Notes on Short Films

 The Gunfighter (Kissack, 2014)

Classic western tropes - instantly recognisable but SUBVERTS TROPE with a humerous voicover which can be heard by everybody - so can the music - meta-humour

ballet of death

Loves Westerns - wanted to create a parody but also critical of how similar they all are in plot, characters and structure

Contemporary society - too much honesty leads to conflict 

Conflict between characters - they all shoot each other and they have all done things to wrong each other

Subverts the typical narrative by having a revealing narrator - puts humour in a typically serious situation



Swimmer (Ramsay, 2012)

Black and white, camera drifts across the water like a boat, stays close to the floor to mimic the swimmer's eyes - not getting much information but still getting a little

Uses nature as a transitional device - frames the humans as outsider

Music is ethereal and magical, hinting at a deeper and more fantastical world around the swimmer

High Maintenance (Van, 2006)

Intense sounds create an uncomfortable feeling - something inhuman, uncanny valley

Plays with gender stereotypes

The Grandmother (Lynch, 1970)

Diegetic sound
Surreal imagery - sexual symbolism for procreation
Humans acting like animals
Unnatural cinematography 
Switches between animation and live-action, although even that doesn't look realistic
Contrast between black and white - dark lighting - sometimes in colour with dark backgrounds
Boy doesn't get care from his parents, just abuse, so he grows himself someone to care for him, a grandmother which are typically associated with love and care
Shaky camera - conflicting emotions
Tracking with and into the pain of the boy when getting abused
Same sequence of camera angles and shots show daily routine - only slightly changes to show a new day




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