'Get Off My Land' Review

“Get off my land” is a short film that is directed and written by Douglas Ray, with the running time being four minutes and forty two seconds. The suitable audience for this short film is people who are aged fifteen or over and this is due to the strong violence that is used which may upset or scare someone below this age. The cast is very small as there are only three main characters which are a Man, Woman and a farmer. The Man is played by Rafe Spall, the Woman by Ruth Wilson and the farmer by Robert Glenister; these actors did an excellent job and each character plays a major part in telling the story.

This short film is about a Man and Woman, who are most likely a couple, that are taking a walk across the countryside. They come across a farmer who claims the land to be his own and tells the couple that they cannot walk across it, to which they are not convinced. The story then continues and ends unexpectedly as Douglas Ray made clever use of a plot twist which leaves the viewer in shock and confusion.  “Get off my land” addresses many key themes and ideas throughout the film. At the very beginning, the couple are walking along a muddy footpath in which the Woman is leading the way with the Man carefully trailing behind. He is wearing jeans and bright white trainers that are now completely covered in mud, showing that he came unprepared for the walk which implies that he was forced into going by his partner. The main themes of this short film are possession and vigilante. Possession because the film is about a farmer who believes he has ownership of the land and uses this idea against the couple who are clearly causing no harm, and vigilante because the farmer unofficially tries to prevent a ‘crime’ and carries out his own form of justice to the oblivious Man and Woman. The genre of “get off my land” is dark comedy which is when serious issues, which are cruel and morbid, are treated in a humorous way.

In general, the shot sizes do not show much of a variation, there are many close ups that are used to convey the characters emotions as well as medium shots which are mostly used when the characters are having a conversation. This helps the viewers to engage more with what is going on, so they feel as if they are either a part of the conversation or listening in. Long shots are used to show the surroundings, and a panoramic shot is used at the beginning which displays the land that the couple are walking across. The majority of the camerawork is handheld which made the environment more realistic for the viewers and it makes you feel as if you are actually there. Very few cuts were used throughout the film and the editing was very basic. This again makes the film much more realistic and helps the viewers to focus only on the story as they were drawn in more and more as it progressed. Natural lighting was used because the film is set outside so it is more believable to watch and it helps to keep the film simple rather than overdone.

Overall, I believe this short film was very effective because it is easy to understand the basic meaning but it goes deeper which enables the audience to explore various issues which concern each individual character and the story as a whole.