DIRECTOR: Edgar Wright

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EDGAR WRIGHT

Edgar Wright uses music videos as a stomping ground for techniques and concepts to use in future films. I don't have much else to say regarding his MV work...... it's pretty limited. But he's one of my favorite directors and it'd have been a crime not to include this look at how a director can use MVs to experiment. 

Mint Royale - Blue Song 
was the basis for Baby Driver. Wright's compulsiveness is on display as every action moves to the beat and each moment lends itself perfectly to the song. We can play the opening chase scene of Baby Driver to this one for a near-perfect match.

Charlotte Hatherley - Bastardo 
is a playground for Scott Pilgrim's style. It's an interesting side-by-side. Not because of of Scott Pilgrim's similarities to Bastardo but from how different it is.

Bastardo (2005) uses the graphic novel/magazine style very literally, as Scott Pilgrim (2010) takes cues from the comic book style. In Bastardo we see square panels, magazine covers, crossword puzzles, still frames, etc. While in Scott Pilgrim uses speech bubbles, loud text and moving transitions. I imagine Wright pouring over Bastardo, replaying it, imagining how he could have made it more compelling. That kind of obsessiveness drove him to a completely different style for Pilgrim, and it's that obsessiveness that is prevalent in every work of his. Every moment intricately detailed and plotted out. He is not a director for improvisation, his work is slick, quick and intentional. 

Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster - Psychosis Safari (2003)
I don't think that Wright had Scott Pilgrim in mind but he definitely used techniques that he used making this. The mix of cartoons with practical effects and obsessive timing with music seems to start here. It also plays to Wright's tone, the skulls and hot rod are typical rock and roll. But Wright brings an extra bit of fun energy to them, something we'll see again in Shaun of the Dead.

Beck - Colors
In his latest collaboration, Edgar Wright films dancing blue creatures against a colorful background. So I guess that means he's going to be directing the next Avatar movie. 

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