Editing

Hot Fuzz

In the intro of Hot Fuzz, the director Edgar Wright uses interesting and unique scene transitions to create a simple yet effective montage which helps to establish the main protagonist of the story to the audience. The scene begins with a wide shot from the point of view of someone sitting at the reception of the police station. We see the protagonist arriving and walking up to the reception desk with a strong and determined stride. Furthermore, there is a subtle use of back lighting to create the effect that he is walking towards us from a sunset, which strongly reinforces the audience's idea of a stereotypical hero and protagonist. 

The protagonist then walks up to the camera and the camera zooms into a close up to show us his identification card. This is a a very interesting and unconventional way of introducing the protagonist to the audience, what's more is that Wright uses this small introduction and turns it into visual comedy as the protagonist has the same serious face that he uses in his identification photo. 

The director then uses a number of various profile tracking shots with a mix of transitions to zoom into the protagonist's face. The profile photo is unique, as the frame makes it look as if it is from the point of view of the people in the office who are looking at the protagonist walking in. The way he uses transition is very unique, for example, when there is the tracking shot of the protagonist walking down the offices, we will occasionally see people walking in front of the camera, which is something that Wright utilises and uses each person that walks past as a wipe transition to a tighter frame. These tighter close ups are much more focused on the small details of the character, such as his lapels which are a stereotypical connotation of a police officer. Another form of transition that Wright is most commonly known for is that the camera will move away from the object in the frame and that transition will seamlessly flow with another shot where the camera moves from something blurry to the object in question, in this case, the protagonist.

He uses this technique again as he utilises the situation of the protagonist to visually make the scene less bland but much more unique, for example, when they show the protagonist running through the bags hanging, he uses the bags flailing around as a wipe transition when they cover the entire frame, because no one really wants to see a few empty frames of nothing so instead he uses this opportunity to transition to another scene with more detail and story. These short and repetitive cuts increase the pace of the scene in general. He also uses shaky camera when it is appropriate to the situation, for example when the protagonist is put into the riot control situation, there are a lot of flashes and shaking of the camera which help to signify the violent and aggressive tone presented in the scenario.

Wright also uses matching scene transitions in his intro, such as when the camera is zooming into the protagonist at the desk which then cuts to the protagonist receiving his award and the camera zooms away. In between these two shots, there is a flash which is coming from the cameras taking his photograph, the director subtly uses these flashes as a very quick straight cut which gives us the sense of how it is a montage and generally helps to set the pace of the scene. The pace is rapid and fast, which easily helps to condense the background of the protagonist but is also simple enough that the audience is easily able to understand and comprehend everything that is being said about him.

The scene where is walking up the stairs is unconventional because of the fact that the camera is placed behind the stairs which visually impairs the audience's sight, but the camera still tracks the protagonist as he walks up by tilting the camera up, what's even more unique is that it tilts back down and away from the protagonist to transition to another scene.

We then see the protagonist talking to two people in a medium shot where he is in between both of them, and the scene transitions to another scene where he is talking to another two but different people and is standing in a different location but in the same way. The fact that these two scenes match again shows the idea of a flowing narrative and instead of juxtaposition, it creates a complimenting idea between them both. This technique of matching scenes and continuity edits is used again but in a different way when we see the protagonist taking part in different sports, the protagonist is presented in the middle of the frame of the same location but the scene is rapidly changing to show to the audience the variety of the protagonist's personality and consistent success.

Overall, Wright uses a consistent and various amount of different medium and close up shots, when he does use the close up shots its mostly to show the details of the things going on, for example when the protagonist is arresting someone, we see a close up of hands in handcuffs. This is effective as we don't see a full story but flashes of small images that we as the audience can make connections between ideas for example, we specifically visualise and represent handcuffs to police work. Wright also uses many transitions where the camera moves away from the object or zooms out and zooms in, which easily help to set the rapid pace of the scenes being presented and easily helps to condense the narrative down into a montage.

Cinematography

Scott Pilgrim vs The World

The sequence starts off with the main character conversing with his girlfriend Knives at the door, the camera cuts back and forth between the two during the conversation to show a sort of "ping pong" effect of conversation which makes the dialogue fast and witty, therefore adding a small amount of humour into it. During this part, the frame is at a close up to show that they are the only two in the conversation and helps the audience focus on both of them. 

