Presentation plan

First slide.

 In this presentation I will be discussing what films have influenced Edgar Wright and given him such a unique style of directing.

List of films:

1)     Shaun of the dead.

2)     Hot fuzz.

3)     Fist full of fingers.

Second slide

Use this slide to talk about Edgar Wright and give some brief background information on him.

1)     How he started making films at an early age.

2)     Reference interview from the guardian where he talks about how he developed a likening for film at a young age.

3)     Reference film journal international magazine interview where he mentioned his love of cult cinema.

Third slide

Title film: Shaun of the dead.

Project: Shaun of the dead poster.

1)     Talk briefly about the origins of the movie (opening scene of spaced).

2)     Talk about how this film is influenced by Edgar’s love of zombie horror movies like George a Romero’s of the dead series (dawn of the dead, night of the living dead) and Sam Raimi’s evil dead trilogy. Reference video interview on empire where Edgar lists 10 favourite movies.

3)     Talk about small references to other films. (Character names, film titles places and cretin scenes.)

4)     Talk about use of violence and dark humour, which is common in zombie movies, especially evil dead 2 (show scene where they are beating up zombie to don’t stop me know by queen.)

Fourth slide

Title film: Hot fuzz.

Project: hot fuzz poster.

1)     Talk briefly about the movie’s plot and what it was Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg were trying to achieve with it (make a good Hollywood style British action movie)

2)     Talk about how (like Shaun of the dead) this movie was greatly influenced by another of genre of movie, action movies. Talk about the movies of john woo inperticular hard-boiled, and who Edgar names this as one of his favourite movies in the video interview with empire.

3)     Talk about how this movie uses a lot of fast paced camerawork and editing to give it a high pacing, which is very common in action movies.  Also talk about how I’t copy’s other element such in terms of narrative, characters and cheesy one liners.

Fifth slide

Spoof or homage.

1)     Talk about how the legitimacy of these film sources can be brought into question as they are spoofs of the genres they portray.

2)     Compare to films like scary movie and not another teen movie.

3)     Talk about how that because it’s a spoof it could mean that Edgar write dose not like that genre of movie.

4)     Make reference to article were Edgar write says that while the movies are spoofs he also likes to think of them as homage that praise the genre they spoof. Also reference empire video and talk about how both movies have serious aspects to their narrative.

Sixth slide

1)     Talk about how most of Edgar’s influences are confined to one film. For example in hot fuzz there are a few cheesy one liners, like the ones found in action movies, but this use dialog is only found in this film.

2)     There are a few elements to his filmmaking style that he has clearly picked up from cretin movies that can be seen in a majority of his work.

3)     Make reference to tv series spaced.

Seventh slide

In this slide, talk about one of Edgar trademark styles mentioned in the previous slide.

1)     talk about his use of fast paced camera work and quick cut editing.

2)     Talk about how this style of camera work and editing is used during car chases or gun fights, yet Edgar uses it during less action packed scenes to keep up the fast tempo.

3)     Project clip from Shaun of the dead when Shaun is getting ready for work in the morning to demonstrate my point.

4)     Talk about how this is something he most likely picked up from movies like hard-boiled and bad boys two.

Eighth slide

In this slide talk about another one of Edgar trademark style of filmmaking and where he most likely picked it up.

1)     Talk about a majority of Edgar’s work contains some form of dark/surreal humour and gory effects.

2)     Talk about how this is most likely something he picked up from evil dead 2 which is known the world over for its dark and serial humour and gore.

3)     Project clip from hot fuzz where pillar crushes man’s head and clip from Shaun of the dead where zombies rip David apart.

