Scummy Man

Scummy Man
Scummy man is based on the arctic monkey song when the sun goes down, taking from the verse
“And what a scummy man
Just give him half a chance, I bet he'll rob you if he can
You can see it in his eyes, yeah, that he's got a nasty plan
I hope you're not involved at all”
It was released on DVD in April 2006 and footage from the film was used in the arctic monkeys video. It was awarded the best music DVD award at the 2007 Nme awards.
Scummy man shows a night in Nina’s life, played by Lauren socha, a 15 year old prostitute who is addicted to drugs. The story is based around an industrial estate in Sheffield. Stephen Graham plays George, also known in the film as scummy man. He is abusive, intimidating and controlling. George is one of Nina’s main clients; he always knows where to find her in the film.
Other characters from the film are the taxi driver and the magician who both try to help Nina, but she assumes they both want something in return. The cab driver takes pity on Nina, as she reminds him of his daughter who was a similar age to Nina but sadly died young, he drives her around and gives her money, but she still assumes he is after something.
Scummy man is a very British, very gritty short film, with themes such as drugs and prostitution. The setting is very dark and being based in a industrial estate, doesn’t show the idea that the characters are going to be wealthy.
You very quickly engaged in al of the different characters life, making you understand what’s going on quicker to how you would in a feature length film. It is very easy to make up your mind on what you think of the characters in scummy man as their personality’s are all portrayed really quickly, for example, we are told straight away that George isn’t a nice man, and we learn to feel sorry for Nina.

Edinburgh Film Festival

The Edinburgh film festival was founded in 1947 in Edinburgh Scotland. It consists of 12 days in the month of June, hosting premieres, special events and parties. Films are chosen for awards, and some of the award categories are purely for short films, for example UK film council award for best British short, and best international short film. Being one of the biggest film festivals in Britain, it would be quite an accomplishment for any short film director to have their work shown. Some of the previous short film winners at the Edinburgh film festival are “After tomorrow directed by Emma Sullivan” and “Princess Margaret BLVD directed Kazik Radwanski”. To submit your work to the festival, all you have to do is fill in an online form and pay a fee and then post your DVD to hit one of the deadlines. This means that anyone can have a chance of being up for an award at the festival.

Short film and Mainstream

Although the main difference between short films and mainstream films is the length of them, there are some other aspects that usually differ but doesn’t define what category they fall under

Here is a list of comparisons..

Mainstream Short

50+ minutes -50 minutes

Large production cost Low production cost

Large audience Niche audience

Well known cast Ameteur cast

Large cost Small cast

Sometimes a sequel Closed narrative

Marketing None or hardly any marketing

Shown in cinema Mainly online or film festivals

What is short film?

A short film is a film that is defined by its length, it holds no codes or conventions and can be any genre it likes as long as it is under 50 minuites in length. Short film doesn’t generally come under the mainstream, so aren’t shown at many cinemas. They are mainly viewed at film festivals, online, DVD compilations and sometimes on the television.
Many aspiring directors use short film as a way to showcase their work and what they can do, they usually have a low cost budget making them more accesable to make.