Required short films- Ellington Kid

 The Ellington Kid (2012)

First impressions of the title- comedy, about a cool kid making a name for himself

What I like:

• Distinct aesthetic
• Smooth camera movements
• Easy to follow framing narrative- parallel time lines
• Effective and controlled violence
• Mixture of horror and comedy- bathos
• Realism- filmed on location
• Clean sound- almost all filmed on location
• Clear characters
• Soundtrack and slo motion to create tension
• Double twist 

Plot:

• Two teenagers in a kebab shop
• Nathan is telling a story to beefy 
• In the story the Ellington Kid is stabbed, and seeks refuge in the kebab shop
• The stabbers chase him into the kebab shop, trying to kill him
• The kebab shop owners lock the stabbers in the shop and there is a suggestion that they slaughter them
• Nathan claims to be joking but the ending is ambiguous

3-part structure 

The movie adheres to Syd Field's three-part structure. In the setup, Nathan and Beefy are introduced to us and Nathan starts telling the Ellington Kid story. 1- The Ellington Kid is stabbed and pursued into the kebab shop by the gang members. 2- The tension between the gang members and owners of the kebab shops. Nathan says "use your imagination", implying that there was a fight. 3- He then implies that the gang members were killed and turned into hamburgers (though he later dismisses this as a joke). This is corroborated when the camera pans to the kebab shop owner, who sharpens his knife and smiles.

The film opens and closes with knife sharpening

Opening CU on knife sharpening- attention grabbing and enigma-creating