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.