Ed Wood is a Tim Burton biopic on Ed Wood Jr., who’s claim to fame was being known as the worst director of all time. The film follows Ed as he, against all odds, works to put together his films no matter what others think about them. Along the way Wood befriends an old, drug addicted actor, Bela Lugosi.
The choice to shoot in black and white was a great stylistic choice. I gave the movie that b-movie look and made you feel like you were in the 1950s. One scene that had the best editing I believe was the opening credits. I was so taken in with the editing of opening credits in the way that the whole shot seemed to be one long take but was clearly consisting of a variety of different shots. The camera flies from outside into a house then back outside then into the water then into space. Looking back over the scene I realized the cuts were easy because most of the time the shot went to black making it easy to transition without it looking like there was a cut. Though it was obvious when you were looking for the cuts, I was amazed at the subtly of the cuts. I got far into the scene before I realized that it all couldn’t be one shot. The editor was able to make these cuts because the film is in black and white making it easier to cut without being noticed. Another time they did this was at the end which was interesting because the shot started out zooming out from the actors in a city but then started to boom up out of the city showing a clearly B style Hollywood backdrop. This was interesting because the transition from the real city to the fake was done so smoothly I couldn’t see it.
Ed Wood’s cult fame comes from the humor of laughing at his movies but to him those movies were art. The film could have easily taken the route of making complete fun of him but instead portrayed his optimistic drive to make his art a reality. I believe the choice of having Tim Burton direct this film was perfect in trying to portray this message. Tim Burton himself was an outcast and like Wood he never gave up. The parallels between the director and the protagonist helped give the film heart.
