city of god

In my opinion there is one main message that the director is trying to convey in the city of god. that message is that violence is an endless cycle. this is seen when at first the main trouble makers are the tender trio, but eventually they stop there life of crime (or get killed) and then lil dice/ze takes other and becomes even more violent. then at the end of the film lil ze gets killed by the runts (young troublwe mamkers) and we here them talk about how they are going to talk other the city by kill anyone who gets in there way. while there words may seem like an empty threat you must remember that lil ze started gaining power at there age.

The film uses quite a lot of fast paced editing to keep up the tempo of the film. during benys party when lil ze and beny are fighting and beny eventually gets killed by blackie the director uses the setting of the party to keep up the fast paced action. the music that's playing has a fast upbeat tempo, strobe lights are the only source of light are most of the camera shots are taken with in the crowd. this makes it hard for the audience to follow what is happening and makes it seem like we are actually at the party. it not until beney is shot and the crowd has cleared that you truley understand what happend. during the scene when lil ze sends a messenger to carrot to tell him to hand over knock out ned and the messenger runs away after seeing knockout ned the screen splits into to seprate shots, one showing us carrots men chasing after the messenger and the other showing use carrots talking to knockout ned. this helps keep the fast paced action during what would of been just a conversation between two people.

because this movie is based on real events, alot of what happens in the movie reflects what was happening in cidade de deus, and many other parts of brazil, at the time. even though it is based on real events i was under the impression that some of the film would of been exagerated, but after reading a gaurdian in the article i  found that i was wrong and that in some cases the state of affiers was worse than it was depicted, even to this day the violence is still growing with marcilio dias being on of the most violent places in the world. a nurese working in one of the more violent areas dose not think of dead bodies turining up every few days as excessive.

what films have influenced edgar wright as a director

One of the biggest influnces of edgar wright would be the zombie horror genre, namley the evil dead series and films directod by geaorge a remero. these influnces can be clearly seen in shaun of the dead, edgars rom zom com. there are many small refrences in the film such as charcters that have names that refrence characters from other zom films and the scene in which simon and co are fighting a zombie to queens don't stop me know is Reminiscent of the dark humor found in the evil dead 2.

other films that have influenced edgar wright as a director are action films such as hard boiled and die hard. these influnces can be seen in hot fuzz, where he micks cheesey catch phrases and action packed fights.
in his tv series spaced most episodes/narrative/cinematography have been infunced by some film or other type of medium, such as (goodfellas, the matrix, pulp fiction, evuil dead, star wars) these influnces effect different aspects of the show. one episode's narrative features characters that are clearly influnced by the agents in the matrix, whilest in another episode they have a scene which is near exact copy of the pop tart scene in pulp fiction even though it has a completely different narattive.

while most of his movies may seem to be spoofs of other popular films , edgar wright has stated that while they are suppose to thought of as funny and to be taken lightly there are, as he consdiders, to be a homage to the films that they spoof.

film catalogue

What films have influenced Edgar Wright as a director and writer?

Films

Shaun of the dead (2004, universal pictures)

This is one of my primary sources. It is Edgar Wright’s first feature film, which he directed and co wrote with Simon Pegg. In my opinion it is a valuable source because the movie reflects lots of elements from other famous zombie movies such as dawn of the dead and evil dead 2, through the use of cinematography and editing. It also makes small references to these movies through mediums like character names, and even the title. These influences are commented on by Wright in the commentary feature on the DVD.

Hot fuzz (2007, universal pictures)

This is one of my primary sources. It is Edgar wrights second feature film with him as both director and co writer (along with Simon Pegg) and is the second film in their definitive blood and ice cream trilogy.  It is a valuable source in the same way that Shaun of the dead is a valuable source. Because reflects lots of element from other more iconic films in the same genre. The difference being that because this is, primarily an action movie it makes reference to films like die hard and point break instead of dawn of the dead. These influences are commented on by Wright in the commentary feature on the DVD.

TV

Spaced series 1 and 2 (channel 4, 1999-2001)

I have chosen spaced for similar reasons I have chosen the films, because it makes references/spoofs/reflects different films that have influenced/inspired Edgar Wright in his style of directing. Because this is a TV show it has different narratives for each episode meaning it references a wider verity of films than both hot fuzz and Shaun of the dead.

Internet

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/feb/12/guardianinterviewsatbfisouthbank                (Jason Solomons, February 2007, the guardian)

Although in this interview Edgar Wright dose not talk a lot about films that have had a great influence on his directing and writing, he dose talk about how he has been a great lover of films since a very young age and how that has effected his life early on and later in life and some of his favourite directors and actors.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0942367/

Edgar wrights imdb (internet movie data base) page. Lists although movies/TV shows he has worked (and is going to work) on as a writer, director, actor, editor and producer. It lists miscellanies trivia about him, famous quotes and his trademark writing and directing techniques.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Wright

Edgar wrights Wikipedia page. Gives information about his early life and how he managed to get to where he is in the movie business. It must be noted that all this information may not be very reliable as Wikipedia entries can be edited by anyone.

Videos

http://www.empireonline.com/features/edgarwright/

This probably the most valuable source out of all the sources I have found because it is a video of Edgar Wright naming ten of his favourite movies and how they have influenced his style of directing and writing.

Discarded sources

Scott pilgrim vs. the world (2010, universal pictures)

I first choose this film to be one of my sources because it the biggest budget film Edgar Wright was involved with, so with there for mean he would be able to do a lot more in this movie than his others. In this sense I was right but the movie did not have lots of influences from films but games and modern pop culture.

http://www.empireonline.com/features/edgar-wright-talks-scott-pilgrim-teaser-trailer/

At first this seemed like a informative source but I have chosen to discard it for the same reasons I discarded the Scott pilgrim vs. the world film, because most of the influencing factors are not films but more about games and popular culture.

http://www.empireonline.com/interviews/interview.asp?IID=155

Although this is a q and a with Edgar Wright about Shaun of the dead, the whole interview is focused more about the process of filming and editing and the reception it’s got.

How the cities in La Haine and Taxi Driver have a direct effect on the narrative.

In both la Haine and taxi driver the city settings play an important role in the narrative, however I believe that the city setting in taxi driver is more important the story than in la Haine.

My first reason for this is the way Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) talks about the city, first of al he dose talk about the city but when he dose he talks about it he personifies it a cretin extent, making it sound like it parasite is that it has been infected. Travis is always saying that the city is a disgusting place and he wants to clean it up making it almost seem like the city is the antagonist and Travis is the protagonist.

In la Haine the he city (Paris) looks a lot different to the New York in taxi driver. In taxi driver the streets look dirty, dark and damp. On the street corners women sell there body’s for money and people sell drugs, vents spew steam into the alleys and one of the main sources of light come from neon sign’s advertising strip clubs. In la Haine the suburbs of Paris look somewhat like barren and empty, which in emphasized by the black and white picture. When the setting changes to the actual city things start to look more glamour’s and alive, but I becomes immediately obvious the Vince, Hubert and said do not fit in.

What is also different is the characters position with in the city. In taxi driver Travis thinks of himself of being above what happens and has a desire to change things for the better. In la haine Vince, Hubert and said seem too apart of the crime that takes place and Vince at first has a strong desire to be a gangster. Also the city dose not seem to play a big a part as it dose in taxi driver. As I have said in taxi driver Travis make it sound like the city is the antagonist, in la Haine the city is not really personified in the same way.