trope 😂
Thank you again, wonderful lessons of studiobinder - to be continued
Thanks for watching!
I found it useful to distinguish between tropes and genre conventions.
Good point!
My favorite trope is the "George Lucas Ear Flick"--where you sit down to watch a movie you've seen one hundred times and suddenly it's different for no reason other than someone wanted to make you cry. It's like opening a bottle of fine wine or getting flicked in the ear with a bullwhip.
i was expecting a call out to The Other Guys when you brought up the explosions trope XD
💥
Could you do a video about Tragic Heroes?
Decent Examples: Oedipus Rex, Anakin Skywalker and Randle McMurphy
Thanks for the suggestion!
Thousand Thanks you StudioBinder for this Inspiring video. I didn't know before what is a Trope in Storytelling. Now I understand.
Thanks for watching!
A very good trope which makes every movie very exciting, full of suspense is
when the protagonist's team arrives just a few seconds late and misses to catch the villain, and they need to find a clue where to find the villain,
then they arrive just a few seconds late again etc.,
for example in Angels and Demons.
Can you make a video on recording sound for movies or the post production process? It would be really helpful.
Foley?
@@Jeremysteenyes, and on set recorded sound and the post process like file transfer, colour grading, dcps, vfx etc...
we might!
I wish they’d added in the other kinds of tropes like the tea-break trope, where during fight scenes there’s a comic relief break, for example deadpool counting his bullets or two guys fighting off an army and then getting into an elevator for the chill music to play, then get out and resume the fight.
Great video! I always thought that the dark knight joker delayed explosion was an accident that was improvised. Great subversion by Nolan if he came up with it!
An interesting lesson, THANKS!!! I think using tropes in mainstream movies will have to depend on the writer/producer/director understanding their audience. You can either use an obvious trope to communicate with the audience, or a subtle trope to give the characters a sense of familiarity to which an audience can find something her/she may have in common. Too many tropes and you pull an audience out of the movie; subtle well placed tropes reminds the audience that the story is just a story but keeps them fastened to the journey. But an interesting question is this, should novice filmmakers use tropes in their work or should they rely on their script to tell the story? Also, should someone use too many tropes, is it a comedy or bad writing that defines the movie. The way this lesson breaks down a trope, I wonder, is it the movie giving a nod to real life, or does real life give a nod to the movie for when a trope is used. It is no doubt that movies have vastly shaped the lives of people in the last 100 years of cinema, but before celluloid we had plays/performances, oral storytelling and books that may have tropes written in them. As stated, this was an interesting lesson. Stay safe and stay blessed.
Using tropes is fine as long as you're not doing it because you can't think of anything else. It should be inspired
Not sure if it's true, but I read that the subversion of the trope shown at 22:10 was not intentional. They only had one shot for this due to the explosions, but it partially malfunctioned. However, the actor stayed in character which lead to this final result.
That's an internet myth, they delay was planned and practically a solution to get Ledger to a safe distance with an actual explosion occurring behind him
@@StudioBinder Ah, thanks for clarifying!!
I just used Time Bandits in my film class today! And how it first uses the trope and then subverts it.
So many stories have been written and movies have been made that it's nearly impossible to make one without some Tropes. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to avoid some of the more obvious ones.
Also if used enough even subverting a Trope can become a Trope.
I’m extremely thankful to this channel! It’s very educational!
Could you make an episode on The Bear's artistic style? That show uses a lot of original technics in a very successful way.
we might!
@@StudioBinder can you do one alone on S01 ep07?
You guys are something....I liked the conclusion - all the way. You put in the effort and it shows. Thx
Appreciate it!
22:18
FYI this was a movie set mistake actually, the bombs for the hospital were meant to go off but they were delayed. They kept rolling and Heath kept in character.
Just a great moment of realism captured on camera
One question started growing in my head throughout this video... could it be harder finding a scene thats not a trope in some way
Can you please make a video on the process of audio recording and editing for movies? It would be great if you cover the process in depth with proper description of the devices and gears used. There are a lot of videos and tutorials on TH-cam for making "cinematic visuals", but almost no good video on how to make "cinematic audio". And I can't rely on any other channel on TH-cam other than StudioBinder.
maybe the next shot list episode!
@@StudioBinder thanks a lot
Waiting....
Studio binder❤
Thanks for watching!
Almost everything is a trope, we're living in a post-trope world
This makes it hard to portray sincerity. Calvary does an exquisite job of it though
6:54 I Related this trope[Wise Old Man] to most of the popular tamil movies like Jigarthanda, Sarpetta Parambarai and many more.....