Bunny and The Bull

(Paul King, 2009)
IMDB

The house is a set of clutter and random collected items. Rooms are filled from top to bottom with boxes and boxes of organised and arranged junk, filed and stored precisely. The collections include stamps, drinking straws 1995 to 1996 and crossword cut-outs. The kitchen cupboard is filled with ready meals, labelled by day. All surfaces house piles of videotapes, folders and files.

The walls are also covered with clutter, one wall houses a variation of different clocks.

In a flashback, the scenery becomes illustrated and 2D. Chairs, tables and surroundings are drawn cut-outs, drawn fish swim in the fish tank. Landscapes are created from newspaper and on a visit to the shoe museum(!) the whole scene is filmed in front of a green screen. The surroundings of each scene are made from familiar objects, seen previously in the house- reality.

The sets are very handmade, some even noticeably and purposefully spill off from their rostra. The materials that the sets and props are made from are very recognisable, for example a floor in one case is created from black bin liners. A large pile of newspapers appear as the leg of a road bridge and there's a miniature fairground created from the the cogs and wheels within a cuckoo clock. Other rooms are created using illuminated beer crates and stacks of books too.

Submarine

(Richard Ayoade, 2010)

IMDB

Set in a Welsh, 70's seaside town, Submarine is a “coming of age” story of Oliver Tate, who whilst trying to get a girlfriend, is also trying to save his parents' marriage. His bedroom is tidy, although it's a sort of organised chaos. An attic bedroom, with dark wood beams break up the sloping ceiling, painted to resemble a light blue sky with clouds. The room has a blue painted bed, surrounded by Polaroid pictures and postcards, the room is “cluttered” with boxes of comics and records and books. Plane models hang from the roof, along with a medical skeleton model.

The space seems childish yet it hints at maturity, with clothes hanging on an exposed rail and with features like a record player and a typewriter, all viewed on screen with mature and literate narration.

Abandonment is a running theme throughout, not only in the narrative, but in the scenery as well. So as not to appear “romantic”, the couple spend time together in very still, abandoned places, including a deserted industrial estate and a closed fairground. Together, Jordana and Oliver fill these dark places with light, more accurately fire. Matches, flares, bonfires and fireworks.

The entire palette for this film is an array of blues and greys, with Jordana, the object of Oliver Tate's affections, wearing a bright red coat, a seemingly flamboyant choice in this cold, welsh, seafront town. Jordana provides the excitement and colour in the otherwise very dull (nevertheless beautiful) tone of the picture.