Shadowplay
primary_youtube_id: VZ0VBXWwS-w
1959
0:11:26
England
Short, dramatic film that tells a macabre tale of two young pupils who daydream to escape the austerity of their educational institution and defy their teacher’s ”brute authority.”
Audio & visual:
Sound,
Black & White
Director:
Peter Davis
00:15
Opening credits and title sequence with outside views of grammar school, gardens and pupils entering the grounds.
01:28
Shots of two main characters approaching main building.
02:25
Interior shots of pupils gathering.
03:11
Pupils singing in an assembly; main character distracted.
03:42
Cuts to classroom and teacher disciplining child, whose insubordinate fantasies flash into view.
04:31
Pupils singing in an assembly.
04:43
Camera cuts to one of the characters, in shadow, in the grounds. Makes a pact/discusses a plan with another main character.
05:47
Another shot of assmembly with camera focusing on the two main characters.
07:18
Camera pans pupils in makeshift, ceremonial robes.
07:52
Outside shots of pupils descending exterior staircase.
08:28
Fades to exterior ritual sequence; robed figures walk through a cemetery, carrying a draped coffin to a burial plot.
10:38
School interior. Pupils rise as a teacher enters the room.
11:18
The End intertitle card.
End of shotlist
Collection
Peter Davis
(140)
Collection of Peter Davis Stills, Films, and related items in the archive.
Collection
Shadowplay 1958
(17)
Stills taken during Peter Davis first film, Shadowplay, in Beddington School. His first and only fiction work.
