Editing Textual Analysis of Hot Fuzz

Posted on by under Textual Analysis

Top London policeman, Nicholas Angel is sent to a quiet country village as punishment for being too good. But the village is not all it seems! Numerous deaths lead Angel into a final showdown with the villagers in ‘God’s Country’. The sequence is from the end of the film – the final shoot out between Angel, his sidekick Danny and the villainous villagers.

Analyse the editing techniques and meaning of Hot Fuzz (2007) Wright

Top London policeman, Nicholas Angel is sent to a quiet country village as punishment for being too good. But the village is not all it seems! Numerous deaths lead Angel into a final showdown with the villagers in ‘God’s Country’. The sequence is from the end of the film – the final shoot out between Angel, his sidekick Danny and the villainous villagers.

Continuity of screen space

The scene begins with an establishing shot, this follows the convention of shot sequences. This opening shot, ”Welcome to Stanford”, sets the scene for the audience telling us where we are. The audience needs its spatial awareness in order to not feel jarring. 

Continuity of time

The scene begins with a fade into the establishing shot, this is a gentle transition into the scene and implies a passing of time.

When the school children get out the cans, there is a jump cut between the other cuts to create the craziness of the children grabbing at the cans. 

Montage

At 01:13, there is a montage where Angel gets suited up for battle, it gives us a quick visual representation of the character and his motives, also implying a passage of time. The music playing also excites the audience and increases tension and expectations for the battle. 

Rhythm & Style

The majority of the action sequences in the scene use a rhythmic 4/4 beat to cut in time with the music which keeps the audience in sync and keeps up the pace in the scene. A couple of hidden wipes by people walking through the frame also keep rhythm and passes time easily without having to spell out everything to the audience. A wipe when it cuts from the police station to the protagonist on his horse shows the time passing best. 

 

Batman Context and Critical Reception

Posted on by under Contexts

These are notes on the similarities of the September attacks to The Dark Knight and how they relate.

Notes:

Crash Course Video:

Dark Knight, Dark idea’s Article:

Turner, P., 2020. Dark Knight, Dark Ideas: The Ideology of Nolan’s Batman Trilogy. Media Magazine, [Online]. Available at: https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/media-magazine/articles/16916 [Accessed 11 December 2020].

The Joker as the Ultimate Antagonist

Posted on by under Representation

The Joker as the ultimate antagonist, specifically to Batman, is what makes The Dark Knight so special. In order for Batman to be as dark of a character as he is The Dark Knight needed an antagonist to match the tone of the film.

This match is carefully done to the point that the two characters are interlinked with each other and share each other’s goals, even with their drastically different motives to achieve it. They are literally two sides of the same coin fighting for one goal; to win over ‘the soul of Gotham’. Although both try to reach for this goal, they go about it with opposite motives but ultimately end up doing the same thing – hurting people to get the goal.

With this, the Joker had to of been powerful enough to create this new Batman. He was always one step ahead and put consistent pressure on the Batman to make choices that interfere with Batman’s inner morality, like choosing to either save Rachel or Harvey. The threat had to feel real and the Joker had to feel impossible to beat in order for them to reach the same goal. Batman had to of had ‘nothing to threaten him with’ in order for the Joker to feel like the looming devil over Gotham, trying to prove people are corruptible, this making it why the Joker is the ultimate antagonist.

 

 

 

 

The Dark Knight Analysis

Posted on by under Narrative

The hero’s journey in The Dark Knight is one that is a little unconventional as it does not necessarily follow the steps in order of the usual story arc (12 steps of the journey) or clearly enough that you can spot them. Some of the points in the journey are not even applicable to the story as they aren’t clear enough or don’t exist which is experimental, especially for this genre. Most of the character functions however are clear and The Dark Knight uses them well to complete the story. For example the main protagonist and antagonist are easy to identify even with the moral conflicts within the story itself.

Representation in The Dark Knight

Posted on by under Representation

In terms of representation, The Dark Knight, Christoper Nolan presents us with a more unconventional hero. This version of Batman is much more dark and unforgiving by pairing him with and equally dark and unforgiving villain which he has to live up to. This introduction of the biggest villain meant Batman had to be a darker hero for a darker time of which represented the time real people in America were facing like events such as 9/11.  Although he still does follow a lot of the conventions of a superhero character, he also breaks this because of the grittier themes and conflicts that come up from realism inside the story.

The slideshow also explores the character of the Batman:

Genre Analysis of The Dark Knight

Posted on by under Genre

In class we were given the task in small groups to label the repertoire of elements of the superhero genre and worked on specific characters to see their similarities and differences in character in the genre.

In relation to The Dark Knight, it uses some of the typical conventions for the superhero genre but also breaks them.

Similarities:

  • Uses specialised weaponry/tech/vehicles – Batman’s suit, Batmoblie, and the listening and mapping device to map phones/computers.
  • Set in a city – Gotham, big urban areas.
  • Typical conflict of good trying to overcome evil – Batman trying to stop the Joker (and other smaller villains)
  • Aerial shots – swooping shots of Gotham.
  • Large action sequences – Joker chase, end Joker fight sequence, the first bank scene.

Differences:

  • Dark superhero suit – monotone colours – black
  • The hero dose not win – There is no clear winner between Batman and the Joker.
  • Dark and gritty – dark tones and themes rather than bright colours and fun stories.

Skip to toolbar