Worldbuilding Done Wright
Edgar Wright uses the editing in his films to create a viewing experience that puts the audience directly in the shoes of his characters. Wright’s films often focus on stories of an average guy who rises to the occasion and becomes an unexpected hero, using intense sound effects and cuts to heighten the stakes of even the most average of scenes. This style is distinctive and becomes something that you expect in each scene, making the subversion of these expectations in certain scenes all the more important. Wright uses the editing as a tool of the world that isn’t necessarily part of the onscreen world, but that is able to better present to the audience what the characters are seeing and feeling. Wright does this particularly well in his films Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim vs The World, using both distinctive sound editing and cuts and zooms to create and then to reinforce the plasticity of their worlds.
In Scott Pilgrim, we are quickly thrown into the day to day routine of Scott’s life. We see Scott go on a date with Knives to the record store and we are seamlessly taken from location to location throughout the course of their conversation when we finally see them at the arcade at the end of the sequence. This scene is intended to show the repetitiveness and mundanity of Scott’s life at this point in time and how every moment blurs together. Unless you are really paying attention to the scene, the viewer may also fail to notice the change from the record store to the outdoors and that the conversation topic has changed. Wright designed this scene precisely to put the viewer in Scott’s shoes and show how little he is paying attention to any of the details of his day to day, cutting together different locations as the shots shift back and forth from a medium close on Scott to a medium close on Knives. The days are repetitive and blur together, shown with the clipping of time with Knives as they go from location to location and once again before the party. Afterward, Scott’s life moves as if in fast forward through the rest of day that he’s ignoring until he gets to see Ramona again. Before Ramona, everything in Scott’s life is moving so fast, he can’t even process what’s happening. This gives us a distinct feeling of connection to Ramona as the cause and effect to this change in perspective that we too would feel if we were Scott.
In Shaun of the Dead, we are similarly placed into the low-stakes life of our main character from the start. One of the first scenes that follows the credits shows Shaun as he follows a specific path on his way to work each day. The camera follows closely behind Shaun in one long take and we, the viewers, are put directly into his path as if it were our own. We see the way that Shaun passively walks past a homeless man, how he almost gets hit by a car, and how he fails to notice the man washing his car and nearly trips on his bucket. The first, he always expects, but even these other common, although not every day, changes, throw him off. Shaun, however, easily snaps back into his routine mindset and forgets they ever happened, continuing along his path. He proceeds to get the same drink from the same fridge that he gets from the shop every day and moves forward without truly looking or thinking, always expecting things to be the same. Shaun’s life is set to autopilot. He knows this routine so well that the next morning he fails to notice that the street is in disarray and that there is blood spread across the shop. There is no one to be seen in or out of the store, except for the homeless man turned zombie, who Shaun presumes is just asking for money and heads back home without skipping a beat. In both of these scenes, Wright uses the repetition of structure to show the bland state of his character’s life in a current moment in time. By repeating this structure and using a long take instead of several shots cut together, the viewer can see how things drag, but are never bad enough to work towards changing. These scenes make it easier to empathize with Shaun and see how easily one can become complacent in life when so little ever shifts, all while the audience is acutely aware that everything is about to change.
When Shaun is preparing for his day, there’s a dramatic close-up on each of Shaun’s tasks that makes them appear as if an epic montage before a mission. Shaun eats, brushes his teeth, and ends with him adjusting this nametag. With this quick series of cuts and loud sounds, the viewer may believe that there is going to be a build up to something more excited, only to be let back down with the dull reality of Shaun’s life. By analyzing this scene, we are able to see how simple editing can blow these things out of proportion and make them seem more extraordinary than they are. When this sequence is followed by his job at the appliance store, it becomes obvious that these mundane tasks are actually the closest to exciting anything in his day will get. This simple scene provides key insight into Shaun’s life and how these parts of his routine, such as hanging out with Ed and playing video games and going to The Winchester every night, are all he knows. We can clearly see that Shaun has an enthusiastic attitude, but nothing to apply it to since his life has stagnated since he finished school. Because it is clear that Shaun is well intentioned, but unreliable, it makes it hard for anyone aside from Ed who is the most unreliable to give him the benefit of the doubt and believe he is capable of doing more. This is why the zombie outbreak is such an important turning point, because Shaun could have done the same thing every day for the rest of his life otherwise.
