‘Get off my land’ and ‘Ralph’ Short Film Analysis
‘Get off my land’ is a dark comedy short film directed by Rick McLeod in 2016, with three main protagonists: the farmer, the man and the woman. It deals with the themes of dark humour and irony. It tells the story of how a man and a woman are walking along, what they think is a footpath, and how they have a dispute with a farmer. ‘Ralph’, is a romantic short film directed by Alex Winkler in 2008. It deals with the themes of isolation and love. The story is about how a 16 year old Ralph travels alone to Marseille in order to try and find his best friend Clare and declare his love for her.
The establishing shot for ‘Ralph’ shows him getting off the train. He is in the centre of the shot and no one else can be scene with him. This establishing shot tells us so much about the character from the start. It shows that already he feels isolated and is alone in this venture. The establishing shot also makes Ralph look very small in comparison to the only other point of reference in the film, the train. This tells the audience that ralph may feel small and insignificant compared to everything and everyone else.
In the establishing shot for ‘Get off my land’ it shows the feat of two people walking through a muddy field. There are sounds of birds chirping and footsteps. The first person is leading. She is wearing hiking shoes and has large baggy trousers which seem to be tucked into her shoes. This implies that she is from this area and seems to know what clothes to wear and what the conditions of the area are like. The camera is staying static and the first person walks past. The second person then slowly walks past as well; the camera is focusing on him. His shoes are a lot nicer than hers and are white. This tells the audience that he is not from the area as he doesn’t correctly know how to dress for an outing like this. He pauses for a moment and flicks mud off of his jeans. He can’t even correctly do this implying again how rural this is for him and how alien it is. We also hear that he is sighing, which tells us he doesn’t want to be on this walk. The distance also between the two also indicates that he doesn’t want to be here or even that she doesn’t. When he climbs the fence he seems to be very shaky and doesn’t really know how to handle it, this furthermore shows that he is not from the area.
Similarly in ‘Ralph’ the theme of isolation is explored here, but in ‘Get off my land’, isolation seems to be explored by the use of spacing whereas ‘Ralph’ explores this by having no sub titles so that the audience feel isolated with what is going on as Ralph, and presumably most of the audience, can’t speak French. Ralph has similarly explored isolation through spacing by seating Ralph alone and far away from anyone when he’s eating his chips. This emphasises his isolation and detachment with the world around him. The use of costume also in ‘Ralph’ emphasises his isolation as everyone is wearing more neutral colours such as blue or white, but Ralph is wearing a red shirt and a gold chain which makes him stand out.
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