The First Time It Hits
Live-action drama, UK, 2004
Director: Jason Budge
Writer: Jason Budge
Language: no dialogue
Colour: Colour and black and white
Runtime: 3 minutes
Short synopsis
Skater Boy enters an empty car park and sees a girl sitting by the wall. As he edges nearer she becomes the object of his teenage desire and he daydreams about how to get her attention. He wonders if a small trick would work...
Long synopsis
The film opens with a black and white shot from the perspective of a skateboard. It starts to move and rock music starts up, matched to a very quick-cut montage of images of accessories, graffiti, items of clothes, and so on. The film cuts to a close-up of a cigarette, and then to its owner, a blonde-haired girl with a pierced nose, sitting on the floor of a deserted multi-storey car park. It cuts to an image of her blowing bubblegum, followed by quick cuts between her smoking and drawing graffiti.
The next shot - still from the skateboard floor-level perspective - zooms smoothly into the car park and the film cuts to short close-ups of eyes that appear to be looking intently at each other. An upward shot reveals the skater boy as he stands some distance from the girl, holding his board. Flashes of elements of each character's image (cartoon skulls, chains, the cigarette, their hands) are followed by more close-ups of the boy, and of the girl's graffito of a skull. His hands clutch the skateboard as he swings it under his arm and approaches the girl.
An extreme close-up of part of the girl's face extends into repeated close-up side views of each character's staring eye, and of the girl chewing gum. As the camera pauses on a close-up of the boy's eye, a cartoon cut-out heart floats out and opens into a dream sequence in which cut-out images of the boy and girl appear in front of a Lichtenstein-esque spotty background, abstractly referencing a photo-story in a teen magazine. We cut to a shot of the girl's face to the left of the screen looking forward, and then a shot of the boy to the left of the screen. A thought bubble pops up next to the boy and he imagines himself walking with his skateboard. The bubble expands and becomes an image of the boy and girl, he dreams of volleying over her head and wowing her so that she falls in love (a heart appears in her eye as it did his earlier).
We return to 'reality' and the camera cuts rapidly between the boy's, the girl's and the skateboard's view, cutting between them, the car park and movement. The boy braces himself and begins to skate towards the girl. He slips and the board flies at the girl's head, knocking her out. The boy goes to check on the girl and, finding that she is unconscious, runs away. As he leaves, the girl opens her eyes and smiles cheekily - she has been awake the whole time.
Background information
About the film
The First Time It Hits was funded by a digital short scheme run by Screen Yorkshire, with funding from the UK Film Council. The scheme is designed to encourage new and emerging film-makers to escape more traditional methods and use digital formats to come up with innovative ways to communicate stories. Using manically edited black and white imagery to express the sensation of first love is effective here.
The film was selected for the 2004 Cannes short film festival, screened at numerous other festivals internationally, and included on the UK Film Council/bfi/Sight and Sound Digital Short Show reel, receiving a special mention in Sight and Sound.
About the film-maker
After spending some time creating visuals for clubs in Brighton, James Budge moved to Sheffield where he studied at Sheffield Hallam Northern Media School. He ran digital film-making workshops around Sheffield and now works as a freelance film-maker and editor on a variety of projects.
Teaching materials and additional materials
The teaching materials have been developed by practising teachers to provide a springboard for your own work with your students. Feel free to use and adapt them appropriate to your students' needs.
The additional materials, provided by the film-makers, can be used to develop your work with the film and deepen students' understanding of the process of film-making.
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