This short film by Shane Meadows, presents
a group of men relaying a story to what I assume as a group of cops, on what
happened at a crime scene. Directly involved are the characters Ronnie, Kevin
Carr, Chinkey Perflick and Jock of the Spoono. Less directly involved are a
group of three men referred to as the Marzetti brothers (Rico, Chico and Zico),
as they are only involved at the end of the crime. The crime that is unfolded
to the cops by the characters in the short film all revolves around some stolen
money from a shop. Ronnie wanting the money attacks the person who stole the
money. Another man then attacks Ronnie and the scene spirals out of control.
This is when the Marzetti brothers show up and Ronnie ends up shooting two of
them. Apart from the actual crime that happened, each character tells their own
story to the cops on what happened, seemingly each one putting themselves in
the clear. The ending is left without conclusion in terms of what happened to
the men involved in the crime.
It takes place in a town or city, with a
suburban type feel to it. The costumes are plain. Each man has a standard
outfit for an everyday civilian, most likely because they were all involved in
criminal activity. One group of men shown in the short film are all wearing
suits. Their 'swagger' evokes them as quite aggressive. One man is shown to
have five rings on his hand. Location and costume all contribute to the
grittiness of the short film. This includes the fact props are displayed such
as guns and knives.
There is background music behind certain
parts of the short film but at brief intervals. The music helps to set the tone
and expectations of what's to come in short film. For example at one point the
group of guys in suits are sitting in a churchyard messing around. A very
'grungy' song plays in the background talking about not getting along with
neighbours. This works in line with the short film as it certainly highlights
the lack of social civility between the characters.
The short film is shot in black and white.
Obviously we don't see real life in black and white, but nether the less the
film has large sense of realism. After watching 'This Is England" I've
noticed a specific style of social-realism Meadows implements in his film. This
sense of realism the black and white colouring presents is magnified by the
natural lighting used throughout the whole of the short film. It stays at the
same shade of lighting throughout the whole piece.
The Camera movements and shots further add
to the sense of realism. As the action sequences are filmed with a handheld
camera. The camera shakes and moves side to side and up and down with brash
movements. This presents how some ones point of view would look like in the
actuality of such an event. Because of this the camera movements contribute to
the film in creating the realistic atmosphere.
The camera shots don't go for perfection in capturing the most out of
the frame but simply following the action, no matter whether it looks messy. I
am not criticising this however, I think it is quite effective.
The editing technique in the short film
often quite quick between changing shots to emphasis the frantic atmosphere in
a lot of the situations. Meadows actually introduces montage editing into the
short film. This is because we see the characters explaining what happened in
the crime to the cops and afterwards we see how the crime happened. This again
creates the unorganised atmosphere the short film revolves around. However,
again works to contribute to the realistic elements. As when a crime actually
happens it would play out in the way the short film presents. Possibly my
favourite part about the short film is that it is left open ended, without the
audience knowing for sure which characters are responsible. Meadows edits in to
the final shot the words 'You decide!'
This short film would fall in to the genre
of social-realism. All the factors described above contribute to placing it in
this type of genre.
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