When Shaun has finally gotten everyone inside of The Winchester, the zombies begin to surround the building and are on the brink of breaking in when Ed starts playing music on the jukebox. When the Queen song, “Don’t Stop Me Now,” starts playing, Shaun really gets to show his leadership skills. As the music revs up, Shaun quickly yells out instructions and gets everyone to grab a weapon. This is also a key moment of Wright’s rhythmic editing being used to emphasize both the stakes and fun of the moment. Shaun, Ed, and Liz get in position with their pool cues and begin to hit the zombie in time with the music. This moment highlights the fact that Shaun is capable of being more than he was before the outbreak and that, while their situation is dire, Shaun will never be the exact same person that he was before. As they continue to hit the zombie, the camera spins around the three and cuts to Shaun’s mom and Dianne also moving in time with the music almost as if dancing and also telling them when to land their hits. The tension of the fight builds up with the chorus of the song and the music ends as they throw the body of the zombie onto the jukebox just as the song would have ended in real time. This scene works to show how self-aware Wright is of the comedic setup of the world and how he wants to emphasize the fun of it even in a seemingly serious situation.
Once Scott meets Ramona at the party, we are able to see that his life slows down for the first time since the start of the film. It is only on these moments with Ramona that Scott is actually paying attention to what is going on and is trying. Unlike Shaun, Scott decides that he wants something new and goes after it, though he struggles. As you can see on his first date with Ramona where they meet at the park, there are soft dissolves from shot to shot and long takes of dialogue in between with near complete silence and darkness behind them as the snow falls. This is a stark contrast to the rapid cuts, scene changes and loud music that is often playing when Scott is surrounded by Knives or his friends. All of these subtle changes create the effect of time slowing down, but there is an actual slow down on screen when Ramona takes Scott through the door and they float through the darkness and back to her house. The fact that we live through this transition time instead of cut between locations further shows that Scott is able to live in the moment when she is around.
When Scott is fighting the Seven Evil Exes, the aspect ratio shifts to widescreen to make the action more cinematic. Lens flares and dramatic zooms are also added to the scenes to emphasize the change in tone in Scott’s character and how exaggerated these actions become. All of these technical aspects make it easier to buy into the video game elements and make actions out of the realm of possibility in reality, not only believable, but probable. When we see Scott fight for the first time against Matthew Patel, the aspect ratio shifts and the plasticity of the world is officially compromised, whereas before, we had only had Ramona going through the doors as something that “broke” the rules of the universe. In this moment, we are able to see that it is not just Ramona who has cool abilities tied to her, but that anyone can when their powers are called upon. We see Scott jump into the air to fight and that Matthew is able to float as well as spawn demon girls to fight alongside him. We see this all happening in a bar and while people are shocked by the revelation that Ramona dated him, but the actual circumstances of the situation don’t seem to be questioned. This reaction from the characters makes it easier for the audience to buy into the quick change to a video game dynamic and that these things are known to be possible in their universe, even if they are not everyday occurrences.
Both Scott Pilgrim vs The World and Shaun of the Dead are two prime examples of how Edgar Wright is taking the “everyday man” comedy to another level. Wright knows not only how to turn an ordinary guy into a hero, but how to turn every day circumstances into something extraordinary. He has taken the act of worldbuilding from something that is typically reserved for sci-fi and fantasy and the suspension of disbelief we give to action films and has combined them to bend reality into a believable separate space. Wright does not simply rely on the written dialogue and visual comedy of the actors, but uses editing and shot choice to act as a key character in his films. By expanding beyond the actors, Wright is able to make the stories that we’ve all heard before, both Scott and Shaun essentially being stories of self-discovery and getting the girl, and make them new and refreshing by including you in the experience of the world as you know it changing around you. By watching these two films together, you can see how Scott’s world is supposed to be an extension of our own and how visual cues can assist in this, not just keeping the action in line with the comic book and video game aesthetic, but allowing for gags and information to occur simultaneously with dialogue and scene changes. This allows for a larger story to be compiled into a short span of time without making it feel rushed or dragged out. Shaun’s world is simply our own world as seen through optimistic eyes when disaster strikes. This editing is key to highlighting the dramatic and important moments to Shaun and that would matter to us if we were put in his place. The dialogue and characters are additionally extremely ordinary and are the most believable of the zombie outcomes you could imagine. Shaun of the Dead is what would happen if you and a group of your friends had to team together and that’s why the rhythmic editing and dramatic sequences make such a difference. In this way, Wright is able to present dramatic change without actually changing much in the lives of his characters and quickly makes you forget that the outbreak happens throughout the course of one day.
