Response to 'The Ellington Kid' by Dan Sully

In 2012, Dan Sully directed a social realist short film; 'The Ellington Kid'. The film is set in a kebab shop in London, where a teenage boy is telling his friend the story of 'the Ellington kid', a boy who was stabbed by a gang and took cover by hiding in the very kebab shop they are sitting in. Then the film takes an interesting twist, ending on an ambiguous note which keeps the viewer thinking after the credits have rolled.

Related image

The film's tone is overall comedic, using snappy editing to keep the pace fast, and a single narrator on top of the action. This is not what you'd expect from a social realist film, as it does not focus on one particular character and doesn't portray it's social issue in a realistic and often upsetting way; Sully instead opts to use comedy to deal with the relevant issue of knife crime in London. I think, to an extent this is effective, as it does not shy away from the reality and impact of this issue on people's lives. However, I think that, unlike the other films I have reviewed on this blog, the fact that ‘The Ellington Kid’ is a short film actually hinders it’s impact on a viewer as I think they would benefit from a more complex narrative, and I feel that the 'Ellington kid's’ story would be more effective if the characters were explored more in depth, so the viewer can express sympathy towards him.

Overall, I felt the film was simple and didn't establish it's characters' personalities as well as other shorts have; perhaps it would have been better to focus on a single character rather than a small group, but I thought it was interesting how Sully stepped outside the boundaries of normal social realist films and used comedy as a new way to explore a serious issue.

Comments

Response to 'The Arrival' by Daniel Montanarini

In 2016, Daniel Montanarini directed a short film called 'Arrival' which follows a pregnant woman's inner monologue as she waits in a cafe to tell the man this news. She debates in her head whether or not to keep it, eventually coming to a decision at the end of the film, just before the man arrives. This film is, overall, theatrical. It consists entirely of the expressions of the woman (Anna) and her inner monologue conveyed with a voice-over. It is like the cafe is her stage, as everything from the spotlight on the lead actress to the over-the-top expressions to the well blocked extras in the background exudes drama. Montanarini's camerawork is effective. He uses a simple zoom-in as the scene progresses, building to the climax of the film which is a train going past the window as Anna reaches her decision (whether this is literal or metaphorical or both seems ambiguous). I think all of these features achieve what Montanarini was trying to which, as he said in an...

Narrative Structures in Film

In this blog post, I will be discussing research I have carried out surrounding narrative structures in film, specific theorists relating to this, and structures within short films specifically. Three-Act Structure The Three-Act Structure is an old principal used in all types of story telling. Essentially it means the story has a beginning, middle and end, though these are usually called: Setup Confrontation Resolution Theorist #1- Todorov Todorov identified traditional narrative theory by studying classic fairy tales and stories; he discovered that narratives move forward in chronological order with a clear beginning, middle and end, and suggested that characters are changed in someway at the end of the narrative. He called this a linear narrative . Linear Narrative Steps: The narrative begins with an equilibrium An action or character disrupts this equilibrium A quest to restore the equilibrium begins The narrative continues to a climax A resolution occurs an...

Response to 'Echo' by Lewis Arnold

In 2011, Lewis Arnold directed a short film called 'Echo'. It follows Caroline, a 17 year old girl, who gets a phone call informing her that her dad has been in an accident. However, as the film continues we learn that, though this event did happen, Caroline was pretending to get the call again to con people in the street into giving her money. The film is an interesting exploration of grief and the ways people deal with it, but the most interesting element, I feel, is the narrative structure. In an interview I watched, Arnold explains that the film was written in three parts; three phone calls, the first using long takes to be the most objective, and allows the audience to take the place of pedestrians on the street so that the scene remains ambiguous, to leave the viewer wondering what exactly is happening. Then, when the second phone call takes place, the audience enters the scene from the point of view of Caroline's younger brother. This makes it clear that no...

Zoë's Film Coursework

Search This Blog