Super Hero Central
Encyclopedia
Super Hero Central is a 2004 Martial arts
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....

 oriented Cult Film
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...

. This film was directed by and stars Scott Shaw
Scott Shaw
Scott Shaw is an American actor, author, journalist, film director, film producer, musician, professor and martial artist.-Early life:...

.

The Co-Stars of this films include Donald G. Jackson
Donald G. Jackson
Donald G. Jackson was an American filmmaker who is often referred to in the media as the Ed Wood of the video age...

, Conrad Brooks
Conrad Brooks
Conrad Brooks is an American actor. He moved to Hollywood, California in the early 1950s to pursue a career in acting...

, and Kevin Thompson.

Plot

This film follows two primary characters, Ace X and Kid Velvet, played by Shaw and Thompson. These two characters are members of a Rock n' Roll band, named Super Hero Central, who live on the skids of both society and the music industry. They transform into masked superheroes to takedown a Hollywood crime lord, named Rinaldi.

The third primary character of this film is an unnamed character, played by Donald G. Jackson
Donald G. Jackson
Donald G. Jackson was an American filmmaker who is often referred to in the media as the Ed Wood of the video age...

. This character goes through the film, reporting on the band through telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...

 conversations and while driving through Hollywood. The fourth, also unnamed, primary character is played by Hae Won Shin. This character is a spiritual teacher who sends Shaw on his mission to fight crime.

The other primary characters who appear in this film are a reporter, Linda Marshall and a police commissioner, Commissioner Beckman. The reporter is seen throughout the film, reporting on the crime activities taking place in Hollywood, interviewing the police commissioner, and also interacting with the band members. She is eventually captured by the crime lord, which set the climax of this film into motion.

Locations

Super Hero Central was filmed in Hollywood, California, Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

, Taipei, Taiwan, Tokyo, Japan, and Vancouver, British Columbia. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0429139/locations This film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 follows two crime-fighting Superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...

s, played by Shaw and Thompson, who disguise their Superhero identities as members of a Rock n' Roll band.

Hollywood

Similar to many Scott Shaw films Super Hero Central utilities Hollywood, California as a cinematic backdrop. Though his films are often shot in multiple locations, utilizing various geographic locations in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

 to tell the story, the primary storyline of his films generally originate in Hollywood. Hollywood landmarks such as the Hollywood sign
Hollywood Sign
The Hollywood Sign is a landmark and American cultural icon in the Hollywood Hills area of Mount Lee, Santa Monica Mountains, in Los Angeles, California. The sign spells out the name of the area in and white letters. It was created as an advertisement in 1923, but garnered increasing recognition...

 and images of Hollywood Blvd. are commonly seen in his films. This is also the case with Super Hero Central.

As is the case with virtually all Scott Shaw films, the story for this movie is presented in a non-linear fashion and there are many unexpected and seemingly unrelated events presented throughout this film. This film also possesses the references to Blacksploitation Cinema apparent in virtually all Scott Shaw films and this feature is full of Music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 style edits where the central characters leave behind the storyline and interact solely by the presentation of visual images in association with Techno music. As this film was created soon after the death of his longtime filmmaking partner Donald G. Jackson
Donald G. Jackson
Donald G. Jackson was an American filmmaker who is often referred to in the media as the Ed Wood of the video age...

 Shaw designed the story line of Super Hero Central to pay homage to some of the previous films he had created in association with Jackson." http://www.scottshaw.com/superherocentral/

The final credit of this movie is, "In Memory of Dinosaur Filmmaking." This is the same final used in many Scott Shaw films. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002396/bio

Zen Filmmaking

This film is an ideal example of the new style of Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...

 developed by Scott Shaw, known as Zen Filmmaking. Zen Filmmaking is a distinct style of filmmaking where the primary concept is that no scripts are used in the creation of a film. Another primary element of Zen Filmmaking is that much of the film is shot using the documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

style hand-held camera technique.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK