Firstly, in a task set in lesson, I began to research Wright's colour schemes with potential books and songs I could use for inspiration. In doing so, I created three separate moodboards presenting each aspect. For the colour moodboard, I found each scheme for every one of his films. For the book moodboard, I wanted the graphic novel series, ‘Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life’ as an inspiration for my work, particularly for its use of satirical comedy. The novel was also the source material for Wright’s ‘Scott Pilgrim vs The World’, his to-date only adaptation. I acquired various different pages from the novel series and combined them into the moodboard. Following that, I then created a moodboard for his film soundtracks and music that associates with a common theme between Wright’s and my project.

This was a good start to the project as it allowed me to gain a better understanding of what I would be aiming to do in relation to my future research and ideas. Knowing the basics of what Wright has previously used in his films presented examples of how I can use his style of filmmaking. 

Afterwards, I focused on the research about Wright himself. My profile on Wright; listing his early life, career and films enabled me to understand more of the personal aspects that impact his work as well as how it relates to the themes addressed in those films. In hindsight however, I believe I could have gone further in-depth into some of his earlier works such as his claymations and ‘A Fistful of Fingers’ as it will convey how Wright started his career, which can be of use considering I am at a similar stage.

I also studied his cinematography, and to do that I created a variety of moodboards; a separate one for each of his major films (Shaun of the Dead - Last Night in Soho) and collated various different shots from the films. When seeing every shot laid out, it provided a greater insight on how different his films look from one another, while also having some elements which are consistent throughout. I presented his cinematography in this way as I thought it would inspire me and create a starting point for how I want my film to look like.

In addition to the cinematography, I then moved on to researching his unique editing style. Wright tends to edit a majority of his films in a fast-paced manner, particularly in scenes where he reforms generically mundane scenes into energetic action scenes, often mimicking Michael Bay’s filmography. Within my research, I compiled a list of all the techniques Wright uses as well as how they use them. I am most fond of how Wright implements “Rhythmic Editing” where the action in the scene matches up with the music (generally diegetic music) which is featured heavily in ‘Baby Driver’. As editing is a major part in Wright’s films, I wanted to ensure that I understood his style and I feel the increased time spent on this research has not only benefited me for this project, but for future projects as well.

The editing is commonly complementary into how Wright uses sound design and needle drops in his films. Through a variety of video essays and interviews, I gathered a long list of reasons why Wright uses specific songs and how they benefit the end product. I had also found an article where Wright reveals many of his favourite albums, with a majority of them appearing across his films. As he is a big advocate of rhythmic editing, the right song choice is immensely important for Wright. He explains that he finds that he imagines scenes when listening to songs, something that led to him directing a music video for ‘Blue Song - Mint Royale’, which became the biggest inspiration for Baby Driver’s production. Similar to Wright, I also find myself often imagining different scenes when listening to pieces of music, so hearing another perspective, especially from someone who’s films I admire, has guided me towards being more precise about my song choices. 

The last piece of research I conducted was purely on the context behind his films. This included areas such as intertextual references, ideologies, narratologies and politics. As I haven't previously gone into such depth about context prior to this project, finding the information was initially difficult to me, however I managed to find an informative case study focusing on Shaun of the Dead which gave me a great insight into the meanings behind certain choices made within the film’s production. Using the information from the study, it allows me to be more creative when coming to storytelling and how those creative choices can have a deeper meaning behind them. 

Now, moving on from the research into writing the scripts, storyboards and shot lists. I started with the scripts, which I made two drafts on due to a major change in my idea. I changed my mind on the first draft due to the decreasing time I had left to film and edit, therefore I changed the idea in order to be much more practical and easier to film. This meant having to cut a large amount of dialogue as time with actors was difficult to find. On the other hand, after redoing the script, the storyboard and shot lists were simple to do as I already had a good idea of how I wanted my film to look. Upon reflecting, the script change made me realise that it is important to have a rough schedule of when I need something done, or else it could diminish my initial vision.

I filmed my project over the half term and was able to only film the main card game part of my story. This wasn’t much of an issue as it still shows Wright’s style, however the ending suffered due to a lack of build-up that would have been there if everything was filmed. The day prior to filming, one of my actors pulled out, meaning that there was minimal time to find a replacement, therefore needing me to fill in. This would prove a struggle as for some shots -which needed all 3 characters in- it wasn’t possible. On top of that, one of my actors wanted to be a cameraman, therefore I had less control in some of the framing. Directing is an area I need to improve in and if repeated, I would try and get better control over the filming process so the shots meet the standard I set for myself. 

When it comes to the lighting, research done about light readings and temperatures massively helped as it gave me a better idea of how I wanted my film to look like. Through filming and colour grading, I desired a warm, comfortable look to contrast the coldness of the atmosphere and the characters. On the day, I had access to two lights, a warm ceiling light and an external lamp. To begin with, I used the external light as it had a larger range of warmer temperatures so I was able to be more precise with it. Towards the end however, the light ran out of battery, so we had to change to the ceiling light which wasn’t as strong but could be worked around when colour grading. 

In my opinion, I was content with how some of my shots turnt out but also feel that they could have been more alike to Wright’s style. I felt I was able to capture the essence of matching actions with a beat and putting together a montage. But the elements I feel lacked in quality were the movements and the framing of certain shots. 

Overall, I know that these issues could have been easily solved if I was more confident and took more control over the shots so they matched with the storyboard and shot list.

I went into post-production unsure if the shots would translate well into a sequence, but in the end I am happier with how it turnt out, though not completely. 

Some elements of Wright’s style was prominent throughout the film, however other elements definitely lacked in the final edit. The rhythmic editing to the song ‘Salute Your Solution’ took quite a bit of time but was incorporated well and fitted Wright’s signature style. With this montage, I felt I was able to successfully convey a traditionally dull scene into a fast-paced action mock-off and imitated ways he uses split-screens, often seen in Scott Pilgrim vs The World. One element also found in Scott Pilgrim was Wright’s use of visual audio. I attempted this through video tutorials on Adobe After Effects and succeeded until for a reason unknown to me, didn’t link to my Premiere Pro sequence meaning I had to scrap the idea as the deadline drew closer. This further encourages the need for a schedule as it would allow me to keep track of time.

As mentioned previously, the story structure suffered due to the lack of suitable shots that matched with my initial storyboarded vision. The ending was the most disappointing aspect for me because I know that if i had been able to film my whole piece, it would have made much more sense to the average viewer, however in the final edit, it feels abrupt and awkward. 

Lastly, as I already had an idea of how I wanted the film to look like, I confidently set out to achieve the effect. I initially planned to download an LUT to apply to the footage, but found out quickly that it didn’t seem to work, or when it did, did not achieve the exact look I was aiming for.

Upon reflecting on the project as a whole, I am content with the final video and the research that supports it. My research was highly productive and benefits me in the future for when I carry this research into the FMP, with the plan to develop and add to it. However, the production stage is where the quality starts to falter as I continue personal struggles to convert my ideas into the footage I need. With my FMP, I will make sure that I take more time to prepare and focus on filming so I have footage that I can easily edit into what I require.