Quick Cuts

Having recently re-watched ‘Shaun of the Dead’ starring Simon Pegg, I noticed a startling similarity to another Pegg movie, ‘Hot Fuzz’. It was not any of the plot line that had much similarity but instead the way the main characters played of off each other and the way the action of both movies was dealt with. I hadn’t realised this when I first watched Shaun of the Dead but both films are directed by Edgar Wright. And the style carries between them excellently. Both films are a perfect cocktail of over the top action and immature comedy. 

One of my favourite things about Hot Fuzz is the quick cuts used to demonstrate a series of short actions being done fast. For example there is one scene where Pegg’s character gets into a car, this is show by fraction of a second long clips of the door opening, him sitting, the seat belt buckle clicking into place, the ignition key turning and then cut to driving off.

These clips are quite a different from how most directors use quick cuts, primarily to display action. And having watched Shaun of the Dead I realised that this technique is used again although less prominently in the film, and again not to convey action. There is one scene where Pegg’s character is discussing a plan that he has to escape the zombie hordes, as his voice over talks through the plan we can see quick shots of his plan being carried out. As this film is a comedy the plan is changed many times. After each discussion he runs through the plan again, with accompanying visuals. However he becomes increasingly frustrated and the plan becomes more bullet pointed and the cuts become even quicker to show this. I found this a very amusing and interesting way to convey this idea to the audience.

Edgar Wright has clearly realised that these quick cuts have become something of a signature style of his, so much so that he even included them into his more recent production: ‘Scott Pilgrim vs The World’. However in this instance he chose to make fun of himself a little by showing Scott getting ready for a battle in a series of quick tension building shots culminating in a view of him tying his laces but it taking much longer than every other shot. I really enjoy this editing style both from a humour and a story telling point of view and look forward to seeing if Wright continues to innovate with it.