There are several scenes in the film 'Hot Fuzz' that are a perfect example of what we need to do in this project, so I have cut together a short video showing these scenes which I will then analyse.
Full size and quality download here: (right click, save link as quicktime movie)
http://www.alisterbuss.co.uk/hotfuzzresearchfull.mov
All of this clips are very much like the ones in Shaun of the Dead, since it was directed by the same person.
Clip #1:
This is the longest sequence in the film to use the fast cut style of editing, covering roughly 10 seconds. It uses fast cuts to convey a very long series of train journeys in a small amount of time. It begins with a shot of a Taxi sign and also ends with it giving a sense of pace since Taxi is slow, then fast trains then ends with slow again.
Each shot is the character in a different position on a different train to convey how far he has to travel. He also has a bored, glazed over expression on his face to convey how long and boring the journey is. Also, to convey a sense of rural location (which is his destination), there are a couple of fast cuts to his phone to show that signal is being lost slowly.
The scene mixes up the pace with the editing as some of the shots go on longer than other making it feel more varies but still makes a boring series of train journeys appear fast and dramatic.
Clip #2:
This clip is 5 seconds long and shows two policeman in a car and the fast cuts go through turning of the siren, the wheel of the car turning in to the road, the siren on top of the car, turning the steering wheel, the police car and the car it is pulling over driving, the other cars indicator light and finally the 2 cars stopping.
This shows the process of a police car pulling over another car for speeding in a dramatic and fast manner. The sounds are loud and dramatic, lending drama and urgency to the scene that compliments the fast cuts. This scene in particular makes use of both closeups and wide shots whereas in Shaun of the Dead it was mostly closeups. The closeups are to show a detail such as pressing a button and the wide shots establish the interaction between the 2 cars.
Clip #3:
This scene takes place across 3 seconds and is fairly ordinary, showing the opening of a door, signing of paperwork, another door opening and a jacket being put in a locker. They are all closeups showing the hand on the handle when opening the door, and hand writing on the paper for the paperwork. The jacket going in to the locker is a nice varies shot because instead of following the same theme of hands the camera is actually inside the locker and the jacket comes towards it ending with a closeup of the police logo next to the camera.
The sounds are simple and what you would expect to hear but louder and tightly cut.
Clip #4:
This scene is about 2 and a half second long and simply shows an extreme closeup of beer and cranberry juice being poured in to glasses and then an aerial shot of the two full glasses being placed on the bar. It speeds up and adds drama to being given drinking in a pub.
The bright colours of the drinks as they are poured in to the glass are very pleasing aesthetically and the sounds compliment it well. The last shot of the glasses being placed on the bar are also very good because 2 hands come from the top of the camera, put the drinks in the middle and then 2 hands grab the drinks and take them down off camera so there is a good flow of movement, mirrored almost.
Clip #5:
This final scene shows a police crime scene being set up across 3 seconds. The first shot shows police tape running across the screen, then cones being set up and then a sign saying police accident. Each of these very fast clips has something interesting and different about them. The first clip with the police tape starts with the word 'police' out of focus then quickly brought in to focus to attract our attention. The second clip with the cones flows very well because the cones are being places towards the camera and the police sign is flapping about rather than static which adds more drama.
Unlike the other fast cuts in the film this one has a special transition of a police officer's florescent jacket moving across the screen, like a classic wipe effect except it's conveyed in a realistic sense as if a policeman was walking past the camera and adds to the theme of policeman being busy, setting up the crime scene.
