Edgar Wright's Visual Jokes — A Video Essay

Ant-Man started filming yesterday (you can see the first photo of Paul Rudd as Scott Lang here), and while I genuinely wish director Peyton Reed the best of luck, I am still mourning the loss of Edgar Wright, just a little bit. Not because no one else could possibly tell a good Ant-Man story, but because as far as directors go, Wright is maybe the best, most inventive visual stylist in the game, and now it’s going to be another two or three years before we see a new feature from him.

How good is Wright? Take a look at this video essay from Tony Zhou in which Zhou schools comedy directors in how to tell a joke visually, with your camera, by showing clips of all the great visual jokes Wright comes up with. And they are many, and they are good. While a lot of directors just hold their camera still and let the actors do all the work, Wright tells stories and jokes with his camerawork in a way that is rare in these modern times (although he isn't completely alone in this. The video has some examples from other directors). So while I am sure Ant-Man will be an entertaining Marvel movie, I am also sure that Marvel lost more than time when they lost Wright. They lost a lot of really fun, inventive shots of Ant-Man doing his ant-sized thing.

If you like this video (and you should), you can see more of Zhou's work here, here, and here.