A Lunch Break Romance

A Lunch Break Romance is a short film written and directed by Danny Sangra about a man and a woman struggling with their inner thoughts on how to approach each other.

Two characters, a London park staging and internal conflicts expressed through subtitles compose this comedy by UK filmmaker Danny Sangra. The scene portrays a pick-up in an Anglo-Saxon culture, with characters spending most of the time debating themselves on how to react rather than reaching out for contact. Their self-consciousness and how they misunderstand each others’ signals provide ample material for humor.

The actors were given internal monologue lines to go through and express with their faces and bodies while refraining from speech. These naturalistic performances interact with the subtitles added later in post. Close-up shots are used for the moments that need to convey facial expressions. These shots include a blurred reference of the other character and employ shallow depth of field, helping focus the attention on the performance of one of the characters. A wider two-shot is used for covering body actions, integrating both characters and providing additional visual rhythm in editing.

Highlights of the short include its great script, the combination of performances with subtitles, fun self-reflexive elements and a creative use of a situation everyone has gone through at some point, making it a film that appeals to a wide audience.