Black Swell

GENRE - Drama

NARRATIVE - This story is about a deeply unhappy man, who goes to a motel room with the intentions to kill himself. As he is getting ready, he is distracted by his neighbour who ends up being an old student. He get's frustrated when the neighbour tries to get him to talk and screams at him to "fuck off". The film ends with a twist, by the neighbour killing himself instead of our original man, and therefore the man having to go and find his body.

This could be seen to be a joke structure; as the set up is us expecting the man to commit suicide but the pay off being the neighbour doing it. This is a very sad and dark structure.

The way this is filmed with the setting being symmetrical and using dark colours sets the narrative for the film being a sad drama. The opening shots showing us the dire surroundings which are very empty. It also sets the time that this is set, that being the witching hour when it is dark but starting to get light, or it could be dusk when it is beginning to get dark.

We get a lot from the character by how the man is covering his bed with a sheet so as not to get the bed messy, as depressed as he is, he is still aware of other people. The whisky by his bed is a key convention of a depressed man. The only music is the heavy metal coming from the neighbours which initially distracts him, this kind of music is so loud that it is distracting from ones thoughts. This should be the give away that the neighbour is also depressed, and then by the desperation he has to talk to the man about how he is feeling. However, we are so focused on the Old man and how he is feeling that we aren't aware.

 The end scene is very powerful, with the slow pan away from the symmetrical room and the Old man going to find the dead ex student. It remind us of the line that the ex student said "we could share and recognise ourselves in each other" 

https://vimeo.com/139874888