SCRIPT TO SCREEN - SHORT FILM 2 - STEW AND PUNCH - CONTEXTUALISING

STEW AND PUNCH BY SIMON ELLIS -WATCHED 28/09/18

Today we watched another great film by Simon Ellis called 'Stew and Punch'

The short 17 min film is based on a couple, Alex and Sam who have recently moved into there new house and are hosting a very uncomfortable dinner party.

From the opening scene (above) we see straight away the roles of which they play within there relationship, Alex is cooking up his stew that he has marinated in Red wine for 48 hours whilst Sam is asking how long it would be because she is entertaining the guest, he demonstrates in this scene that he is very much in charge of the more domestic duty's.

When the door bells goes Sam tells Alex that she will get it and that he should stay in the kitchen and finish up the stew that the guests have been waiting for.

When the other guests enter, it is Alex's best friend and this is made apparent by the dialogue and actions, his best friend (whom is bigger then him in his physical appearance) hugs Alex and spills his drink on the sofa, Alex then say's 'Every time', this indicates that they know each other, the next piece of dialogue that suggest that Alex is not the alpha male in his relationship (as is suggested in many male roles) is "Don't worry Ill clean that up".

When Alex, Sam, Sam's best friend and girlfriend enter the kitchen, Alex's best friend teases Alex on how long he has been cooking, whilst also being flirtatious with Sam, who playfully place along, but in this shot (above) the camera clearly shows Alex's frustration in the background of the scene.

Alex's facial expressions and domineer suggests that his 'blood is boiling' or 'he is stewing'.

Alex goes off into the kitchen every now and then to help himself to the punch that Sam has made, he starts to show that he is drunk and saying mescaline pieces of dialogue which 'lowers the tone' of the party.

Alex is then challenged at the dinner table to have an arm wrestle with Sam.

I think that it is Alex's way of showing he is in charge, Sam win s the match and yet again he is mocked by losing to a women.

This drive Alex to drink some more.

I feel that the drink give's Alex more confidence to speck his mind, but one the other hand I don't think it is really in his bones to be mean or violent.

His best friend is a masculine guy, I observed this from these points of observation.

• He cuddles Alex over the shoulder when he walks in.
• He flirts with Sam without his girlfriend battering an eyelid and Sam excepts the gesture
• He mock's Alex about him being in the kitchen cooking
• He has an arm wrestle with Sam, pretending he doesn't even realise that he is having an arm wrestle.
• He dances with his girlfriend on his back without no effort, he seems to be very much in control.

Alex has a great opportunity to prove that he is just as a man, when his neighbour knocks on the door and complains that the music is too loud.

Alex try's to start a fight with the neighbour but fails because his best friend steps and calms the situation down.

The character of the best friend changes because he shows empathy towards the neighbour and not violence and also shows that he knows Alex that well, that he needs to make him through up to be sober, it's another observation that this is not the first time that this has happened.

This film was created to have some comedy elements within it that is seen, but more like dark comedy, because no jokes are told within the dialogue yet the physically camera shots demonstrate the comic aspects, for example, when Alex's best friend is calming the neighbour, Alex looks as if he is going to smash a wine bottle over his head, but when his best friend mentions about them being best friends his actions change and he reluctantly drops the bottle.

I personally have had this kind of experience at a dinner party and I could see early on that it wasn't going to end well.

Overall the short film was very well shot in a location which they didn't have to worry about the weather, we had the sense of drama within one location but had been separated by good camera work and blocking.

Contextualising Stew and Punch  related to my idea is that all filmed inside on one location as is my idea, it also shows aspects of the different characters in a confined space.