Item 5 "3. Getting Us In And Out Of Mundane Moments Quickly

Since his first major film, Edgar Wright uses a series of close-ups in quick succession as a mini-montage to move the characters along. 

"I'm a big fan of getting into a scene late and leaving a scene early. That's what they always say in writing... Come in late and leave early. I think using close-ups for me is a good way of doing that." 

Wright uses this method in all his films, giving him a distinct style that is easily recognizable:

These quick sequences cut down the time it takes for characters to travel from one point to another, make mundane tasks like paperwork seem more impressive, show how one character is not drinking beer, etc. This type of editing also makes the visuals of the movie more varied, so it isn't all a standard mix of wide shots, medium shots, close-ups, rinse, lather, repeat. Short little bursts break thing up to keep the audience from getting too bored. 

Visual Storytelling Done Wright

Movies are inherently a visual experience, yet a lot of directors waste their screen time with images that don't add anything to the dialogue. Edgar Wright conveys his stories by showing us the characters through cinematography, editing, and visual gags that move both plot and character forward. 

His unique style makes him both recognizable and inspiring to other filmmakers. In a world of sequels, prequels, franchises, and adaptations, Edgar Wright is making new movies with classic sensibilities."

Item 6 

SHAUN OF THE DEAD

Editing: Shaun bends down out of frame to pick up a pen and then reenters the frame from the bottom instead of the expected diagonal angle. Wright uses a jump cut here to get a comedic moment in an unexpected place.

Sound Effects: Cut to a pair of feet shuffling toward camera. Cue the odd moaning sound effect. The viewer knows it isn’t a zombie. It’s too early in the film for that. As the camera pans up the moaning sound is clearly a yawn attached to Shaun’s contorted face. And that yawn–with a calculated camera movement–just created a comedic moment other comedies would have missed.

HOT FUZZ

Shot Composition: Angel (Angle) is getting grief from his colleagues and then receives a call about an escaped swan, from one Peter Ian Staker (P.I. Staker). He obviously thinks it is a joke and calls PI Staker out on it, except cut scene to Angel helping P.I. Staker by taking down his real statement about a real swan that is lost.

Sound Effects: Angel and Danny are working hard at cracking a murder case as they sit in their police car on speed patrol. They are so engrossed in the investigation they don’t notice car after car speeding by, with the speed gun going crazy. I was too busy laughing to hear what they were discussing.

THE WORLD’S END

Shot Composition: Gary takes Sam into the bathroom to ask about the twins who are acting a little weird. They talk in front of a mirror, each of their twins reflected back at them as they discuss the twins. It’s a subtle chuckle.

Sound Effects: As the group gathers at the arriving train station they discuss which one of them is the dumbest for deciding to come along on this journey. Whistle. Pan left to Gary. Speeding bus sound effect.

SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD

Editing: Wright blends scenes together with mirrored transitions. In one scene Scott is standing and staring at Ramona, before the scene is blended into Stephen entering the frame from the left yelling into Scott’s ear as he continues to stare. Now Scott is standing in a living room practicing with his band. Stephen then walks away from Scott to frame right before the scene shifts into an outdoor setting with Stephen turning around to answer Scott’s question. This swift three scene transition keeps viewers’ attention as several settings and points are covered, and it also gets a chuckle.

Shot Composition: As Scott is telling Ramona where his band will be playing the next night, Wright cuts to an exterior shot of the venue with the sign displaying the name, just as he is about to yell it. This creates a clever comedy moment where other movies would use normal exposition

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item 7 - The first thing that stands out about Wright’s films is how well-directed they are. His firm grasp of editing’s potential to bridge time and space, disorient, clarify, and act as a punchline is laid out in the opening scene of Spaced’s broadcast pilot, in which Tim (Pegg) and Daisy (Jessica Hynes) are introduced seemingly in the midst of a shot/reverse shot argument with Tim on the street begging to be taken back as Daisy shoos him away. Suddenly, a cut outward reveals the two to be in different locations, amusingly disrupting what scant information has been given to the audience so far while also stressing a personality link in the pair’s respective dead-end lives.

