#How Edgar Wright Foregrounds Sound

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• Meg Shields
• September 11, 2020

*furious whip-pan noises*

Sight, sound, bare minimum: this is what makes a movie.

And yet, few filmmakers utilize the two with equal reverence. Sound is, more often than not, a post-production after-thought. An element, rather than a driving force of worldbuilding, authenticity, and narrative. You need that car’s wheels to screech. You need the sound of a pen scratching on paper. But never in a way that is meant to stand out to the audience. In movies, sound– ironically enough — is often meant to be heard, but not noticed.

Enter Edgar Wright who, arguably, more than any other living director, has pushed the auditory experience of film front and center. In Wright’s films (including Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Baby Driver), music and sound effects are foregrounded with visuals to achieve everything from cheeky editing wipes and character introductions to cartoonishly intrusive physical comedy. Sound punctuates camera movement in an Edgar Wright film. It makes jokes. It reveals character flaws. The notion of the “music video director” has become somewhat pejorative. But Wright stands as a bold exception: a director who prioritizes intricate, dense, and (most importantly) fun sound mixes.

Watch “How Edgar Wright Uses Sound“:

Who made this?

This video essay comes courtesy of The Discarded Image, a video series created by Julian Palmer that deconstructs film. The series began with a deconstruction of how Steven Spielberg creates suspense with the beach scene in Jaws and has steadily grown from there. You can check out The Discarded Image’s video essays here.

More Videos Like This

• Here’s Every Frame a Painting with a breakdown of how Edgar Wright mobilizes film technique for visual comedy
• How Baby Driver represents the progression of Wright’s signature noisy, sequential quick cut
• Here’s a video from Dolby where Edgar Wright joins sound designer Julian Slater in conversation about their remarkable five-film collaboration
• Julian Slater breaks down how Baby Driver weaponizes syncopated sound
• Here’s The Nerdwriter on how Wright makes scene transitions count
• Fandor has a loving video on Wright’s visual, aural, tonal, and narrative trademarks 
• Here’s Lessons From the Screenplay with a look at how Wright balances substance with style by prioritizing characters and the world of the story