Ramona Flowers and Scott Pilgrim
Imagine one day you meet the person of your dreams and you are so infatuated by the individual that you would do anything and everything to win them over. This person makes you feel like you are on top of the world and capable of anything. However there is one circumstance that you must overcome, you must prove to the individual your dedication to them by battling all seven of their intimidating exes. Everyone knows the iconic Universal Studio logo, but imagine the logo pixelated symbolizing a video game.
A first glance you can imagine the movie being some type of gamer related film then all of a sudden some type of upbeat yet ear ringing music begins to play changing its whole dynamic. This is how the film Scott Pilgrim vs. The World begins, immediately grabbing the audience’s attention. In the film, Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) falls in love with a girl named Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).
Ramona Flower seems to be everything that Scott has ever dreamed of, but in order to lock in their relationship he must battle her seven jealous exes. Although the movie seems like the events that occur are highly unrealistic and targeted towards the gamer and comic book fans the movie puts a twist on your typical teen romance and makes it film that anyone can enjoy. This is established through the use of special effects, upbeat music and great cinematography.
The most noticeable and attention-grabbing features of this movie would have to come from the unique use of special effects. In the opening scenes when the characters are being introduced it gives the viewer small inputs of information about the character such as their name, age and preferences.
This mimics the idea of gamertags that are typically set in the beginning of games to help you establish character roots. By using this unique way of opening the film it really aligns with the whole comic book and video game setting the film is trying to establish. Another great use of special effects in the film is use of floating onomatopoeias during fight scenes.
For instance when Scott fights any of Ramona’s exes words mimicking noises from punches being thrown would appear on the screen just like it would do so in a graphic novel or comic book. Special effects like such really brought the film’s comic book and video game feel together while integrating the purpose of the story.
Although there is no music in comic books there is always music in video games. In video games the music usually is there to boost your confidence and performance, it does exactly that in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Scott Pilgrim is a young adult that plays for his band called Sex Bob-Omb. His band is known by very few people, but those that are aware of his band are really appreciative of it. Many of the music presented throughout the movie comes from the band itself.
The music that the band plays always supports the mood of what is occurring in the particular scene. For example in the closing scene Scott has a sudden realization that he is capable of winning Ramona over and goes to where she is partying to win her over completely. What should be noted that is that at this particular nightclub Ramona is with one of her exes that Scott defeated before. For some reason Ramona is has some vulnerability to this particular ex named Matthew Patel.
Gideon is also the owner of the nightclub that they are in and has signed his band. When Scott confronts Gideon to confess his love for Ramona the band begins to play music that intensifies the situation. The as the fighting begins over Ramona the band unconsciously plays music that is perfectly timed and paced to enhance the mood of the scene. The music throughout the film really brings all of the emotions that the characters are experiencing and really amplifies the viewer’s experience overall boosting the film’s originality.
The film has a sense originality that really enhanced the viewers opinion on how well the film was produced. The cinematography is one of the most impactful elements that makes the film. Again referring to the final fight scene with Gideon, really kept the viewers engaged. In this scene not only is their mood setting music playing in the background being performed by his band but there are other elements like camera angles, framing of shots and lighting that really bring not only this particular fight scene together but every other one as well. In this scene there are lots of shots that bring the viewer into the fight scene as if the were Scott himself.
As this is occurring the lighting comes to a spotlight that is only one the fighters emphasizing how important this fight really is. Then once again the camera angle only better this final battle but moving continuously changing the viewers point of view. The shots used were a very unique way to tell the story and really put into play what the producer (Universal Studios) was trying to incorporate the whole video game and comic book theme.
Although at the end of the film we are completely unaware if Romana and Scott’s relationship will last, we can relate to this cluelessness and infer what happens ourselves. The film really emotionally impacts us as viewers due to the fact many of us could end up in a more realistic yet compelling situation as such in order to find the person of our dreams.
