Brief/Synopsis

The brief for our project was to produce a 5 minute short film, and then to produce a promotional poster and magazine style review about the film itself. We have chosen to create a film based around enigma and mystery: our protagonist wakes in a garage to find a dead body in a box, with a book titled “The Quintessential Guide to the Disposal of a Body” detailing the various methods with which to dispose of the girl in the box. The film then follows him as he moves the body from the garage to the place of burial, encountering problems and a twist ending.

We have made the decision to remove dialogue from the film, instead subtitling the thoughts of the protagonist on the screen to add to the surreal feel of the piece. The dark subject matter of the film is juxtaposed by the bright imagery, with the majority of our locations using high key lighting: this challenges the conventions of how death is typically represented within cinema, replacing the dark and morbid feel of traditional deaths in films with clear blue skies and scenes shot in a picturesque field. The presence of the guide also adds a subtle element of black humour to the film: the fact that our protagonist is taking orders from a mysterious book he found next to the corpse of a young girl, in a cardboard box, raises questions about his sanity.

The theme of the protagonist’s mental state is called into question several times throughout the film. We have referenced this by including themes of isolation, delusion, dehumanisation and desperation. For example, there are several shots of the protagonist dragging the box through a deserted field: this is representative of him being alone and isolated from the rest of humanity in his disposal of the body.

In regards to cinematography, we have created a combination of tripod based steady shots and handheld work. We felt that reaction shots and footage of the box being moved were best displayed by using handheld close-ups to give a sense of chaos and motion.

- Joe Lawrence