The dialogue ends quickly with a medium shot of the protagonist in the left side of the frame. Edgar Wright, the director, very cleverly uses this as a way to introduce a new character in the shot. He does this by making use of the empty space in the frame caused by the door and allowing the third character to open the door for a reveal of Stephen Stills. 

The camera then cuts to the other side of the door where a medium shot is used to show both the protagonist and Stephen. The camera then zooms into a close up of the two which signifies the idea that the dialogue the two have is confidential between the two. This has a very significant effect on the audience as we believe we are in on their secret as the camera is very close to both of their faces. The camera then zooms back out to show a medium shot of all three characters. Furthermore, the shots where the camera is behind the door are taken from a high angle shot which gives the audience the sense that they are actually in the scene as if they are looking over the character's shoulders to see who is outside.

A pan shot is then used to show that Knives is entering the room, this makes the audience relate more to her as the camera is always either focusing on her or using mostly her perspective. This gives the idea that like Knives, the audience is also being introduced to the entire cast of characters and listening to the band play for the first time.

There is another panning shot which first starts off from Scott and then quickly pans to Stephen. The shot then refocuses to Kim who is behind Stephen. It is almost as if the camera follows the dialogue in a linear format, which can be suggested is what the audience and Knives instinctively do. This makes a very comfortable scenario as it is what the audience is used to. The shot then focuses on Kim but as she shouts "One! Two! Three! Four!" the camera zooms in tighter into her with every exclamation. This use of sudden zoom signifies a sense of fast paced urgency and the audience automatically expects something big and loud.

There are then several tight close up shots of the instruments. What's interesting to note is that director purposely chooses to do close ups of not just the instruments but the parts which are making the noise, so we as the audience are really being made aware of the sound rather than the instruments themselves. During these various shots, we see medium shots of Neil and Knives who are watching the band play. These are used as a shot/reverse shot technique where we see the two watching and then we see shots of what they are watching. This allows the audience to get sutured into the scene and atmosphere. There is then an unusual tracking shot, as unlike normal tracking shots which are anchored to a character and zoom in, this shot is anchored to the band and zooms out, which in turn also causes an unusual elongation of the setting. This scene is also very theatrical in the sense that it is presenting the band to the audience as an attempt to be a dramatic or impressive entrance.

After the credits, we see a lot of shot/reverse shots again, with the focus being Knives. We see what she is seeing and then there are various shaky shots of the band playing music, the shaking is effectively used to mimic and link with the nature of the music in the background. There are a few more close ups of Knives to over exaggerate her awe at the band to show that she really does think they are amazing and creates a sense of humour for the audience as well.

Sound analysis

The Dark Knight

There is a variety of diegetic and non diegetic sound in this movie clip of The Dark Knight by Christopher Nolan. As the antagonist, the Joker, falls out the overturned truck, the audience hears a variety of sounds from him that are of him struggling which show how he is having difficulty getting back on his feet. As he does, he accidentally fires from his gun. The gun shots are also diegetic and are present later on in the scene as well. As the Joker starts to walk forward, the dialogue that is present is very quiet and to himself. The actor uses a tone which makes him sound very playful and threatening, immediately showing to the audience his sinister and sadistic personality. His dialogue is actually increasing in both volume and aggression as he continues to say "Hit me" waiting for the Batman to hit him with his motorcycle, and as the Batman gets closer and closer, the Joker's dialogue gets louder and louder.

The non diegetic sound is the music in the background which is also acting as a crescendo of strings which creates a build up of tension. The music keeps getting louder and louder in the background as the Joker is asking to be hit, but falls to silence when the Batman crashes. However, the music starts to build up once again as the Joker walks to the Batman to slightly imitate his slow walk towards the protagonist which again amplifies the Joker's sinister motives.

There are also other diegetic sounds such as the electric zap from the Batman's mask and the masked thug's squirming as he is zapped. This causes a reaction from the Joker who begins to kick the man and make gibberish sounds before spitting on the fallen man, which greatly encourage the audience that the Joker is in fact quite literally a maniac or a lunatic. Finally, other diegetic sounds are the cocking of James Gordon's shotgun which create an idea of the Joker's inevitable capture.

The music changes when we see the conclusion that the Joker is taken down by James Gordon the police commissioner. The music changes to a heroic swell to symbolise the idea that James Gordon has saved the day by taking down the antagonist.