The Ellington Kid (2012) - Second Set Work Review
Title: The Ellington Kid
Year: 2012
Director: Dan Sully
Running Time: 5 minutes
Genre: Social Realism
Firstly, I really enjoyed this short film. Even though for some it may not live up to the expectations of the genre of social realism (interestingly, the tropes we came up with in class for social realism were all expectations formed from our knowledge of feature length films), I think it managed to create a cracking commentary on the ways we as a society can make light of highly serious, relevant and important issues. The Ellington Kid shows the way in which the rumour mill and a person's imagination can twist the truth, and in doing so can create a coping mechanism that fantasises the truth to just the right point at which we can detach ourselves from it. I love how this is shown right at the start with the first words you see: "Based on a true story […] kind of." I think these words encompass the main point of the film brilliantly and set the tone for a dark comical spin on a narrative that's resting on the base of a topic that fits well into the genre of social realism (this short film addresses a stabbing).
Now let's put my technical analysis hat on. I really liked the use of music in this short film. Accentuated by the cross-cuts between the two events, the music creates a great contrast between the present reality of the two boys eating out and the visualisation of the stabbing by using only diegetic sound in the present to make it as real as possible, and then using an exaggerated soundtrack for the past to fuel the over-dramatism of the story. I also love the use of the sound of the knife being sharpened - which begins and ends the film - as it adds to the unsettling realisation that we as an audience don't know what's true and what's not; we are completely left to make up our own mind as to how the story really ended - I think this is a really clever tactic for a short film as it leaves you wanting more but in an intriguing way, as opposed to there not being enough time to show what it needs to, making it a rather satisfying ending, at least for me - I'm not the guy who was put off his food...
It's one I highly recommend you check out for yourself, if you haven't already, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Now let's put my technical analysis hat on. I really liked the use of music in this short film. Accentuated by the cross-cuts between the two events, the music creates a great contrast between the present reality of the two boys eating out and the visualisation of the stabbing by using only diegetic sound in the present to make it as real as possible, and then using an exaggerated soundtrack for the past to fuel the over-dramatism of the story. I also love the use of the sound of the knife being sharpened - which begins and ends the film - as it adds to the unsettling realisation that we as an audience don't know what's true and what's not; we are completely left to make up our own mind as to how the story really ended - I think this is a really clever tactic for a short film as it leaves you wanting more but in an intriguing way, as opposed to there not being enough time to show what it needs to, making it a rather satisfying ending, at least for me - I'm not the guy who was put off his food...
It's one I highly recommend you check out for yourself, if you haven't already, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
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