Douce Menace (2011)

Overview

Another great short created by students from Supinfocom Arles, Douce Menace plays with the ideas of representation, reality, context and scale. Staged in and focused on the city of Paris, the short tours through a number of the city’s landmark buildings, with several references to tourism, but from an unexpected narrative point of view. The film makes effective use of off-screen space combined with sound. There’s also great attention dedicated to aesthetics, framing, composition, and especially to set design. The environments’ work is impressive, with lots of attention dedicated to detail and lighting, and a number of characters populating it that help bring the staging alive. A lot of effort has also been dedicated to the animation of the pigeon, and to the destruction sequences, which are anticipated symbolically through the staining of the map of Paris (2m35) and the change in music mood.