Gasman by Lynne Ramsay
Gasman is a short film by the Scottish director Lynne
Ramsay. The short film was set in 1970s in Scotland. The viewers can identify
this through the use of mise en scene with costumes and the colour palettes and
the famous tower block flats located in Scotland. The story behind ‘Gasman’ is
about adultery and deceit, with the father of a working-class family lying to
his wife and children as he lives a double life that includes a mistress and
their two children together. The story gives a sense of realism of what family
layouts can be like in the United Kingdom.
Lynne Ramsay uses a three act structure. Act one includes
exposition, an inciting incident, an equilibrium and a journey out. Lynne Ramsay
displays the exposition by using footage that replicates photographic images
including vanishing points. The close up shots are not in full frame and the
characters faces are not in the frame this gives the viewers a sense of
nervousness, which is effective for the narrative of the short film. The
ambient sounds are layered with Christmas songs and the diegetic sound of
voice. We are introduced to the characters in act one. There is a female and a
male with a young girl and boy in a family home showing a representation of a
nuclear family. However, the narrative is restricted provoking the viewer’s
thoughts and ensuring they have their own view of the storyline creating
different readings of the short film. The theme of the short film is childhood
that is following a signature style. Act one includes a sense of equilibrium
followed by the journey out where the father, son and daughter leaves the home
to go out, this then leads to act two’s disruption.
Gasman is slow paced and throughout the short film the narrative is shown and not told to the viewers. This leads to the viewer having to work out the storyline themselves until it is revealed. Act two consists of disruption, a crisis point, a reveal and recognition. The disruption in Gasman starts when the protagonist, which is the young girl in the nuclear family, begins to unfold the storyline that all for children are the man’s children. The viewers and the young girl are the only people unaware of the situation and when the young girl finds out is also the time most viewers find out the problem. This leads to empathy for the character and this is the reason she is the protagonist. Another feature of the protagonist character is point of view shots which wasn’t evident in the short film Gasman. This is also the crisis point especially when the one daughter is pulling her sisters hair. In act two the characters tend to find themselves and confront their demons. Due to the daughter catching onto what is really going on the father will now have to confront his problems face on.
Act three entails the resolution, restoration and the journey back. The children and father make their way back home where they meet the mistress and the 2 out of the 4 children go home with her. It then shows the young girl picking up a rock getting ready to throw it. Her older brother did this with a smaller rock earlier on in the short film and harmlessly threw it at their fathers head. This indicates the younger girl follows her brother and thinks this is acceptable. There is an element of jealousy and this shot shows the viewers the younger girl’s internal thoughts. There is then a medium shot of the father, this initially made me believe the young girl is going to throw to rock at him but is also showed his internal thoughts and indicated he gets on with day to day life regardless of the circumstances. The final shot is showing the young girl facing her half-sister, half-brother and their mother walking away. This identifies that the younger sister is the target however she drops the rock and the short film ends. The resolution intends to restore the equilibrium or change the character forever. There is no complete resolution to Gasman provoking the viewer’s thoughts and each viewer would have a different reading of what is to happen next.
At the start the shots were not in full frame and this led
to things being blocked in the frame. This is ironic as the truth has been
blocked from the protagonist.
