We talked about who should so what part of the group presentation on Savvannah Swift, and I volunteered to look at the camerawork of the short.
I looked into the camerawork of Savannah Swift as part of my presentation with the rest of my group. The first shot is a scroll up from a top down view of the ground up to an establishing wide shot of the savannah presenting us with the environment where the short takes place.
It then fades to black and then fades in to another establishing wide shot of the savannah.
A Gazelle speeds past close to the camera. It then cute to a mid-shot of the gazelle as it is running. It then cuts to a mid shot of the cheetah as it runs behind. The shots, which initially take inspiration from nature documentaries where they have the animals front and centre as points of interest, begin to shift to shots inspired by racing car programmes like formula one, such as a bird’s eye view of the Cheetah chasing after the Gazelle.
It then cuts to a close shot of the cheetah’s grinning face as it is chasing the gazelle, and then to another close shot of the gazelle looking back at the cheetah as it is running. There are action shots of the gazelle running as the cheetah is chasing it, with a mid-shot of both which then zooms in and focuses on the cheetah.
As the gazelle is dodging rocks in a low shot as it is running, we cut to a close shot of the cheetah’s body, as if an exhaust burned out on it. Then we cut to a front view of the cheetah pulling a pained expression as it stumbles from the sprain.
We then cut to a shot from the perspective of the cheetah as it loses momentum on the gazelle, which is given a distortion effect as show its exhaustion, and then he spies upon a red fuel pitstop manned by an otter.
Once the otter inserts the fuel pipe into the cheetah’s mouth, we cut to a front shot of the cheetah’s face, which then zooms into its eye and then into its bloodstream, where the camera moves rapidly and rotates around its heart, and then exits out of the cheetahs’ body through its anus, and watch as the cheetah zooms off.
The cheetah then continues to chase the gazelle as the camera focuses on it through a close up shot, and then it cuts into an extreme wide shot of the savannah that rapidly zooms in on the deer as it gallops throughout until it stops at a close up on the gazelle. When the Gazelle starts looking down and it sees the Cheetah close by it, the camera zooms out to show the Cheetah, creating a sense of shock from the audience, only for the cheetah to crash into a rock in a blue explosion.
The camera then cuts to a bird’s eye view of the explosion, and seconds later, the cheetah emerges unarmed, and the camera zooms in on it as though it were a race car speeding past.
The camera then switches to scrolling alongside the cheetah as it dodges obstacles, climbs on top of a rock, and then pounces on the gazelle, as the camera cuts to a slow motion shot of the gazelle as it is pounced on.
After which the cheetah uses the gazelle as a stool which the camera captures a close up of the gazelle as it is slammed to the ground. It then cuts to a front shot of the cheetah, with a crazed expression in its face, running towards the camera and an unknown goal, which cuts to a shot of inside a toilet stall. It then cuts to a low shot of the stall, which the cheetah charges up to very close to the camera as the stall shuts on him and it goes black.
We then fade to a close-up head shot of the cheetah as it goes to the toilet, which it then zooms out to the gazelle right outside the stall, trembling hard probably also needing to go to the toilet after the cheetah.
This subversion of expectations is often controversial as when overused it can ruin the overall quality of a work. When handled well, it can be impactful in the way that it can come when least expected. But mostly, subverting can often sell short many plot beats established in a story.
Notable Characteristics of Subversive Literature With Examples – Penlighten