Superhero Shorts: Dark Knight by The Hillywood Show

Welcome to this week’s edition of Superhero Shorts where I take a look at a different superhero themed short film and get the creator of the film to answer a few interview questions. This week is from a YouTube channel that my wife really enjoys called The Hillywood Show ran by Hilly and Hannah Hindi. These sisters started out doing a mashup movie character sketch show called The Hillywood Show. The highlight of the show are the well made costumes of characters such as Jack Sparrow, Willy Wonka, Edward Scissorhands, and other Johnny Depp or Tim Burton characters. But they got their biggest boost in popularity when they made a music video parody of Twilight featuring an extended remix of Katy Perry’s Hot and Cold which brought their videos from 10s of thousands of views to over a million and have grown from there, parodying the other Twilight movies as well as Harry Potter, Vampire Diaries, The Hunger Games, and the one I’ll be looking at today: The Dark Knight, which you can watch right below or you can visit The Hillywood Show’s website.

There were a couple things I noticed when I first watched this video, first I noticed the poker game and immediately thought of Batman: The Animated series, specifically the episode Almost Got ‘im where several of his villains sit around playing poker and each discuss the one time where they “almost” got the Batman. The other thing I noticed was Harley Quinn, who wasn’t in the Dark Knight, but is one of my favorite Batman characters next to Clayface. As I mentioned earlier, one of the things The Hillywood Show is known for is their attention to detail in their costumes and makeup and this video is no exception, although I think the Scarecrow mask was a bit of a weak spot in an otherwise stellar lineup, but he’s not really featured much in the video, and as soon as he takes off his mask he looks quite a bit like Cillian Murphy. The look of the Joker and Harley Quinn are spot on, and the rest of the villains featured look great too. The music is also done very well, it’s a mashup of Lady Gaga’s Pokerface and Britney Spears’ Circus with occasional sound clips from the Dark Knight, which fit right in with the poker game and the Joker’s hideout. The visuals, angles, timing, and editing are all pretty much at a professional level quality and it is easily as good as some of the better studio music videos. Even if you’re not a huge fan of the songs, it’s worth a watch if you’re a Batman fan, it pulls of a great Joker vibe to it with a lot of creepy and a couple laughs.

Once again this week I was able to talk with one of the creators of The Hillywood Show and she graciously answered several of my questions.

Bubbawheat: I would have never put together Lady Gaga song, a Britney Spears song, and Batman, how did you make that connection?

Hillywood Show: We wanted to bring some of the biggest DC comic characters together for a poker tournament. It was something that had not been done before in a music video format and Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” song fit perfectly! Using Britney Spear’s “Circus” song allowed us to take the production further into the twisted mind of the Joker. It was fun being so creative!

BW: Aside from Joker and the Scarecrow, several designs of the villains you used looked like they were inspired by the Batman Animated series. Were you familiar with the popular episode “Almost Got ‘im” where several of the villains play poker and discuss how they almost killed the Dark Knight?

HS: No, honestly, we never watched the animated series. We studied up on comic photos! Those inspired us a lot!

BW: Harley Quinn is one of my favorite Batman characters and I was glad to see her featured alongside the Joker. Did you ever consider giving her smeared makeup similar to the Joker, or was it always intended to be pristine to contrast against his?

HS: We thought about it a lot and did makeup tests beforehand. We decided to make Harley more classic and clean makeup compared to the Joker.

BW: Were there any other villains considered before going with your final line up, like Poison Ivy?

HS: No, we had definitely decided on only those villains. Those are our favorites!

BW: What kind of response did the video get? Did any hardcore Batman fans come down on it? Did fans of your show like it?

HS: Yes, we had a lot of fans from DC comics learn about The Hillywood Show®! Fans are still discovering it today and they send us lots of encouragement. We are so glad that people love this tribute video!

BW: Do you think you’ll ever do another superhero themed video, like for the upcoming Avengers or for the Dark Knight Rises?

HS: Well, you never know! The Hillywood Show has a lot of ideas up our sleeves!

BW: Can you talk about what you’re working on next?

HS: As of right now, we are in pre-production for our new single that will be released, hopefully, soon! We are excited to share something new with fans!

BW: And I ask everybody this question, what’s your favorite superhero movie?

HS: Spiderman with Tobey Maguire! So perfect!

God bless,
Hilly & Hannah
www.TheHillywoodShow.com

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Thanks so much for your time. Last week I mixed up the order I had planned and next week will actually be a double feature video from Chris Notarile’s Blinky Productions, and tomorrow I’ll be reviewing Iron Man followed by Iron Man 2 on Thursday. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.