Narrative - Ed Wood

 Fig 1.

Ed Wood (1994) - Director, Tim Burton.

Ed Wood is a tale based on the struggle of the infamous film director Ed Wood (Johnny Depp) and ultimately the creation of  'Plan 9 From Outer Space' which clinched him the title of worse film maker in movie history. Ed Wood’s film making career was thwart with funding issues causing low budgets and poor production and no matter how determined and sincere in his efforts the results were received badly by audiences and his peers. Ultimately Wood’s career never blossomed and he sank into making porn films and at the age of 58 died of a heart attack possibly aided by his serious drinking problem.

Fig 2.

Shot in black and white and with the sets and scenes of some of Wood’s film painstakingly recreated there was an amazing amount of authenticity. The New York Times further explains that Ed Wood “pays homage with loving re-enactments of authentic Wood movie scenes and with actors who look uncannily like members of Wood's freakish troupe.” All of which is a triumph in film making for Burton in that he manages to recreate something that’s so bad you really couldn’t make it up.

 Fig 3.

Burton ends the film at the part of Wood’s life at the world premier of ‘Plan 9 From Outer Space’ where Wood states “This will be the film I’ll be remembered for.” It’s a perfect ending for the film and because you don’t see the lows of his later life it manages to beautifully portray Ed Wood, the known failure into a lovable eccentric that makes you wish he could some how succeed in his plan to create movies by any means possible.


Trailer



Bibliography

Ed Wood, New York Times, 1994, [Online] avaliable at http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9405E0DA143AF930A1575AC0A962958260&scp=4&sq=ed%20wood&st=cse [Accessed 20 September 2011]

Ed Wood, Timeout, 1994, [Online] avaliable at http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/63724/ed_wood.html [Accessed 20 September 2011]


Image Bibliography

Fig 1 . Ed Wood, DVD cover, 1994, [photography] http://www.emovieposter.com/images/sunday/200/ed_wood_JC00133_L.jpg

Fig 2. Ed Wood, Movie Still, 1994, [photography] http://cynicritics.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/ed-wood.jpeg

Fig 3. Ed Wood, Movie Still, 1994, [photography] http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/edwood1.jpg