The document provides an analysis and summary of the short film "The Lottery" by the filmmaker. It discusses the film's narrative structure, characters, themes, filming techniques, and reception. The film uses surreal elements and nonlinear storytelling to depict a man whose life changes when he wins the lottery but squanders the money due to arrogance. It was influenced by other short films and combines drama with comedy. Audience feedback was positive about the characters, story, and visual effects, though some found the plot predictable. Overall the filmmaker was pleased with the technically challenging project and how it brought the comedy to life.

1. Evaluation Ben Harris 4053 Alleyn’s School 10802
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I think that there's something about short films that just kind of keeps your muscles
sharp. Karyn Kusama
The length of a ‘short film’ can vary from 15 seconds to 40 minutes, according to the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. They can pack a punch that makes them
impactful and memorable. As Kenneth Branagh stated, ‘I think that short films often contain
an originality, a creative freedom, an energy and an invention that is inspiring and
entertaining’. ‘Operator’, ‘The Arrival’ and ‘Over’ are brilliant examples of films that are more
experimental, and braver with regards to the subjects they tackle.
Simple stories that build an emotional connection stand the test of time. In ‘The Lottery’ I
wanted to tell a story about a relationship soured by the monotony of daily life which, when
potentially saved through a win on the lottery, is destroyed by arrogance and greed. Except I
didn’t want it to be heavy on morality, rather I saw an opportunity to depict a flawed
character and tell his story in a humorous way. The film ‘Echo’ is also a ‘morality tale’ and
particularly effective through the casting of the girl who plays a convincing victim, but with an
edge.
The title, ‘The Lottery’, works on several levels, literally reflecting the narrative and the
figurative elements of the film, encompassing the idea of the ‘lottery’ of life. The narrative
starts by introducing the relationship and daily life of a married couple. We follow the main
protagonist (played by Gus Flind) as he experiences an extraordinary turn of good fortune,
and his reaction to the news. In order to dramatize his internal thoughts, I presented them as
a ‘dream sequence’ where he imagines what he would do with his winnings. After ignoring
his wife to follow his ludicrous fantasies we see him receive instant karma when it’s revealed
his wife (played by Biz Brierley) has instead, pursued her dreams.
My film didn’t clearly fit with any of the given genres on the set list. Further research
suggested ‘The Lottery’ fits the comedy subgenre of a dramady, with elements of anarchic
comedy because of the film’s aesthetic and ironic tone. The clearly fake moustache of the
protagonist, the carefully sequenced disjointed narrative structure, the highly stylised mise-
en-scene and the colour grade, create an almost surrealist aesthetic. It can be compared to
the short film ‘The Fly’ which also uses a hyper-real style. I also used an ironic style of
cinematography using a wide-angle lens for close-up shots of people, creating a large depth
of field that slightly distorts the face and dramatises the presence of the person. By centering
the characters mid-frame I paid homage to the cinematographer Robert Yeoman who filmed
‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ and other Wes Anderson films.
The narrative structure of ‘The Lottery’ conforms to a traditional three-part structure. Similar
to the ‘Ellington Kid’, my film has ‘flashback’ scenes and a disjointed narrative structure

