Arts University Bournemouth has provided £1,200 of match funding
The Vacuum | Short Film
Poole, England, United Kingdom
Aim: The Vacuum is an absurdist tragicomedy film concerning the struggle for power in a relationship after the arrival of an old vacuum.
Grace struggles to maintain power when an old vacuum cleaner disrupts her relationship; her partner, Milton, has abruptly lost his mother. The same day Milton learns of his mother's death, a strange crate arrives at their door. Within the package they find an old Vacuum cleaner, a lost relic from Milton's childhood and the final parting gift from his mother.
Over the course of the next days and weeks, Milton finds himself increasingly attached to the Vacuum; it draws him in and holds him tight. Grace, left to observe the increasing chaos that begins to destroy their home, becomes isolated and jealous of the Vacuum's power over her partner and plots to destroy it once and for all. But, along the way, she'll have to overcome obstacles she could never have expected.
The story of The Vacuum is a deep and unique exploration of coping mechanisms within relationships. It takes an absurdist perspective on our modern world and flips the genre on its head, leading you through an exciting labyrinth of romance, comedy and a dark undercurrent of emotional realism. The Vacuum is a unique audio-visual piece with a shocking finale that really has to be seen to be believed!
'The Vacuum' is incredibly visually diverse, taking you through meandering twists & turns with a strong visual design; lighting and camera come together to emulate the emotional style of artists such as Ralph Steadman and Quentin Blake, taking the unreal and drawing it into reality. The Vacuum promises to be a visual spectacle for all to enjoy.
By Ralph Steadman
To achieve the absurd imagination of the story and a lonely sentiment, we aim to put together a visual that carries a strong presence of colour and texture. The apartment warps and begins to collapse as our protagonist's relationship does the same, and so texture is incredibly important.
Looking at photographers such as Julian Germain, William Eggleston, as well as director Roy Anderson, we are inspired to utilise the contrasted colours through lighting and production design (yellow and violet) to set a tone of a disturbed and surrealist impression.
The apartment we are designing for Grace and Milton is laid out as a TV sitcom set, as if they are locked in this box disconnected from real life.
A large portion of our film's story relies on creating a believable world for our characters to inhabit; The Vacuum's apartment setting warps and degrades over time creating a unique visual style and reflects our trapped protagonist within her degrading relationship. Therefore, a significant amount of our budget will go straight into realising this world.
Another large section of the budget is dedicated to makeup and costume. This is essential in crafting the finale of the film, a truly spectacular visual end piece to the narrative.
We have a wide selection of rewards for your contributions to our film! From copies of the film, to programmes and posters, props and producer credits! Have a look at some of our rewards in the column opposite!
Some of our rewards include copies of the film, including your name in the credits. We also have physical rewards like our full colour printed programme / art book that is full of behind the scenes photography, concept art and written passages from the cast and crew. We hope to be offering further rewards in the coming weeks and months.
And finally, we have our wonderful crew, all working hard day & night to make this film as creative and engaging as possible!