Dramatization in
film is much more than recorded theater. The language of stage and screen is
fundamentally different from one another. There are more techniques available
to film than theater. One must consider time, space, and location, settings and
décor, and costumes and makeup.
Hot Fuzz does not seem to have much time
elapse during the film. It’s conceivable that the timeframe of the story ranges
from a few weeks to no more than a year. A key indicator of that is when Sgt.
Angel goes to arrest Simon Skinner on the suspicion of murder; the dates of the
murders are within a span of four days. Also, Sgt. Angel doesn’t know when
Danny’s birthday is. One would figure that partners would know each other’s
birthdays within a short time of working together. There are only a few
flashbacks, most of which are when Sgt. Angel is revealing what he thinks is
going on in the village. There are various uses of space in the film, with
various types of shots. For instance in the scene just before Leslie Tiller’s
murder there’s an establishing shot (though not a very wide shot) of her
horticulture shop. The next is a quick, fairly close-up shot of Sgt. Angel’s
notebook that is placed on the dash. Then there are a few over-the-shoulder
shots of Angel and Tiller and during that the quick conversation, and the foreshadowing
line, “I was just about to pop off.” That line is followed immediately by a
quick close-up of her pruning shears. The subsequent monologue of Tiller’s
helps blow open Angel’s theory of what is going on in Sandford. The scene is
made more tense by the gradual zoom of the lens, as opposed to tracking, to
both Angel and Tiller. Everything happens within the proscenium arch of her
shop. The only thing hidden in the scene is the hooded figure as Angel goes
outside to get his notebook. The audience has no clue how the figure appears.
While one might
be able to ascertain what is going on the film without the language, there
would be lots of comedy missed and some clues as to what is really going on in
the film. There are many lines that foreshadow events in the film. Martin
Blower’s, “We haven’t got long,” Simon Skinner’s, “He’ll be in bits tomorrow,”
Rev. Shooter’s, “Tim, you’re number’s up,” and Tiller’s, “I was just about to
pop off.”
While the
storyline of Hot Fuzz could translate
to the theater, the film as it is would be very difficult to be adapted for the
stage. The movie contains many locations which are tied to the characters and
would require many set changes. The action sequences in the film would more
than likely get lost on the stage. The scale of the shootout towards the end
might be hard to recreate, not to mention the car chases.
Edgar Wright and
Simon Pegg did extensive research into the making of Hot Fuzz. They watched countless movies and added many action movie
clichés. They surveyed police officers in the UK about what was lacking in
police films. One of the most common answers was the total lack of paperwork
seen in movies (Wright and Pegg, Hot Fuzz). There are various
nods to that throughout Hot Fuzz.
Transitions between scenes are aggressively cut while you can see characters
writing.
Hot Fuzz was almost entirely shot on
location. Wells, Somerset, Edgar Wright’s home town, was converted to Sandford,
Glouchestershire. Almost all of the sets in the film were in the buildings in
and around Wells. Most of the sets convey the small town/village feel of
Sandford. Wells Cathedral was painted out of much of the film to make the town
of Sandford a “village.” Early shots were filmed at Hendon Police College,
where London’s Metropolitan Police are officially trained. Models were used for
the explosions at George Merchant’s mansion and the Sandford police station.
The costumes in the film are realistic to the period. So, realistic in fact that Pegg and Nick Frost were actually believed to be real police officers. Also, Paul Freeman (Rev. Shooter) was thought to be a real priest. Makeup in the film is natural and realistic. There is nothing that appears out of the ordinary.
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