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(non-chronological) in order to entertain a sophisticated modern audience. I wanted to reflect
the action in an expressionistic way, mirroring the feelings of the characters through
cinematography, lighting and mise-en-scene. The exposition occurs when the protagonist
realises he’s won the lottery. Establishing the characters quickly was essential. The viewer
needed to be ultimately aligned with the wife by the time of the twist ending. To do this, I
used a meta-cinema approach with the characters breaking the 4th
wall. This helped connect
the characters more with the viewer and create comedy through visual jokes, such as the
obviously fake moustache becoming more and more lopsided as the film progresses.
The first section of the three-part structure sets up the equilibrium. The wife is ironing and
preparing dinner while her husband lazily channel-surfs, in front of the TV. This part of the
film has longer shots with cuts, instead of whip-pans or fluid transitions, to establish their
personalities and mundane way of life. In this scene, the primary focus is on the
performance and mise-en-scene. The pace picks up with the flashback when the husband
buys the lottery ticket and I used the score and non-diegetic builds to emphasise the change
in pace, the action being punctuated by musical ‘drops’ matched with the building pace of
the edit. Equally the use of crash zooms and other kinetic camera movements help the
audience feel more involved in the plot.
The second part of the narrative structure which sees the husband preparing to go out, then
his dream sequence, incorporates faster cuts and transitions with a faster non-diegetic
score. In this part of the film I’ve introduced more surrealist elements. The car scene is
inspired by ‘The Fly’ in terms of the cinematography and I introduced ideas of meta cinema
in the sound also, the musical score switches from to diegetic when Gus turns on the car
radio. The non-diegetic voiceover in the pub, relaying an imagined conversation and
internalisation of feelings, relates to the short film, ‘The Arrival’.
The most ambitious sequence of the film is where I used VFX to show the transition from
reality to the husband’s imagination. I used a motorised slider which allowed me to repeat
the same (panning and tracking) shot multiple times. Aside from the obvious technical
difficulties the main challenge was continuity, lighting and controlling the large numbers of
extras in a busy pub environment. Using After Effects I overlaid 23 shots over a base layer
to create the sequence of people appearing in the pub.

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The ‘dream sequence’ montage is a homage to Pablo Ferro’s ‘Thomas Crown Affair’ title
sequence. It shows the decadent husband living out his long list of dreams. I explored
different many ways of approaching this. In ‘Over’ the time title illustrates the passage of
time effectively, but I also needed to illustrate the variety of ridiculous, crazy things the
husband aspired to. I remixed the soundtrack to match a faster BPM and added more synths
in order to match the increasing pace of his excessive imagination.
The resolution of the three-act structure reverts back to cuts instead of fluid transitions, to
reflect the building sense of unease and panic of the protagonist as he struggles to find his
winning ticket. The sequence starts with a graphic match of the husband passing out in the
pub/ asleep on his bed. This suggests the passing of a period of time. I also used music to
reflect this and adjusted the EQ on the soundtrack to create a sense of disorientation,
suggesting his hungover state. The final shot of the film is a longer tracking shot, giving the

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viewer time to guess what is happening before the ultimate twist is revealed.
The husband is a big character and I chose Gus after having seen several plays he’d been
in previously. When doing test shots his charisma shone through, channelling the slightly
bitter, bored, lazy stereotype of the nasty husband. Biz had to under-act the wife role, letting
us know she wasn’t happy, neither being too much of a victim nor too assertive - without
giving away the ending. Originally, I planned to shoot an older couple, but concluded the
‘agelessness’ of these actors helped focus us on the story rather than explore their
characters too deeply - a challenge in such a short film.
I used the cinematographic trope of reflections throughout the film as part of my
meta cinema and expressionistic approach. We see the husband look in the mirror in the
bathroom and in the car, similar to the mirror shots in ‘Slap’, allowing him to symbolically
reflect on himself as a person, yet projecting his own vain, self-image which is what we, as
the audience see.
I held three screenings to get feedback on the film particularly on which characters people
felt most aligned with; reactions to the fake moustache; and whether the VFX added or
detracted from the story. Everyone understood the story and the twist, but some people saw
it coming, making me wonder if I slightly over-told the story. The majority of people were
aligned with the wife. There was unanimous positivity about the moustache and that the VFX
added to the film which was reassuring, although I personally feel that if the film was any
longer there’s a danger it would come across as a visual montage instead of a structured
film.
Overall, I am pleased with the feedback on the film. The characterisation is strong; the story
is understood and the comedy works. Technically even the complex set-ups have paid off
and I feel it looks visually impactful. To allude to Karyn Kusama, it feels lean and muscular.
There are elements of inconsistency with regards to the mise-en-scene in relation to the
characters’ social class (the fancy car and posh bay windows at the start of the film – I
worked with what was available to me) but the surrealist and highly stylised context of the
film serve to make the social background more ambiguous, which can be argued actually
helps the narrative.
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