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Safety Tips for Children, 2003, DVD,
5:06min |
Laddy and the Lady, 2005, DVD, 11min |
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SAFETY TIPS FOR KIDS
A critical and ironic look at the way newspapers report childrens’ deaths:
accidents, bad mothers, angry fathers and the bogeyman. Based on the
artist's archive of newspaper clippings, these are the stories that help
sell papers. With an inventive mix of still photography and live action, the
film sweeps around Britain to create a chilling comment on death, news
reporting and the family.
Stranger danger is the media’s buzz word, but statistics show that a child
is 20 times more likely to be murdered by one of their parents than by a
stranger – every six weeks in the UK, a man or a woman kills their child.
"Newspaper articles about the murder and disappearance of English children
are the starting point of this critical discussion about abuse and the
dependence of children."
EMAF tour programme 2004
This experimental film was funded by Arts Council England and Channel 4’s
animate! scheme… technically we would describe it as ‘beyond live action’
rather than animation: it has a ‘real’ visual quality but is mainly made up
of hundreds of manipulated photographs. We shot it on a variety of different
formats ranging from the Linhof Technorama camera with it’s 6x17cm negative
down to a tiny digital camera attached to a keyring. |
Laddy and the Lady
Laddy and the Lady continues Coombes' abiding
interest in social ritual and the repression of instinct.
Inspired by watching his architect father on shooting trips
as a child, it follows an out-of-control golden retriever,
owned by a Lady, on a pheasant shoot. Scenes of the shoot
are intercut with flashbacks to Laddy's troubled past as a
puppy, wrenched from his mother's side.
During the shoot,
Laddy is subjected to forms of physical and verbal abuse
associated with gun dog handling. His inability to behave
and retrieve the dead birds results in relentless punishment.
Laddy becomes a receiver - a golden receiver of abuse.
Filmed in a similar vein to Lars Von Trier's Dogville
(2003) in a studio with a minimum of props to signify the
location, it features two actors dressed as dogs and a
pheasant with a human face. The Laddy character (played by
Kevin MacIssac, a six-foot ginger-haired actor) is a vehicle
for an individual repressed by the mannerisms and rules
around him, who is always fighting his instincts.
Ken Neil writes, 'As Lady and one male
competitor shoot at the skies with arrogant abandon, the
film reaches a powerful audio-visual climax, as poor Laddy
suffers a mental collapse... |
