Clerks comparison to the Avengers

Film Homework – Comparison between Clerks and the Avengers.

In this essay I will be comparing Clerks; a 1994 independent film directed and wrote by Kevin Smith to the hugely successful film The Avengers; a mainstream 2012 film.

Clerks which was released on October 19 1994 was written by Kevin Smith and filmed in the convenience store where he worked at the time of shooting the film. The interior shots were all shot at night after Smith had spent the day serving customers and working. These interior shots would go on to make up the majority of the film. This is vastly different to the Avengers film. This is because of the wide variety of sets including many main roads and streets in America. The avengers is shown to take place around the world which is far different to Clerks as it is shown only to be shot in 5 or 6 different sets.

This is due to the production difference of both projects. The production budget for Clerks was only $27,000 which he procured himself through the selling of his valuable comic book selection, the maxing out of eight $2000 credit cards, money taken from his personal college education fund and the insurance pay from a car owned by Smith and one of the actors after it was lost in a flood. This shows the commitment to the project which Smith had. This amount of money is completely overshadowed by the amount spent on the Avengers. The production budget for the Avengers came to $225,000,000. The sheer amount of money that the Avengers had over Clerks had a big impact on the overall product. And although world wide Clerks made $3,894,240 it doesn't even touch the world wide box office made by The Avengers: $1,514,279,547.

Within the films there were many conventions which are typical of Indie and Mainstream movies.

The first of these is the use of mainstream pop music as a part of its soundtrack. The soundtrack includes songs from both Alice in Chains and Seaweed which were popular at the time that this film was filmed and released. Famously, the cost of licensing the songs on the soundtrack cost more than the film cost to make. However in most mainstream and large budget films including The Avengers, a composer is hired to create an orchestral soundtrack which is unique to the film. This is also a result to the production budget as Smith would not be able to afford a composer and orchestra to create a soundtrack with the amount of money he had to spare.

Another convention which is commonly used in indie films is the effect of Black and White filters. This appears to give the film an artistic edge and make it seem more professional. This is greatly contrasted by the mainstream movies like The Avengers who try to use the colour to their advantage – showing the audience a 'cinematic experience' where what is shown on screen appears to be happening right before the audiences eyes. This seems to work well for mainstream movies but for indie films it is a common trait which is seen in many more including Much ado About Nothing starring Nathan Fillion and Coffee and Cigarettes staring Cate Blanchett.

Another convention is the use of unknown or not very successful actors. This is because if the production budget, meaning that they cannot afford very important actors. However this seems to be to the indie film's advantage as it means that the story is more character driven and is more focused on a larger narrative while using subtle sub-plots involving many different characters than simply relying on the faces of the actors that they had hired. This is completely reversed in the Avengers as, although the story is still strong and does rely on the characters, they drew a lot of attention to the bringing together huge stars including Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johnson and Tom Hiddleston. This means that they have to rely less on story in order to draw the audience to watch the film as many of them will simply watch it in order to see 'the avengers' together as well as the amazing cast.

In conclusion, the main difference between mainstream films and independent movies is the lack of enormous funds as it then impacts all other elements such as actors, locations, music and editing.