SWING’S BIO
Swing is a short, humorous, fast-edited film that shows the different forms of abuse in four comic vignettes.
Swing will present the dynamics of an abusive relationship in an abstract, humorous way. And hopefully, raise some questions:
What is abuse? What is it not to respect someone? To be abused? Or the abuser?
I wanted to find a way to illustrate this with humour using slick, modern visuals. A film to make people think, to inform, but also to entertain.
The film presents five different forms of abuse in five different scenes. In some of the scenes, the two actors will be sitting on swings. As they move back and forth, the constant movement represents the ebb and flow of an abusive cycle. As each cycle swings around, the abuse intensifies.
Each scene presents a different situation and a different form of abuse.
Scene 1: The Birthday Cake: A mother bakes a birthday cake for her child. But it is not what it seems. Scene 2: The Interview: A job seeker desperately tries to impress. Scene 3: The Sexual Encounter: It starts well… Scene 4: Getting Ready: How do I look?
Interjected between the scenes is The Stalker. A malicious, terrifying presence.
We are all painfully aware that in every layer of society – personal, social and political – there are abusive power relationships.
Any relationship with unequal power can lead to mistreatment, and it takes many forms. This is the inspiration for these stories.
WHAT DID I DO WITH SWING?
I was asked by Simon Middleton (Singer of Fortnight In Florida) if I could record drums for a piece he was composing for SWING. Simon was the sound designer and stereo mixer for the film.
He had composed a jazzy number for the Sexual Encounter scene. We recorded at a friend of Simon’s house, John Landow, to record in his home studio in Kentish Town. Simon and John had met each other whilst playing on the open mic circuit in London some years previously.
Here’s the final mix of the composition.