The Swimmer

Title - The Swimmer
Director - Lynne Ramsay
Year - 2012
Running Time - 18 minutes

The Swimmer is a short film about a young man (the swimmer) who swims across rivers and lakes in Britain to a soundtrack of assorted nationalistic music. As he passes by the banks, people are their watching him and their thoughts can be heard. He then walks through the woods at night time and then returns to the water and appears to sink below to the surface.

The film was commissioned by the London Olympics 2012 and aims to give a real feel for the diversity of the landscape and people of Britain. It is a BAFTA winner for the Best Short Film for writer/director Lynne Ramsay.

One of the things that stood out to me most in the film was the use of the slow motion shots from above the swimmer whilst he is swimming. These shots added a lot of detail to the film, being able to see all of the swimmer's movements in great detail and I thought that this stood out and worked very well.

I also liked the use of the underwater shots in the film. I thought that they were shot very well and noticed that there weren't many bubbles in the water, making the shot very clear.I have always wanted to try underwater shooting and this film has inspired me to try underwater filming even more.

Overall, I thought the film was very good, showing the diversity of Britain's landscape and people very well, which was one of the main aims of the film as it was commissioned by the London Olympics 2012.