Cherry Bomb
Document Type
Panel Presentation
Keywords
Short Film, Female Filmmaker, Quentin Tarantino
Biography
Heather Keeney is a graduate of Marshall University. She has a BA in English with an emphasis on creative writing and minors in Women's Studies and Film Studies.
Major
English, Creative Writing
Advisor for this project
Dr. Walter Squire
Abstract
During my last semester at Marshall University I took an advanced film studies class that centered around the works of director Quentin Tarantino. For our final project another classmate, and myself, created a short film called Cherry Bomb. The film is about a teenage girl who engages in a robbery of sorts with the help of two friends, and the inner moral conflict she’s faced with when committing a crime.
For the project we were tasked with creating something that presented influences of Tarantino, while also making something that had its own style and originality. Tarantino often focuses on stories that involve crime or some sort of heist, mixed with the juxtaposition of the ethical concerns of the main character. We let this serve as a starting point for Cherry Bomb, while incorporating other signature Tarantino characteristics into our film, such as specific shots, long drawn out conversations, and an emphasis on choice of music.
With this film we wanted to not only present characteristics of a Tarantino movie, but to also comment on his personal choices as a filmmaker. One thing that fueled the creation of Cherry Bomb was our discussion in class about his film, Reservoir Dogs, and the complete lack of female characters. We combated the idea that females were not needed or necessary within the film, as stated by our peers, by creating our own film that only has female characters and a predominantly female crew.
Cherry Bomb
During my last semester at Marshall University I took an advanced film studies class that centered around the works of director Quentin Tarantino. For our final project another classmate, and myself, created a short film called Cherry Bomb. The film is about a teenage girl who engages in a robbery of sorts with the help of two friends, and the inner moral conflict she’s faced with when committing a crime.
For the project we were tasked with creating something that presented influences of Tarantino, while also making something that had its own style and originality. Tarantino often focuses on stories that involve crime or some sort of heist, mixed with the juxtaposition of the ethical concerns of the main character. We let this serve as a starting point for Cherry Bomb, while incorporating other signature Tarantino characteristics into our film, such as specific shots, long drawn out conversations, and an emphasis on choice of music.
With this film we wanted to not only present characteristics of a Tarantino movie, but to also comment on his personal choices as a filmmaker. One thing that fueled the creation of Cherry Bomb was our discussion in class about his film, Reservoir Dogs, and the complete lack of female characters. We combated the idea that females were not needed or necessary within the film, as stated by our peers, by creating our own film that only has female characters and a predominantly female crew.
