Drama - Edgar Wright

Edgar Wright - Director

Key Films

Spaced (TV Series 1999-2001)

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Hot Fuzz (2007)

Edgar Wright is a major influence for our drama, this is because his use of snappy editing, especially in his film Shaun of the Dead. A great example of this is a scene where the main character Shaun is planning how he and his friends and family are going to survive a zombie apocalypse. During his planning Wright uses fast cuts to show Shaun’s planning scenarios played out each with a different ending every time. This is perfect for our drama as it fits in greatly with the different scenarios of the father’s reaction every time the son comes out to him; the quick cuts will be very effective as it will bring life to the film and give it a high comedic value. We will have to get the cuts at the right pace, if they are too slow they will lose the audience’s attention and lose the comedy effect we are trying to get across, if it is too quick the audience may not be able to take the information in and be slightly confused as to what is going on.

If done correctly, the use of quick cuts and snappy editing will successfully let the audience know when a fantasy scenario is happening and a scene set in reality. This is because scenes set in reality will have a calmer mood with longer shots and a slower pace, then will be followed by a quick pan which will cut into the fantasy sequences. The fantasy sequences or the imagination scenario scenes will be over stylised with a quicker pace and have more unconventional camera work.

As visual arts director, I find the mise en scene in Edgar Wright films are not relevant for our drama, this is because I am trying to portray a nostalgic 70’s era through the mise en scene of our films. Edgar Wright films are mainly set in modern day so therefore not appealing to us at all, however I find the use of sound Edgar Wright uses in his films are a major influence for our drama.

Edgar Wright amplifies sound effects such as placement or movement of objects and people in which he include a “whooshing” sound, he also uses this for his fantasy scenes when the camera quickly pans or zooms etc. which is created through Foley and adds to the comedic action we are trying to achieve for our drama. Also the use of the “whooshing” sound is very effective along with the camera’s whip pans as it will let audiences know that they are now watching a fantasy scenario from the son’s imagination.