presentation script

Does Edgar Wright's unique editing style make him an auteur?

speaker:

In Andrew Sarris' “Notes on the Auteur Theory” (item 16) he defines the three important factors that make someone an auteur as "technical competence", "distinguishable personality" and an "interior meaning" in their films. This theory has been applied to many directors over time but I believe one of the best modern examples of this theory is Edgar Wright.

Edgar Wright is a British filmmaker famous for movies like Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim vs the World. Anyone familiar with his work will recognize the repeated use of montages made up of fast cuts exaggerated by sound effects. Although fast cutting is not unique to Wright he manages to add parody and comedy and make the style his own. This is mostly created by editing shots in fast motion using close ups and using everyday items in extraordinary situations. In these situations he often times the cut with the sounds of the ordinary objects such as cutlery. This use of montage to add parody and comic timing constitute Edgar Wright’s signature style. This improves the timing of the comedy in the scene one of the best examples of this is shown in Hot Fuzz.


Projector: plays line up scene from Hot Fuzz (item 1)
Speaker: 

This scene is edited as if it is a tooling up scene from an action film. Most shots are only around a second long and include a zoom to a close up. The speed and action is exaggerated by the use of sound effects and movement of the camera as the edit takes place. However, the content is not preparing guns and weapons but it starts with Angel filling in paperwork, includes the sounds of a pen top and pen on paper and the flash of photographing underage drinkers. In many other movies this content would be very ordinary and quite boring but what Wright has done is applied the editing techniques used in action films to make it interesting and to produce comedy. Juxtaposing the mundane with action is core to Wright’s work and the main premise of Hot Fuzz, set in a quiet English village, is in line with that. Not many comedic directors use and many comedy movies focus more on dialogue than editing. "Woody Allen's films, in my opinion, relied much more on dialogue than cinematography"(item 9). Using editing in comedy shows more skill and technical competence in the field of film making him more of an auteur. There is a clear difference between a scene from one of Wright’s movies and other similar scenes from a different filmmaker.

Projector: play 1:16-2:00 of video essay (Item 14)

Speaker:

The video essay clearly compares a Wright movie to other comedies and argues that Wright uses of pictures and sound as well as dialogue to film simple, mundane scenes in new ways where others are usually very generic and dull. The example of a character moving place is used where a comedy will use shots with action moving left to right, signposts, driving and music. Wright instead uses fast edits  and real sounds such as the train itself at different volumes edited to the music to create a jarring and humourous effect. He also drop in clues like the mobile phone losing signal to indicate leaving civilisation but the speed of these keeps the viewer on their toes and engaged. The fact that the editing is different from the other films which shows that Edgar Wright has his own unique, distinguishable style.

Although this kind of editing was not invented by Edgar Wright, he was inspired by others to do it. On speaking about how the Coen brothers inspired him he said "To do comedy in a very imaginative visual way was something not everyone did" (item 15). This evidence could be used to argue against Wright as an auteur proving others have used fast cuts before so it is not his own style. However, all directors learn from others and the fact he put his own spin on it, using more sound harsher cuts and making it noticeable to the audience is what makes him an auteur.

Over time Edgar Wright has gone from being a smaller casual filmmaker to be considered an auteur. Even before he was directing feature films his short films and TV work such as Spaced contained comedic fast edits as his style was developing. When talking about an earlier film he says "there are some similarities in terms of the style but the thing that I really notice is how bad the sound is" and later on in this same interview (item 8) he says "I think doing TV, and especially Spaced, was really like learning my craft and learning editing and writing". This shows his style was learnt over time before it was fully put into practice in first big budget movie Shaun of the Dead (2003).


Projector: plays planning scene of SotD (item 2)

Speaker:

This scene best shows Wright’s style and all his editing trademarks. It is a scene which constantly repeats the same against the clock style with Shaun having the make a plan and Wright’s editing used to show his thought process to the audience. The camera is panning through the montage of shots with the ticking sound in the background creating a rhythm to the scene. The sound effects are taken from the real objects, the constant use of close-ups to ordinary items such as a mug and doorbell as well as the non-diegetic music which is all to edited together, often with side or vertical wipes, makes the viewer feel like there are catching up with the action.

It then repeats edits and shots like the close up of the doorbell, the long shot of the car driving and the medium shot of them all drinking, each made slightly different each time but still created with the      same tone and timing. Whenever they are going back to reality the editing slows down with few medium shots taking longer with no music or sound effects in the background. The scene goes back and forth between these two tones.

