Short Film Annalysis

The Ellington Kid is a crime thriller short film.

The narrative of ‘The Ellington Kid’ is about one local youth who gets stabbed by a local gang and tries to find refuge in a local kebab shop. This stabbing is foreshadowed in the opening sequence where the chef is sharpening his knife and chops the lump of meat.

The title sequence of ‘The Ellington Kid’ has entirely diegetic sound, featuring the sound of knives being sharpened, accompanied with an extreme close up of knives being sharpened, this is accompanied by a close up of the meat being sliced and the sound of chips being dipped into a fryer, accompanied with a medium shot of the chips being fried. This sets up the referential code of the setting, which is eventually shown to be a kebab shop. This opening sequence is foreshadowing the following this, there is an establishing shot of the kebab shop, to clarify the setting. The diegetic sound of a motorbike driving past the shop indicate the location of this short film as an urban area.

We are then introduced to the characters, whose dialogue give us more to know in terms of the setting of this short film. Their accents show that these characters originate from Greater London, due to their stereotypically urban accents. This would also give the audience referential codes in terms of the narrative, as the narrative of ‘The Ellington Kid’ would be described as stereotypical in relation to the location in which it is set, as Greater London is seen as a dangerous place where many stabbings and other major crimes take place due to socio-economic issues. Nathan starts to tell the story of the boy who got stabbed. This is then cutaway to him on the bridge getting stabbed. After this there is inconsistent cutting from the kebab shop where the narrating is taking place, to the actual story.

The stabbed kid makes his way to the closest open place to get some help. A close of the bell ringing indicates that the kid has come to get help, as he may not survive his wounds. Shortly after, they use a tracking shot to follow the kid As he stumbles in and falls in slow motion. The slow motion reflects what he sees as he slowly loses consciousness. The gang follow quickly behind him and the pace speeds up to natural speed, to show the state of the gang and how erratic the gang are.

During the sequence in which the gang burst in the door to kill the kid and subsequently confront the kebab shop owners, the non-diegetic music overlaying the scene slowly starts to get louder and louder as the scene escalates. Suspense is created due to the music giving the idea that something is about to go down between the kebab shop owners and the gang. Knives are picked up by the kebab shop owners and the music increases in volume; this suspenseful music reflects the ordeal in which the characters have got themselves into.

The equilibrium is the start of the short film when the boys sit down and eat, what must be, lunch together. The disruption to the equilibrium is when the ‘Beefy’ takes a bite of the burger, which sets off the other boy to start the story and queue the flashbacks. The recognition that the disruption has occurred is when the stabbed kid stumbles into the kebab shop, and the kebab shop owner recognises the state in which the kid is in. The attempt to repair disruption is when the gang come into the kebab shop and gang and the kebab shop owners have a standoff. The return to the equilibrium is when the white boy says he is joking to the black boy after making something up about the burger.