Short Films Told by the Camera - Suggestions?

[Jon Hout]

Hello everyone!

I wanted to post and see if anyone had any suggestions on some more recent short films that tell their stories entirely through camera composition and movement (such as Alex Roman's "The Third and the Seventh") for example. I teach a Cinematography class, and, while I have plenty of examples from the annals of feature film history, I'd like to give examples of some more recent work. Films can include actors or not, be abstract or concrete - as long as the camera is the primary means of communicating through movement, perspective, and composition.

I appreciate any ideas anyone has - I'm sure there are quite a few options out there!

Thanks all!

- Jon

 

[Chris Johnston]

Hey Jon
When I read this, I immediately thought about a short film from about 5, 6, 7, years ago on Myspace. Small film group there decided to have everybody make a short 2-3 minute film using only inanimate objects. One guy shot a short on his work desk called the "Jaguar and the impala" or the Lion and the Gazelle or something similar.
Sorry, no link to the film, I just couldn't find it. but I'll try to describe as best as I can...(cause it was awesome!)

Anyway, It was shot on his desk using only the stuff you would normally find on a work desk. There wasn't much movement in the shots, almost static shots and the shots that had movement were always close ups where you couldn't see his fingers making things move. I'll try to verbally describe the story even though I know I won't do it justice.

The stapler was a lion laying on his side (sleeping?) then suddenly it flipped right side up and turned to the side. (as if it heard something on the other side of the desk)
You see an extreme close up of the front half of the stapler moving behind a book and slowly stalking the pray but hiding behind things. It quickly traverses an open spot on the desk and again hides behind a picture frame that had a picture of a Baobab tree in it, but you can see his head peeking out behind the picture. At this time you suddenly see a picture of an impalas head and neck. (as if the Impala senses something/ at this time the music got kinda tense too.) Cut back to the lion stapler and you can now see the lions head peeking between a bunch of pencils in a cup (which really looked like tall weeds that a lion would hide in.) A quick cut back to the picture of the Impala. then back to the stapler peeking out from the side of the pencil cup. The stapler moved back and forth ever so slightly just like a lion would do when its getting ready to make the big dash for the pray. One quick cut to the impala, then suddenly the pencils all flop on the desk as the stapler plunges. You see a quick cut to the stapler biting (stapling) the Impala across the neck. (the picture of the impala was actually on the cover of a book report called "The Impala" that had been printed out. Cam dollies out and fades to black.

I know I didn't describe it well but the way the guy shot it was very realistic. and I know that the camera movement, perspective wasn't really the prime communicator in this instance (more like the content told the story) but I just thought that would be a great test for a class, make a short and tell a story with just using inanimate objects.