Nightlife is a 1976 short film (11 minutes) directed by Robin Lehman.
It is a nature documentary, but one that eschews most of the tropes of nature documentaries—there's no narration, and in fact no dialogue or title cards at all. What it is, is simply film footage of wildlife in the Irish Sea (seemingly in a shallow area). Clams jet around, coral polyps pop up and back down, lobsters skitter about, and jellyfish bear a distinct resemblance to neon signs, all while a vaguely New Age-y soundtrack plays.
Tropes:
- Artistic Title: The title, which doesn't pop up until four minutes into a movie that's only 11 minutes long, is "NIGHTLIFE" in all caps, and drawn to look the lights of a neon theater marquee. This is an obvious echo of the jellyfish who look like neon signs.
- Blade-of-Grass Cut: Most of the film is closeups of ocean wildlife.
- Drone of Dread: One shot shows a jellyfish descending like an alien spaceship, with a pulsing drone every time the jellyfish expands and contracts.
- Mickey Mousing: Throughout, the soundtrack is synchronized with the motion of the animals. Castanets click every time a clam scoots over the sand. A bell rings every time a particular luminescent jellyfish pulses.
- Nature Documentary: Video photography of the wildlife at the bottom of the Irish Sea.
- No Plot? No Problem!: No attempt to build a story, just 11 minutes of sea critters.
- Silence Is Golden: No dialogue or titles in the film.
