Dangle
Live action, UK, 2003
Director: Phill Traill
Language: No dialogue
Colour: Colour
Running Time: 6 minutes
Short synopsis
A man finds a large rope hanging from the sky - the light switch to the world - and starts playing around with it...
Long synopsis
A young man, walking on a hill near a town, makes an extraordinary discovery at the top of a hill. Hanging down from the sky is a long rope. The man studies it suspiciously and with some caution, but as it hangs there, tantalisingly, he caves in and pulls it. Suddenly it goes from daylight to night, and he realises that he has found the world's light switch. He is in control of day and night and becomes excited by this. He pulls the cord, switching the world's light off and on, at faster and faster speeds.
Suddenly the cord gets stuck - in darkness - and the man cannot get it to make the world light again. He panics and yanks at the cord, pulling it harder and harder until it breaks. He watches as it falls, curling into a neat pile by his feet. Realising what he has done, the man lets go of the rope and quietly walks away, as the sound of chaos rises up from the streets below.
Background
Dangle is the last in a series of short films directed by Phil Traill between 1998 and 2002. After Phil's script was selected for production by Wim Wenders, the whole film was pre-produced, filmed and edited in just five days at the Berlin Film Festival's Talent Campus. It features Traill himself as the hapless man who discovers the light switch to the world. It went on to win the Best Movie award at the Berlin Film Festival's Talent Campus and has been a huge success at international film festivals.
After graduating from Newcastle University in 1995, Traill gained a place on the Planet 24 trainee scheme and has since worked as a producer/DV director on TV programmes for many of the UK's leading production companies. He co-wrote Opal Dream, a feature length adaptation of the Novella Pobby and Dingham by Ben Rice, funded by BBC Films and the Arts Council's Premier Fund.
Teaching materials and additional materials
The teaching materials have been developed by practising teachers to provide a springboard for your own work with your pupils. Feel free to use and adapt them appropriate to your pupils' needs.
There are also some stills and additional materials, provided by the film-makers, that can be used to develop your work with the film and deepen pupils' understanding of the process of film-making.
