'The Ellington Kid' analysis

'The Ellington Kid' analysis

'The Ellington Kid' is a short film released in 2012, directed by Dan Sully and is about five minutes long. The genre of the film is comedy/drama.

Unlike traditional films, 'The Ellington Kid' feautures a narrative embedded within the plot of the film and as such it is possible to identify two three-act structure stories within the film. The inciting incident for the first story is Nathan telling Beefy the story of the Ellington kid, the rising action and subsequent twist which would usually occur in the second act is Nathan inferring that the burgers are made out of the gang members and the climax is when the camera pans to the kebab shop worker listening to them and scraping the knives against each other. For the story within the story the inciting incident is the Ellington kid getting stabbed, the rising action is the Ellington kid taking refuge in the kebab shop where the gang members follow him and it seems like there will be some confrontation between the kebab shop workers and the gang members and finally, the climax is when the kebab shop owners grab the knives and close the shop implying they are about to fight the gang members. This film does not so much subvert narrative conventions so much as it subverts the way films are structured using these narrative conventions, it is rare but not unheard of for films to feature another story using the three act structure format within the films own three act structure however this is usually restricted to use in feauture length films and the two narratives are usually not comparable in terms of duration whereas in this film both narratives have a very similiar length.

The two narratives in this film have very different tones and these tones are created and contrasted using a variety of narrative techniques. For the scenes with Nathan and Beefy a few close up shots are used to show the food being made which becomes an important plot point later, a long/establishing shot shows the kebab shop they are at. Most of the shots of Nathan and Beefy are two shots and over the shoulder shots that are typically used for scenes of converstation between two characters, there are also some zoom shots and a panning shot that pans from the two to the kebab shop worker that introduce some variety of shot types. The earlier scenes feauturing the Ellington kid are tracking shots which follow him as he tries to escape the gang members, some close up shots are used to show the bell ringing as he enters the kebab shop and his blood coming from the wound. Medium close ups are used to show the kebab shop workers and the gang members and their behaviour during the confrontation. Some slow motion editing is also employed with scenes featuring the Ellington kid to distinguish the two stories being told simultaneously and give some dramatic emphasis to these darker scenes. 

The lighting between the two narratives is also different as one takes place during the day and the other night but the use of light is also utilised for dramatic effect. All the scenes with Nathan and Beefy have pretty flat lighting but instead of being a fault of the cinematography this seems to be to situate these scenes in what the viewer would identify as the real world whereas the scenes with the Ellington kid are by contrast more dramatic and hence have more dramatic and dynamic lighting. 

Sound is one microelement that connects the two narratives, the diegetic dialogue of Nathan narrating the story of the Ellington kid plays over the Ellington kids scenes and some non-diegetic music plays over the Ellington kid's scenes to increase the tension and the music rises to an emotional level as the kebab shop worker locks the door before abruptly ending as Nathan finishes telling the story. The music then continues playing in the credits after the reveal of the kebab shop worker being the same one from the story. The same diegtic noise of the knives being scraped against each other is the first and last sound of the film, both opening and closing it, its significance within the story is also very vital. 

In this film the audience is aligned with Beefy as he acts as an audience stand in, being told the story by Nathan and asking the same sort of questions the viewer may ask. The film may not directly engage with multiple points of view but it does draw attention to youth culture and the value of community in Britain and potentially all across the world.

 Some of the things from this film I am considering putting in my short film, include the sense of comedy, multiple tones in one film and a sense of ambiguity that engages the viewer.