Name of Film: The Nightclub
Screening: Sunday, July 25 at 9:00pm
Name and Position of Filmmakers:Charlie Bray - Director
Total Runtime: 8 minutes
Genre: Sci-fi/Fantasy
Synopsis:An uneasy young man fails to impress a young woman in a nightclub, but
he has a remarkable ability that he intends to use to his advantage.
Only the lady is spoken for.
Country of Production: United Kingdom
Country of Filming: United Kingdom
Date of Completion: 07/07/2009
Other Festivals: London Short Film Festival, Cannes Short Film Corner
Premiere Status: US Premiere
Is this a student film? Is so, which school?Yes. The London Film Academy.
Is there profanity, nudity, violence, gore, etc? If so, please explain in detail and give your opinion of an acceptable age limit.There is a small amount of blood in the film. This would probably only upset the smallest children.Parental Guidance!
Message: Thank you for accepting The Nightclub! I hope everyone who sees it
enjoys it and takes something from it!
Below is the director's statement:
Nightclubs are fascinating places. They are one of the last vestiges of hedonism, where people can freely indulge in behaviour that would actually cause alarm in any other social arena. The recipe is simple; take a couple of hundred people, pack them into a crowded space with thumping music, play them with alcohol and see what happens. And things do happen.
Apart from the obvious cinematic appeal of shooting a science-fiction film in an environment with sporadic lighting, silhouettes and plenty of physical movement, what attracted me to the script was the idea of deceit. It is something that the majority of us practise every day in one way or another, be it the simple adjusting of our mannerisms in a given social situation, or a blatant lie to someone else. As with most science-fiction, the protagonist's literal and fantastic ability to deceive in this film serves as a metaphor with wider implications, in this case, the way we choose to present ourselves socially to others.
I wanted to convey the idea of a young man who is 'learning the ropes', who is still trying to decide who he wants to be in life, who is discovering his talents and attributes but finds himself
out-classed by those more confident and experienced than him. This seemed important to me because although these sorts of issues are usually attributed to adolescence and early adulthood (the relative youth of the cast is not accidental), i think they actually transcend age and continue to apply to many facets of adult life. One can certainly have similar experiences starting out in the film industry!
The other point i feel is worth mentioning is the role of sound in the film. In wanting to remain true to the nightclub environment, i decided quite early on that we were not going to hear any of the dialogue between the characters. This was partly because i usually find that the music in clubs is loud to the extent that one can barely hear any conversation, but more importantly, by denying the viewer the means to hear what is being said, it forces them to focus on the characters' movements, body language and facial expressions. This seemed the right thing to do as it is these physical characteristics that draw so much more attention in a nightclub, a realm where people tend to be judged much more quickly by their posture and 'physical attitude' than any other other i can think of. Of course, this meant that the music in the film became doubly important and had to occupy a curious middle ground between representing the music playing in the club and also functioning as a score, an objective that i think it has achieved well. Interestingly, while editing the film i noticed something that confirmed an old adage we are often told about film being a visual medium- the story is at least 80% comprehensible with the sound turned off...
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