Get Off My Land VS Ralph

Get Off My Land and Ralph are both British short films. Get Off My Land is a Black/Dark comedy directed by Douglas Ray and shows a couple walking through the English countryside and finding themselves in trouble with a land owner. Ralph is a Dramatic Rom-Com directed by Alex Winckler and shows a 16-year-old boy who has travelled to France alone to declare his love to his best friend Clare.

Despite being pretty different, both short films have a few similarities. One big similarity between both shorts are the establishing shots; although they are quite different shots, they are both effective in that they give us enough context and background information. In Ralph, the establishing shot is of Ralph exiting a train with his large suitcase onto an empty platform whilst an overhead voice can be heard speaking in French; this tells us as an audience that Ralph is feeling alone or isolated and is in France as we can hear the announcement voice in French, and also that he may be carrying a lot of emotional baggage (insinuated by the big suitcase). In Get Off My Land, the establishing shot is of two people walking through a muddy field, one in walking boots and waterproof trousers and one in trainers and jeans as we hear birds and trees rustling; this tells us straight away that these people are in the countryside and suggests to us that they are a couple. Also, the shot of the man in jeans flicking mud off of jeans suggests that he is unprepared since the woman in the walking boots is in front of him and not covered in mud. Another similarity between both short films is the clear difference between the characters in both of the shorts. For example, in Get Off My Land, the man we see walking with the woman seems very unprepared by the way he is walking way behind her, wearing the wrong clothes, wiping mud off of his jeans, and commenting/complaining about the wobbly gate they have to climb over. Not only do these things show how different he is to the woman, the woman’s reaction to him shows how separate or disconnected he is from her. In Ralph, Ralph doesn’t know anybody there, can’t speak French, and cannot contact Clare as he doesn’t know he is missing a number from the one she had given him; these elements show how out of place Ralph his and emphasises his disconnect and isolation from the world around him. Another part of Ralph that shows the audience his isolation is the 360-degree shot of him outside in the streets of France with the sounds of the city engulfing him.

Even though both short films have a few similarities between them, there are also quite a few differences. One significant difference between the shorts is the underlying themes of both plots; in Get Off My Land the main theme is conflict; this is because of the apparent/suggested conflict and tension between the man and the woman walking and the argument between the land owner and the man. This contrasts to Ralph as the main themes in Ralph are friendship and love, more specifically, unrequited love; these themes are suggested by Ralph’s obvious desire to find and see Clare, his own explanation/description of their friendship and his newfound interest in the waitress. The unrequited love theme is shown by Ralph's own realisation that Clare does not love him back when he tells the waitress that she calls him her 'little brother’ Another difference between the two shorts is their genres; even though they both have some elements of comedy within them, they are both quite different genres. Get Off My Land is a Black/Dark Comedy whereas Ralph is a quite light-hearted Dramatic Rom-Com.

In conclusion, both Get Off My Land and Ralph have a number of different features and elements that help to distinguish the similarities and differences between the two short films.