Genre: The Ellington Kid

Whilst looking at the Ellington Kid, the audience can infer a range of different things about what genre the short film is and what makes it a short film.

When looking at certain shot decisions used by the film makers we can infer what genre of the film is. For example, in this scene we get a sense of comedy as it is a friendly environment between friends of them having a laugh. The joke itself is that the boy is referring to the gang in the shop being put into the burgers and how the boy is eating chips to avoid that, he is obviously joking and the pair laugh.

Drama genre is shown by increasing tension and showing characters and their actions. For example a representation of drama will be when the boy is stabbed and comes into the kebab shop. We understand the drama as the boy has just been stabbed and is heavily bleeding in front of the staff. It is unclear on if the boy is actually okay or not, creating suspense.

Again we see comedy in the way of the two boys laughing over the joke of the boy eating only the chips. How they both are getting on well together. We could tell this is comedy due to the light hearted nature of this scene (two friends meeting up having some food together and gossiping about people they know), the lighting that has been used (bright and natural lighting) and the costumes they are wearing (casual clothing).

Drama is once again represented at the end as one of the kebab shop workers is sharpening a knife and staring at the two characters. This increases tension as it is quite sinister and leaves the audience with questions. Once again we can also tell this from mise-en-scene. The lighting has faded darker, keeping it light enough to see clearly what the cook is doing. Costuming wise he is in his uniform which is very normal, however we could infer that the red is used to show and represent danger. Looking at location we can see that he is working and is in the kitchen. These factors go into making it dramerous and making the audience feel a certain way.

This scene is drama-based. The audience can tell this due to the use of dialogue, lighting, costuming and representation. For example, by using dark/low key lighting we can infer this is at night and is a suspicious thing as if there was lots of light in the are the boy may not have been stabbed as it was too much of an open environment. When looking at costuming we can see that the characters are wearing hoodies (and later masks) this could be associated with the common stereotype of people wearing hoodies being "trouble - making" and "antisocial".(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoodie#:~:text=The%20hoodie%20became%20a%20popular,%22chavs%22%2C%20or%20Neds.)

In this still of when the group of men come into the kebab shop, the audience is once again given a feeling of it being a drama. In this still, one of the kebab shop chefs slowly lock the door whilst holding a knife - threatening the boys. Non diegetic audio is added to increase tension and suspense as the audience wait to see what happens. This is drama as it shows how the character reacts on the spot and what they do to react.

How could The Ellington Kid be made into a horror?

Idea 1: Instead of having the scene repeatedly go back to the two boys in the kebab shop, the film makers could have an establishing shot showing them in the kebab shop - maybe adding a flickering light and a humming noise (from like machinery in the shop) and maybe adding road noise like sirens to add more tension and suspense. The shot can give the context of the location and characters, then the start of the characters talking. It can then switch to a voice over of the characters in the kebab shop explaining what happened with the boy who was stabbed and the gang in the shop. Non diegetic audio can be added to build up suspense and tension.

Idea 2: The scene could again start by establishing the boys in the shop discussing the stabbing and it again switching to a voice over. However this time it could be changed to a POV shot of the boy who got stabbed to increase tension. This could be added with editing and colour correction to make the audience feel as though the boy is loosing blood and is struggling to stay alive. The POV shots that could be used could be the boy looking at the gang and the knife and then looking down at his stomach when he is stabbed and seeing the blood. Next, after he is stabbed, could show him looking left or right (using a pan movement) looking to find a way to run away from the others. After he has left it then is paired with the editing showing his health deteriorating. Again paired with the use of non diegetic sound to increase tension. We are still hearing the boys conversation of the voice over. It could then flash to the boys in the kebab shop and here the bell at the top of the door go off, they both turn and see a boy who has been stabbed fall through the door and stumble to the back of the counter (like the boy shown), the boys shout about it being Ash (the boy who was mentioned by the pair at the beginning of the story) and it ends with a wide shot of the gang walking towards the shop.