Whiplash Short Film

Whiplash

Short Film

I watched Damien Chazelle's Whiplash as a short film here from 2012, two years before it was made into the full feature film that went on to win many awards, including several Academy Awards.

I've actually been reading a lot about Whiplash and Damien Chazelle recently, and he said in an interview that he wrote the full script years before but had no money or prospects to have it produced at all; so, he pulled a key scene straight out of the script and turned it into its own short film, using it as a pitch to show to producers and get it made as a feature film. It was based loosely on experiences from his own childhood, because he drummed as a teenager and had a really intense conductor that used tactics of fear and intimidation very similar to Fletcher's (JK Simmons) to motivate his band. Terms like "not my tempo" and "rushing or dragging" were pulled directly from his memory of the conductor, and the purpose of the movie was to recreate that feeling of dread in this seemingly life-or-death situation that he felt every day walking into band.

It's amazing how visceral the tension in the scene is and how Chazelle managed to capture it in so few words and in such little time (about 17 minutes). He did a lot of this through close-up shots on Andrew's and other band members' faces showing their unease, distress, and humiliation, but he also used a slightly shaky hand-held camera to make the audience feel like they're sitting in the rehearsal room and maybe shaking a bit out of fear. When Fletcher leans in to rip a musician to shreds and the camera closes in on his face and shakes a little, it's terrifying.

A fantastic part that I think shows a lot more depth in terms of storytelling than just an abusive teacher is when Fletcher calls back Andrew's family dynamics. Andrew told Fletcher in a moment of false security that his mom left him and his dad when he was a baby, and Fletcher was relatively supportive and friendly (while still exuding this menacing and domineering energy and making Andrew and the audience insanely uncomfortable by maintaining intense eye contact and essentially trapping Andrew against the wall). He convinced Andrew that he deserved to be here and should focus on improving musically and having fun, then completely undercut Andrew by screaming in his face in front of the entire band that mommy left pathetic little him and daddy and that's why he couldn't help but crying in the band room. There's also a lot of similarity in the way this was shot -- from the same plane (Fletcher on left and almost head-on with the camera, Andrew on right and profiled). This emphasizes the contrast in their expressions, the context of the scene, and the power dynamics between the two of them. God, it was terrible to watch, but that's what makes the scene so powerful.

There was also this one little moment that was really revealing about the insecure attitudes of the other musicians, and it was when Fletcher was ripping Andrew to shreds during the "rushing or dragging" part. After Andrew started to cry and Fletcher berated him, the drummer behind him smirked a little bit and then hid it with his hand and pretended to be focusing on something in music on the stand. Because he's not the drummer that had to go through this hell and he's full of conviction that Andrew's just the little baby 19-year-old drummer that has no place in this band and he's the better drummer and therefore in Fletcher's good graces, the little smirk is almost like a power trip of his own. He's just glad it's not him. It was a really interesting little moment, and made me feel a lot more sympathy for Andrew.

While Chazelle kept JK Simmons for the feature length film, he found a new actor for Andrew: Miles Teller. Teller has this incredible ability to convey so much (or so little) emotion through his eyes, and Chazelle noted that Teller really moved the story along outside of the script by draining more and more emotion from his eyes throughout the movie, essentially going deader and deader in the eyes as he became increasingly maniacally obsessed with Fletcher and impressing him. In this sense, I think Teller is really great as Andrew. That being said, there's a softer and more innocent look to the short film actor, Johnny Simmons (miraculously not related to JK Simmons), that I think makes the torment Fletcher puts him through even harder to watch. It's really hard to put my finger on exactly what it is, but I think he has a quality especially in his mouth that makes the viewer feel a lot of empathy for him. Teller has a stonier look to him that I personally thought made it slightly harder to connect with him emotionally. Regardless, all the actors in this movie are great and while I feel this awful panic and dread while watching this movie, I guess that means Chazelle made a pretty fantastic movie.