- Lick the Star was Sofia Coppola's first short film.
- It is 14 minutes long.
- It was shot on black and white 16mm film.
- Focuses on a group of school girls plotting a scheme to make the boys at the school weaker by poisoning their lunches with arsenic.
- The 'queen bee' Chloe gets the idea from her obsession with the book 'Flowers in the Attic'.
- Depicts high school life from the female perspective.
- Quite dialogue heavy - the plot is revealed through what the characters say rather than what they show. This at time felt a bit confusing as the audience because the dialogue wasn't always clear, yet their actions weren't clearly shown either leaving the story to be quite vague in places.
- Some things are shown through shots and then reinforced by dialogue. I liked this because it added strength and clarity to bits of the story.
e.g. low angle shot of girls walking to the school field - places the characters in a powerful position.
- Personally, I feel like the 'moments' didn't have the intended effect on the audience - the reveal that the plan is to slowly poison the boys at the school isn't revealed in a shocking way, however this is more down to the acting rather than the story telling.
e.g. When Kate says the line "Kill the rats?" - it sounds very staged and rehearsed which I found quite distracting rather than the intended effect of shocking the audience.
- The change / plot twist / downfall of the 'queen bee' Chloe happens quite near the end. To me this felt rushed and the story wasn't communicated very well.
- I felt the start of the short film was stronger than the end of the film. Chloe's position as queen bee was established very early on through showing rather than telling. Her introduction to the piece shows her walking confidently through the school to a piece of non-diegetic soundtrack which has strong beats - reflecting her strength / power as a character.
- Overall I did enjoy the short film and was able to get a sense of the story. The strengths of the short film include: establishing the positions of the characters in the school hierarchy and reinforcing shots through dialogue. The weaknesses of the short film are: the rushed story-telling towards the end, the acting and the lack of showing the action rather than telling the action.
How it influenced my short film:
- It has helped me to understand the importance of using shots to show the acton rather than using a lot of dialogue to explain the action. Showing the action is a lot more effective than putting the words into the character's mouths.
e.g. when my character in my short film is feeling suicidal, I will show this through close up shots of his face (depicting his confused, stressed and panicked emotions), rather than using too much dialogue.
- I liked the way Sofia Coppola used music to reinforce Chloe's position of power. I want to use the same technique to support my character's fragile emotions.
e.g. when my character is rushing to the pier in a state of panic, I will use fast paced music to reinforce his emotion.
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