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DramaComedyDocumentaryAnimationExperimentalMusic
The Clap
Geoff Lindsey
average rating from 62 members 
       
comedy | 2005 | London | 13 min
Published 01 Dec 05
An obsessive music fan stalks his pianist idol with intrusive applause. The tormented virtuoso fights back - with music.
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synopsis
An obsessive classical concert-goer (Steve Furst from the Orange ads and Little Britain) isn't satisfied with mere listening. He has to participate - timing his applause to such perfection that he's the very first clapper at the end of every symphony and sonata. But when he inflicts the clap incessantly on his idol, concert pianist Krzysztof Veneer (David Bamber), the tormented virtuoso decides to fight back. With music.
short fact
The Clap was one of the six shortlisted films for the 2005 Turner Classic Movies classic short film competition.

The Clap is about the mad intensity which can bind an enthusiast with a performer - and I was tickled by the idea of low comedy in a high-art setting. I've tried to make a "composed" film that builds carefully to a climax, and it was a huge thrill to see it work on a big audience at the NFT.

Thanks to the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts for their vision in letting me collaborate with composer James Francis Brown.

Also to the Film Council for completion funding.
crew
  • director Geoff Lindsey
  • writer Geoff Lindsey
  • producer Alan Dewhurst % Hugh Welchman
  • editor Peter Lambert
  • director of photography Vladimir Trivic
  • music James Francis Brown
  • piano played by John Christopher Adams
  • casting director Amanda Tabak
  • production designer Katie Lee Carter
  • cast
    • Clapper Steve Furst
    • Veneer David Bamber
    • Marketing Man Kayvan Novak
    • Secretary Miranda Colchester
    • Male Self-Improver Timothy Speyer
    • Female Self-Improver Jenny Ogilvie
    • Posh Mother Gigi Marceau-Clarke
  • Unwilling Son George Warren
  • CD Stall Assistant Sebastian Brennan
  • Chauffeur Rob McCafferty
  • Violinist Katherine Gowers
  • Concert-Goers The Croydon Philharmonic Choir
  • festivals, awards and screenings include:
  • UK cinema screenings through Future Shorts
  • Brief Encounters, First Past the Post programme 2005
  • premiered at Edinburgh International Film Festival 2005
  • Finalist TCM Classic Shorts 2005
  • format
    35mm/Super 35
    © 2005 BreakThru Films Limited

    comments

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    comment by Jesse  Malone
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    posted Feb 21, 2006

    I enjoyed the acting and was engrossed for the first few minutes - then, my mind started wandering - the intensity of the comedy was good but felt in order to sustain it, it needed to be shorter, snappier -

    Jesse  Malone is Casting Director and a member of Film Network's Industry Panel.
    comment by brian  stevens
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    posted Feb 14, 2006

    Yes it made me laugh. The relationship between the pianist and the clapper made this an entertaining film. Easy to watch.

    comment by Grant  Keir
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    posted Jan 29, 2006

    Predictable and trite. Just goes to show there's no accounting for taste.

    comment by William  Bodge
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    posted Jan 26, 2006

    Although a rustic backwoods American who does not parlez Anglais well, I laughed so hard at The Clap that I gagged on my cider, and was otherwise so distracted with this excellent comedy that dinner was allowed to burn to a smoldering crisp while I was watching it. No kidding.

    This is a marvelous short, deftly directed, lean, mean, and lacking any blubber or gratuities, and jam-packed with high humor and great detail. The story summarizes perfectly a "type" and a phenomenon of our changing culture--there's more depth here than may be immediately apparent with one viewing. The cast is a hoot!



    comment by laura  tann
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    posted Jan 6, 2006

    i really liked this film- everything was brilliantly shot, the cast were great and the music was beautiful. plus everyone knows there's always one person who claps just like that, usually in the row behind you!

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    useful links
    • www.breakthrufilms.co.uk
    • www.tcmonline.co.uk
    • www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk
    • Listing on britfilms.com
    • Listing on imdb.com
    • www.futureshorts.com
    production company
    BreakThru Films Limited

    sales agent
    BreakThru Films Limited

    funded and produced by
    NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) in conjunction with the UK Film Council Completion Fund

    selected by
    Turner Classic Movies from the 2005 TCM shortlist.
    TCM Classic Shorts

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