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

From my research I have found a number of films that have influenced Edgar Wright in many aspects of his film making technique but it is clear that some films have had had a greater effect on him than others. For example in my research I found an interview with Edgar write where he talks about his favourite films and the ways they have influenced him. One of the films he mentions is the good the bad and the ugly. the influences of this film can be clearly seen in one of his earliest films fistful of fingers, which is a spoof/homage to the western genre. But the influences are of the good the bad and the ugly is present in this film and don’t really transfer over to his other films (from what i have seen) . This is the same for many of the other movies he has mentioned because his most famous films are spoofs/homage of other films. it also appears that most ofn the films he talks about inspired him to become a film maker and have not influnced his work.

However there are a couple of films the have clearly influenced and those influences show up in a lot of his films. One of these films is hard boiled. From this film he seems to of inherited a habit of using lots of fast pace quick cutting editing that is used not just in action scenes but in some of the more slower paced, less action filled scenes in order to keep a fast pace through out the film.  He also has inherited a likening for dark humour and gory effects. I believe that he has inherited this traits from the evil dead series (mainly evil dead 2) which is known the world over for it’s excellent mix of horror and comedy.

Comparison of power poverty and conflict in a prophet and city of god.

All three of these themes play big part in both city of god and a prophet but some more then others in each film. I think that the theme of poverty is much more prominent in city of god than it is in a prophet.  One reason for this is because city of god is set in what is at first a small shanty where the in habitants have to depend largely on the tender trio to get buy, even after a few years when city of god has grown to a small, the streets are dirty and people homes appear torn and empty. It could also bee considered that it is because of the poverty of the shanty town that made lil ze desire to be a powerful gangster which would mean that the theme of poverty drives the story forward

In a prophet we don’t much of the story set outside of the prison. One of the few scenes set in the outside world, Malik visits his friend at his apartment. From what we see of it, the apartment seems fairly small and unfurnished. This is the only sense of poverty we see in the film and dose not drive the narrative the same as city of god because we know next to nothing about Malik’s life before prison (however it is likely he lived in some state of poverty as we know he did not finish school.

Power is also a big part of both films. In city of god we see the journey that lil ze takes from being a small time crook/con on the streets to being one of the biggest drug lords in south America. In a prophet we see Malik go from assaulting police officers (which may have been in self defence) to owner of his own drug smuggling operation. However the level of power each character holds and the reason why they attain it is different.

One of the reasons why lil became a criminal may be because (as I said above) because of his desire to escape the clutches of poverty in the shantytown he grow up. But a big part of it his desire to grab power could because he just a psychopathic by nature. This seen when as a young child he goes round the motel the tender trio just robbed and shoots everyone in there whilst laughing. In a prophet Malik is forced to kill a Muslim by Cesar. After he kills the target he comes under the protection of Cesar and his gang and eventually becomes an integral part of it. Whislt towards the end of the film malik untroubled by the violent acts he must to perform in the drug world.at the beginning he dose not cope that well. When he is first told that he must murder someone, it is clearly visible that the idea of killing someone causes him much emotional distress. Even when he becomes a member of the Corsican mafia and is use to have to beat people up he stll see’s the corpse of the man he killed where ever he gose showing that he is not completely keen with murder.

The same cannot be said for lil ze. Through out the movie he kills possible hundreds of people and it seem to cause to him no visible distress. The only death that dose effect him is the death of his best friend Benny. The city of god also seem’s to make a statement about power. That statement being that power is a never ending cycle that keeps getting bigger. Frist we have the tender trio. Three guys how rob trucks at gunpoint when they drive through their town, then lil ze takes over and by his late teens he own all but one drug selling groups in Rio De Janeiro. Then lil ze is killed by the runts who are around the age of 10, and they start making a hit list of people they need to kill in order to take over the drug empire.

In a prophet there is a similar cycle with Cesar and Malik. At first Cesar is the biggest crime boss in the prison and practically owns the prison and Malik is an uneducated 19 year old of North African descent sent to prison for assaulting a police officer. By the time Malik is released he is running his own drug bracket and Cesar is left in prison with a fraction of his former power. A prophet also seems make a point that the environment some one is in will effect what they become. At first Malik is a small time offender but then changes into a big time crook.