Both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz have been categorised as part of the "Cornetto trilogy" which has been described as "a thematic continuation from one film to the next, re-using certain gags, ideas, actors, and the overall theme of friendship to create a logical end-point" (item 11) while this series may have Edgar Wright's involvement this is not exclusively his auteur style. As well as others, writer and star Simon Pegg is involved in both productions. So far there is nothing to say it is Edgar Wright that is the auteur of these movies until we look at a film outside of this trilogy.

Scott Pilgrim vs the World (item 3) not only uses different actors and crew but unlike the others it is a Canadian production instead of a British one. It is also his first movie to be based on a previous source material. This shows his technical competence as a director as he can write and direct a range of different films, all of them critically acclaimed - the lowest rated film he directed was at 82% on rottentomatoes (item 12).

As different as the film is it still uses the same Edgar Wright editing techniques as the others to make the plot work. What stands out in this film is the transitions are made more experimental and stylised than his earlier work showing more of the skill and visual techniques of Edgar Wright. For example, the door opening scene uses light, text, a fade to white and a wipe transition to a different shot to ignite the scene. You can see that doing these transitions this quickly involves a lot of work and dedication in the form of editing.

Projector: plays 1:01-1:45 of video essay (item 13)

This part of a video essay analyses in detail one transition from Scott Pilgrim. This shows the use of split screen but linked by the actor’s gaze moving across the split. Then a left to right wipe follows the onomatopoeic letter of the school bell sound in a curved downward motion. While normally this would look like a typical fast Edgar Wright cut if you slow it down as the video does, we see how wipes in the editing control the movement of the transition with creativity and attention to detail. Another scene in this film that uses Wright’s signature style is the shoe lace scene.

Projector: plays shoe laces scene for Scott Pilgrim (item 3)

Speaker:

In the scene Wright uses all the close ups and sound effects of actions scene with the close up shots of him zipping his coat and putting on wristbands to loud, action film music and real sound effects, much like the tooling up scenes parodied in SotD and Hot Fuzz. This time it is interlaced with a longer lasting shot of Scott tying his shoelaces much slower without the music to show he still not that good at laces even though he is now the hero. This creates a comedic juxtaposition showing Scott to be different from the typical action star and an imperfect hero as in Wright’s other films. On this scene Edgar Wright says "if you have good comedy timing you can make that work with just a finger or just a hand" (item 10). This quote applies here as it is made funny through how unique and different the editing is used to present the character of Scott.

Edgar Wrights editing style is similar to a Hip-Hop montage. This has been described as "a series of edits of quick extreme close-up shots accompanied by exaggerated sounds" (item 17) It is clear that this is what we are looking at in Wright's films. This method is usually used to describe the style of Darren Aronofsky but with Aronofsky's films he uses the style for drama when Wright uses it for comedy. The genre aspect of his style is what makes him an auteur as it sets him apart from others. On this genre Edgar Wright says "comedy is an art form, and it’s not to be taken lightly. I want to keep trying to perfect that," (item 4) Wright believes that comedy should be taken seriously although by many it is not. In his films he is showing that he can have the technical competence in comedy that he can have in other genres.

Sarris defines interior meaning as “extrapolated from the tension between a director's personality and his material" (item 16). Wright’s personality and passions are clearly visible in all his work. Wright is clearly a fan of action movies and he goes out of his way to show this in Hot Fuzz "many references made to films and filmmakers of the classic action era" (item 7). Importantly, his editing style is used to pay homage to the films he loves while also using parody to make them funny. The Somerfield tooling up scene in Hot Fuzz (item 1) perfectly illustrates Wright paying homage to Michael Bay and Martin Scorsese action films and sequences where the character is getting ready to fight. But he deliberately introduces comic elements such as the Somerfield car park sign to make an action scene comedic.

In conclusion I feel that Edgar Wright is an auteur as he clearly shows each one of Sarris’ factors of "technical competence, distinguishable personality and an interior meaning"and makes himself known in his films with the editing. Although it could be debated whether his films really do have an interior meaning or whether they are just simple comedies or that his style is that distinguishable from other similar filmmakers. However, I believe that the way he edits is sufficiently different and personal in terms of creating comedy and that shows himself as a modern auteur.