Exploring Film Technique- Bunny

Film has the remarkable ability to utilize images, shots, and scenes to create feeling and shape a coherent narrative. There are various tools filmmakers can utilize to determine the effectiveness of their art; these tools include the quality of the image, the use or elimination of color, contrast between light and dark, the focus and depth of field, exposure, framing, angle, point of view, and other shot styles, and methods of camera movement such as tilt, pan, dolly, truck, zoom, etc. Observing three very different films helps explore the extent to which filmmakers can utilize these tools.

Bunny: Bunny is a short film by Chris Wedge. This film, roughly 7 minutes long, is computer animated. The film observes an elderly rabbit in her kitchen as she cooks. While cooking, she is disturbed by a moth. In this somewhat silly little struggle between the cranky old lady and the dumb little moth, we see a deeper story of transformation.
The film opens on a blurry, overexposed shot of a light. What appears at first to be the sun eventually comes into focus and we see a light bulb with the pesky moth fluttering around it. The camera then follows this moth around the house. We then have a shot of the bunny as we look down on her in the kitchen from a bird's eye view. As the struggle arises between rabbit and moth, the music changes from a more peaceful tune to a chaotic, upbeat music reflecting the heightened activity in the midst of the battle. Finally the rabbit seems to defeat the moth and throws him in the oven and collapses in the chair into a state of unconscious fatigue. There seems to be peace for a moment, but then the oven begins to shake with mysterious powers. As the music once again speeds up, the camera shots become more chaotic and tilted showing the shaking oven with the pulsing light. The wakened, trembling rabbit approaches the oven and crawls inside, discovering a tunnel to the beyond. We see a mirroring of the opening shot as she moves towards the bright light.
One of the strengths of this film is the symbolism that only becomes evident after watching the entire film. The bird's eye view at the beginning then seems to symbolize the rabbit's dead husband, looking down on her from the heavenly realm. The moth becomes a sort of spiritual guide, leading the rabbit in her journey towards death and transformation; as this moth is attracted to the light, it also guides the rabbit to the light. The oven becomes understood as a symbol of transformation; as it transforms in the cooking process, it also transforms the rabbit. The timer is seen as a symbol of impending death, the numbered days of a mortal existence.

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