CHICKEN FISH RABBIT (2011)

My Graduation Short

Client
Utrecht School of Arts
Year

2011

Writer / Director
Susie Oosting

Director of Photography
Erik Houtman
Sound & score
Gaffer
Collin Kasper
Production
Judith Roosenstein & Cedric Otten
Starring
Caspar Smeets

Aaron Wan

Michael Schnörr

Chicken Fish Rabbit

My graduation short for the Utrecht School of Arts.

It’s a dark comedy about a boy washing dishes in a Chinese restaurant, who makes a discovery one evening that forces him to make a quick decision. And face the consequences.

Some fun facts about the film:

  • It was made on a budget of about €1000, a decent chunk of which was spent at the Amsterdam game & poultry dealer where we got all the meat and fish.
  • The kitchen we shot in was actually not in a Chinese restaurant. It took 4 hours to dress the set, and 7 hours to clean it.
  • Some dumpster diving was involved in securing enough Chinese food packagings and boxes. Mainly by me. Well, only by me.
  • The turtle is real. We put out a ridiculous ad for a (naturally) deceased turtle. Two days before the shoot we were called by a family whose pet turtle had just passed away. He was 19. We buried him after the shoot.

And the most fun fact, but also a spoiler:

  • The rabbits seen in the video, both dead and alive, are all from the same game & poultry dealer, bred for consumption. I asked the owner if he could sell one to me alive, and after some chuckling he agreed.

I named him Karel. As of March 2019, he is still alive and living with me in London. He’s old, and fat, and happy.