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DramaComedyDocumentaryAnimationExperimentalMusic
Songbird
Sean Wood
average rating from 16 members 
       
drama | 2005 | London | 10 min
Published 02 Oct 06
A youth is humiliated for dropping litter. Unable to get revenge on his persecutor he finds a victim closer to home.
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scenes some may find offensive.
synopsis
Youths where I live are regarded by adults with distrust and not much effort is made to get their perspective. Songbird addresses this issue from the point of view of one such youth. For most of the film we see him as a malicious predator. But then we find out he is to be evicted from home and our view alters. He is malicious but disturbed too, his aggression stemming from personal inadequacy and confusion. The film ends inconclusively. Catharsis would provide resolution – but the youth’s dilemmas are habitual and I wanted to suggest this.
short fact
"Boredom is a problem for young people. To reflect it in the film I envisaged empty streets, a flat light and static camera. Simple set ups would ensure a fast turnaround. But by lunchtime on the first day we had managed only one shot.

Unusually for October the sun had blazed all morning. In the afternoon things went downhill. Ironically, given the subject matter, local youths where we were shooting, decided to shoot us – with fireworks. Filming was suspended and the police were called. Calm was restored after the art director had chased and caught the chief offender, who dutifully apologised to the entire crew.

He was informed that shooting fireworks at film crews may be one cure for boredom but we couldn’t recommend it."
crew
  • director Sean Wood
  • writer Sean Wood
  • producer Rebecca Bazzard & Mari Tyson
  • editor Catherine Fletcher
  • director of photography Ole Bratt Birkeland
  • sound Fabrice Pougnard
  • music Fitzjames Wood
  • production Designer Mari Lucaccini
  • continuity Jessica Squires
  • sound recordist Simon Gillman
  • hair and makeup Hale Nuhoglu
  • 1st assistant director Rob Cannan
  • stills photographer Tiziana Callari
  • script and story adviser Ros Davies
  • executive producer Angie Daniell
  • film london production executive Maggie Ellis
  • cast
    • Youth James Buckley
    • Man Maurice Gleeson
    • Daughter Phoebe Wood
    • Gran Jane Partridge
    festivals, awards and screenings include:
  • HD fest World Tour 2005
  • London Film Festival, UK 2005
  • Raindance Film Festival 2005
  • Shortlisted, British Independent Film Award 2005
  • Sydney International Film Festival 2006
  • format
    digital
    budget
    £8500
    © 2005 courtesy of Dazzle Short Film Label and Sean Wood

    comments

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    comment by Lauren  Gewirtz
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    posted Nov 8, 2006

    Sean, despite some unwarranted criticism below (in my opinion), I think Songbird is great. Beautiful cinematography - some really nice, tense, haunting shots in there. The dialogue is a tad on the cliche side, though.

    comment by Paul  Akintunde
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    posted Oct 27, 2006

    Quite interesting shots, a nice flow, nice camera work: I liked it. Sometimes it is easy to criticize but much harder to write and direct a short.Keep working on your craft, Sean, you've definitely got it.

    comment by Luke  Stazaker
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    posted Oct 23, 2006

    Dreadful, clichéd to the point of nonsense, after wasting nearly ten minutes of my life, I become rather distressed on reading the amount of money that went into it.

    comment by jonathan  mitchley
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    posted Oct 23, 2006

    rather beautifully shot and acted (especially the man and the dramatic haunted hoodie shots as the youth sat outside the block of flats). The tension built effectively and kept you guessing. Not resolved but then his life will prpbably never be.

    comment by Buchi  Onwugbonu
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    posted Oct 22, 2006

    I couldn't connect with the story and kept finding myself wanting to turn it off, however I kept going just to see some sort of resolution, of which there was none.

    On the positive side, there was some excellent and interesting shots being used. A good sound track might have helped make the long scenes more bearable.

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    useful links
    • www.tractorfilms.co.uk
    • www.filmlondon.org.uk
    • www.dazzlefilms.co.uk
    • Link on britfilms.com
    funded by
    £8,500 PULSE award from the UK Film Council's New Cinema Fund in association with Film London

    production companies
    Tractor Films

    world sales and distribution by
    Dazzle Short Film Label
    more shorts with similar themes

    This film is included in the film catalogue under the following themes:

    • Crimes & Misdemeanours
    • Eye For An Eye
    Dazzle Short Film Label Index

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