Edgar Wright Auteur Theory | Research Catalogue

Dylan Barnes | Research Investigation (First Draft)

To what extent could the soundtrack in Edgar Wrights films be seen as a signature style.

Film
Item 1: Baby Driver (2017)
This film will be very helpful to my research as it is one of Edgar Wrights latest movies, which features a very heavy use of soundtrack with both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds and music. The film centres itself around its soundtrack which plays a large part in the narrative of the film, it also shows the progression of Edgar Wrights use of soundtrack throughout his years of directing since this is his latest film. The film has a lot of scenes that support the auteur theory as every scene from the character driving the car, to him just walking, is filled with music and other sounds to fit the scenes. For example the opening scene would be a good one to analyse as it immediately introduces us to how the film is going to be throughout with its use of the soundtrack being the compelling feature. In the scene the music is perfectly timed with the actions, and editing, as well as the regular sounds of someone driving a car except they are editing to sound more powerful and stand out more to the audience.

Item 2: Shaun of the Dead (2004)
I believe that this being one of Edgar Wrights earliest films would be best to show how the soundtrack in his films plays a more important role as he did more and more films. In this film the soundtrack may not use as much music as other films directed by him, but the soundtrack still does play an important role in giving the audience memorable moments from the film, from the dialogue the characters have to say, to how the punches and hits are emphasised. I plan on analysing some of the key scenes where the sound used is most memorable, such as the fight scene in the pub when they have the fast paced song by queen "don't stop me now" by Queen. This scene would be best to analyse because of how the diagetic music sets the mood for the scene and how it turns what should be a horrifying moment in a zombie film, into a funny enjoyable moment.

Item 3: Scott Pilgrim Vs The World (2010)
I thought that this film would be useful for my research as it is another film that relies heavily on its  soundtrack. It is also a good choice because of how he managed to make the soundtrack the most important part of a comic book movie, and also makes it seem like a live action comic book by use of the soundtrack. A lot of scenes in this movie are great for analysis as each one has great examples of the soundtrack being used, such as the fight scene at the castle which features music that matches the actions going on, as well as the comic book like sound effects that occur anytime someone throws a punch or hits someone.

Internet
Item 4: http://variety.com/2017/film/news/baby-driver-movie-music-1202482594/
I picked this for my research because it features an interview with Edgar Wright where he speaks about how he was inspired by music in his past to come up with the concept of the narrative of Baby Driver. This will be useful for my presentation as I will be able to get quotes from my director explaining how music and sounds have inspired the film Baby Driver that I am also analysing for my presentation.

Item 5: Film Sound Beyond Reality: Subjective sound in narrative cinema - By Mladen Milicevic
This contains a few points from films in the past, that talks about how sound in those films created effect for the audience and made the film better. I believe I could apply this to my question in how the sound in Edgar's films does the same for the audience.

Item 6: http://www.vulture.com/2017/06/baby-driver-edgar-wright-music.html
This article is an interview with the director in question and brings up questions about the soundtrack in most of his films, especially the three films that I'm investigating, so this would be very useful for the question.

Item 7: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/nov/12/baby-driver-cars-3-office-christmas-party-philadelphia-story-dvds-review
This article

Videos
Item 8: https://youtu.be/pRlA8RzadSs
This interview can be of some use to my my question as the interview with the director asks questions about the soundtrack and how music is important to the film Baby Driver.

Books
Item 9:  Movie Soundtracks and Sound Effects By Geoffrey M. Horn 
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6VYwU-KluD0C&lpg=PP1&ots=uZ9n2L547i&dq=Movie%20soundtracks&lr&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false
This book gives detail into soundtrack in films and its history and on page 12 gives a good quote on why music is used in films.

Item 10: Beginning Film Studies - by Andrew Dix
This book covers a lot of topics of Film and discusses what an Auteur is and also covers sound in movies a little bit too, both of which are useful to my question. I plan on using the book to help explain how Edgar Wright fits the criteria to become an auteur, based on the explanation given by the book


Rejected Items:
https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/edgar-wright-walter-hill-discuss-driver/
This was an discussion between Edgar Wright and another director named Walter Hill, where they discuss how one of Walter Hills earlier films influenced Edgar Wrights Baby Driver, however it only talks about how the narrative and the breakthroughs of the Walter Hill film influenced Wrights latest, and does not mention any use of soundtrack in any detail to be useful.

The Worlds End (film)
This film has been rejected because it doesn't heavily rely on soundtrack like some of his other films. so I believe it wouldn't be very useful in my question and helping to answer it.

Le Haine & City of God Exam Question

Compare the attitudes to poverty conveyed in the films you have studied for this topic. [35]

During the scene in the art gallery, we get a good look at the wealthy people's attitude to poverty based on the mise-en-scene of the scene. Throughout the scene when the camera is focused on the the three protagonists we can catch glimpses in the background of the facial expressions of the more wealthy people. Early in the scene when Hubert and Vinz are looking at a piece of dog artwork, an old man that could possibly be the curator walks right in front of the camera allowing the audience to clearly see his facial expression, which looks like a shocked and disgusted face. This expression lets us know that the old man doesn't think that the poor should be at an art gallery and that they aren't wealthy enough to appreciate art like everyone else at the party, and it gives the impression that he wants the three to leave the exhibition. About mid way through the scene at the food stand we witness two people, a man and a women, keep glancing at the three boys as they fill their mouths with food and drink. The two people act surprised to see them eat like animals and appear to be also disgusted with their eating habits, this suggests that they are not accustomed to how the less fortunate eat their food that they get, since the wealthy are raised with an education and taught how to be polite, while those from a poor background aren't taught how to be since they had no education. This also suggests that poverty stricken people aren't a common sight in the streets of paris which could be why everyone acts surprised to see them at an art gallery. The music in the scene also shows the difference between the poor and rich, as we hear in the gallery the diegetic sound is classical music, which is completely different to the projects where the music is influenced from western culture. This could suggest that the government only cares about the rich enough to keep them within french culture but care so little about the poor that they aren't prevented from having any western influence on them. The way the rich speak to the three boys also shows their attitude to poverty as they speak down to them, resulting in vinz acting aggressive trying to defend them. At the end of the scene just as the three boys left, the host of the exhibition closes the door and says "off the estates", this shows us that the people in paris base those from the projects off stereotypes of being criminals and aggressive and having no culture of their own. The way he says it also indicates that it may not be an uncommon sight to see in paris since he says it casually and not surprisingly like it is the first time it has happened. So the movie makes it seem that the attitude people have towards poverty has built up from years of people from the projects coming to paris and support their own stereotypes against them.

In City of God during the Motel scene we get to see how poverty is conveyed in the film, we see that the tender trio who are all poor or come from a background of poverty, treat the upper class and wealthy people as scum, by threatening them and stealing from them, showing that the poor in city of god have no respect for the wealthy of the country. For example we see a low angle shot of shaggy repeatedly kicking a women on the floor, the shot shows that shaggy is in power even though he is poorer than the people he is beating and robbing