There’s a new, longer trailer for Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg’s The World’s End coming in about 15 hours, but I’m still chewing on ideas and images from the first one.
I’ve taken it apart, shot by shot, and going from screen capture to s...
There’s a new, longer trailer for Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg’s The World’s End coming in about 15 hours, but I’m still chewing on ideas and images from the first one.
I’ve taken it apart, shot by shot, and going from screen capture to screen capture, I want to point out some small details, observations and analysis. While I will draw on a few sources other than the trailer itself, nothing that follows comes from anywhere other than the public domain.
We start with images from what appears to be a flashback sequence, steeped in summery nostalgia. Note how Gary and Andy, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s characters, are the ones keeping their T-shirts on.
Gary is in the middle – he is the protagonist, after all.
This period was not the Super 8 era, of course – the look is being used for nostalgic effect. Why not VHS, though? We all know Edgar Wright shot a lot of VHS in his teen years, even if his first film, Rolf Harris Saves The World, was a Super 8 production.
And here, Gary’s conspicuous by his absence. For a moment.
Some proof that, in his youth at least, this lad could jump fences.
The sound effect suggests he’s just rang the doorbell for no reason whatsoever and is now running away. We used to call this Knock Down Ginger. For some reason, adolescents – and today, possibly even toddlers – find this a good way to spend their free time.
They also find this a good way to spend their free time. But this hobby tends to last longer.
It seems like beer is very important in this film. Obviously.
The communal experience of all getting stuck into beer together. Not something I’ve ever been through, I have to say. Maybe some of this film is just going to fly over my head.
But being in a pub, making eye contact with a girl or group of girls across the way? I can understand that, at least.
These girls were amongst the subjects of a previous story on the site. At that time we learned that it was important that the actresses could sing. Keep that in mind. Also note their hair colours.
To us it’s the Three Flavours, Blood and Ice Cream or Cornetto Trilogy but putting that in a trailer might alienate some viewers who think they have to watch the other two first and then got asking for Blood and Ice Cream 1 in HMV.
Here’s Gary King in the middle of the lineup, all black from top to bottom, arms raised. There’s not much more he could be doing here to become the focus of this shot. King by name, King by nature.
Also note: the faux low-gauge look has been dropped and we’re also now full frame.
Here we get to see the signs of the eleven pubs that are instrumental to the film. We start, as you would, with The First Post which has a crossroads on it and a letterbox. I don’t think these will be coincidental – somebody’s going to be at a juncture in their life, and I expect it will be three-way split; I’d also be surprised if a package, letter or e-mail doesn’t play some important part. Double post meaning ahoy.
I expect these pub signs work as something like chapter titles. The Old Familiar, with just two pints on display, might suggest that we start with just a pair, probably Simon Pegg as Gary King and Nick Frost as Andy Knightley, coming together. They are King and Knightley after all.
Though, as we’ll see later, the group all seem to convene at the same time, so it’s more likely to be the pair teaming up, banding together or agreeing in some sense.
And then they’ll be joined by The Famous Cock. Paddy Considine’s character, Steven, has apparently been something of a rocker in the past, so I’m thinking this might be where he comes in. Or maybe it’s Martin Freeman as Oliver or Eddie Marsan as Peter who’s being framed as a “cock.”
But I think they’ll all come together in The Cross Hands, and make their commitment to completing the Newton Haven pub crawl, at least two decades after they first attempted it.
If you look at the sign of The Good Companions, you’ll see one mask bears a smile and the ot