It’s a minor touch that pays instant dividends, and it prefaces an entire career of in-camera and editing tricks that hide satire and character behind flash. Take the first car “chase” in Hot Fuzz, in which Pegg’s Nicholas Angel and Nick Frost’s Danny Butterman go after a speeding motorist. The camera leaps into the perspective of Danny, weaned on action movies, but it also depicts the dull reality of police work, revving up into a hyper-cut frenzy for barely two seconds before cooling back down as the “perp” instantly complies. The joke is obvious, but the style evokes a mind-meld of Danny’s boyish enthusiasm for amped-up action and Nicholas’ no-nonsense, by-the-book reality, a swift visual foreshadowing of two opposing personalities finding common ground.

Item 4 So you’ve made five films to date, all comedies. Do you identify yourself as a comedic filmmaker—or can you see yourself doing something outside of that genre in the future? 

Yeah, I think so. I think at the moment, I would, absolutely. And I have plans to make a horror film, one that’s “straighter.” But I do think that comedy is frequently sniffed at, that somehow it’s sort of a lesser genre. And anyone who’s made a comedy film knows that it’s just as hard, if not harder, to make a comedy that works. I used to make comedies when I was an amateur filmmaker because I thought nobody would take me seriously if I did them straight. It was almost like a defense mechanism. But now I’m older, I realize that comedy is an art form, and it’s not to be taken lightly. I want to keep trying to perfect that, to make movies that are better. But I’d love to do other, straight genres, or something completely different.

 How much has your approach to filmmaking changed since those early days?

Item 8

Wright: I think it’s just learning what the hell I’m doing, basically. It’s funny, on the Hot Fuzz DVD in the U.K. we’re going to put on the cop film I made when I was 18. Watching it back, there are some similarities in terms of the style but the thing that I really notice is how bad the sound is, and how important a really detailed sound mix is. The stuff I used to do when I was making amateur films, like this cop film I made, Dead Right, I basically didn’t have any access to library music or sound effects at all, so there’s like no sound effects on it and the whole thing feels so airless, it’s weird. With A Fistful of Fingers, it had the spirit of ‘Let’s do the show right here,’ but the worst thing about it is that it’s quite ramshackle and lame, and it feels like a Bugsy Malone production because it’s all 18-year-olds pretending to be badass Americans – it’s funny. Basically, I wanted to do another independent film, but I wasn’t really that happy with A Fistful of Fingers and how it turned out. It was alright, some people liked it and I got my break through [Little Britain comedians] Matt Lucas and David Walliams, who saw A Fistful of Fingers and really liked it, and recommended me to their agents at ICM, and then also asked me to do their first sketch show. So when I started doing TV stuff, I was very lucky again to work immediately. The first show I did was with Matt Lucas and David Walliams, and Jessica Stevenson was in it, the second show was with Simon Pegg, Jessica Stevenson, Julian Barratt and Bill Bailey. I completely lucked out by working with some brilliant people very early on. So [what helped was] working with great actors and feeling more confident as a writer. I don’t ever think of myself as a screenwriter, even though I’ve written two screenplays, mainly because I’ve written out of necessity, because I can feel the films that I want to make in my gut. I think doing TV, and especially Spaced, was really like learning my craft and learning editing and writing.

item 10

Edgar Wright, however, takes advantage of seemingly mundane cinematic devices , like transitional sequences and exposition scenes, and pulls as much comedy out of it (or puts as much in) as he can. He leaves no comedic stone unturned! Zhou shares a bunch of great examples of contemporary films and TV shows that do take advantage of these devices using cinematography, like Arrested Development, Django Unchained, and even Jaws (even though that's not really a comedy -- though it does have funny moments). However, he also compares them with films and shows that don't, which really hits home how much comedic real estate exists in any given project.

So, take a look at Zhou's video essay below. Just remember, it's not about whether you think Wright's films are funny. It's about asking yourself if you're utilizing all of the opportunities within your film to make your audience laugh. (That doesn't mean cracking a joke ever 2.2 seconds -- it's just about being aware of the potential.) Also, ask yourself if you could be using more cinematographic moves, whether that means camera movement, mise-en-scène, lighting, etc, to get your audience chuckling.