Viewinder Film School

Film School: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

Scott Pilgrim vs The World (2010) Scott Pilgrim vs The World (2010)

Live-tweet watch party with director Edgar Wright sharing storyboards and tales from behind-the-scenes – plus a cast reunion table read.

This treasure trove of behind-the-scenes goodies, promo clips, source materials, and of course trivia, reveals the amount of thought and attention to detail that went into creating writer/director Edgar Wright‘s film adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley‘s graphic novel series, Scott Pilgrim vs The World.

Script Pages

Storyboards

Pre Vis

Update: while not part of Wright’s live-tweet-a-thon, this clip offers a revealing glimpse into how in-camera visual gags in the film were developed (via Glasgow Film Festival):

Camera Tests

Mary Elizabeth Winstead nailing the look(s) of Ramona Flowers:

Ready, Steady… Watch!

That’s Nigel Godrich, who did the music for Scott Pilgrim vs The World, is the longtime producer for Radiohead and Thom Yorke.

Building an entire set for a single “effect” shot – this technique will come up again in this movie, and it’s certainly turned up in the work of others since…

Shynola is also responsible for one of my favourite animated / motion design music videos, The Rapture’s ‘House of Jealous Lovers’:

https://twitter.com/evilhag/status/1263261887199719424
https://twitter.com/evilhag/status/1263262260568289280

Intermission – first, here’s the bathroom scene / single take:

Now here’s Nerdwriter discussing this and other Edgar Wright in-camera comedy moves:

Ok, back to the twitter commentary…

Edgar Wright directed the music video for Beck’s ‘Colors’:

https://twitter.com/bryanleeomalley/status/1263266994771517442

^ Wright made Simon Pegg do this a couple of times in Spaced too…

https://twitter.com/bryanleeomalley/status/1264005500095459330
https://twitter.com/ChrisEvans/status/1263270655694303233

Three months later, on the film’s actual 10th anniversary, Wright tweeted a bunch more BTS footage, including this previs:

Back to the live-tweeting:

https://twitter.com/maebirdwing/status/1263271898474926080
https://twitter.com/maebirdwing/status/1263272406396723200
https://twitter.com/evilhag/status/1263272677231349761
https://twitter.com/evilhag/status/1263272973097562112

Amazing:

^ Bill Pope, director of photography on Scott Pilgrim and a little film you may have heard of:

Post-Credits

https://twitter.com/ChrisEvans/status/1263268065376038912?s=20
https://twitter.com/evilhag/status/1263286296677511169?s=20
https://twitter.com/BrandonJRouth/status/1263286963064324096?s=20

Further Viewing

For the film’s 10th anniversary (and as a fundraiser for Water For People), most of the cast reunited via Zoom for a table read of the script (most of whom haven’t visibly aged and have become such huge stars in the years since):

The entire cast returned for the Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023), together with Edgar Wright as executive producer and Bryan Lee O’Malley as showrunner. The animated limited series is a remake / reboot / re-imagining which uses the opportunity to engage with elements of the previous versions which may not have aged so gracefully, and to take the story in a very different, equally heartfelt direction (no spoilers here – it’s well worth the ride):

Back to the 2010 film – a compilation of Edgar Wright’s vlogs during the film’s production:

All the deleted scenes from Scott Pilgrim Vs The World:

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) by ＣΛＴΞＳ, reshared by Edgar Wright himself:

Every Frame A Painting gives us possibly the definitive guide, Edgar Wright – How To Do Visual Comedy:

Want even more Edgar Wright film school? We look at ‘The Plan’ Montage in Shaun of the Dead (2004)…

Film School: ‘The Plan’ Montage in ‘Shaun of the Dead’ (2004)

… and ‘The Move To Stanford’ Montage in Hot Fuzz (2007):

Film School: ‘The Move To Stanford’ Montage in ‘Hot Fuzz’ (2007)