Short Film Analysis

Slap (2015):

Slap looks at the societal norms and expectations of gender, specifically at the pressures of masculinity on men and boys among the working class. This 25 minute, long, short film firsts shows us Connor, the main character, with a shot that immediately introduces the audience to the theme of the film. His public identity on the right side of this shot, a heterosexual, 'normal', teen boy, shown through posters with the clear sexualisation of women. And on the left, his true self, a more delicate image of Connor carefully raising mascara to his eye, a direct contradiction to the macho man otherwise inferred. Bringing in the idea of a double life, split in two, in this case, literally across the screen. Another powerful shot during Slap is as Connor is seen walking down the middle of the road through the housing. The contrast between the grey bleak sky, street, and other surroundings with the bright make up and blue dress underneath creates a vivid image, highlighting just how out of place he is, both literally, and within his community.

Tight Jeans (2008):

Tight Jeans is a light-hearted comedy, based on 3 black teenagers, making conversation whilst waiting for their mate, Tyrone. It comments on the modern attitudes towards different cultures, and adds comedy by playing with wrongful teachings of black history. Cinematography is also used to extend the humour gained from the dialogue. For example, as Marcus is explaining the history of what originally caused the enslavement of black people, it slowly zooms in on his face, stopping the audience from being able to see the reaction of his 2 mates, therefore, when he finally gets to the punch line, and we've once again zoomed out enough to see his friends over-the-top reactions, it adds another punch line to the joke. The joke then once more being extended as it is called back upon at the very end, when Marcus begins to explain tight shirts, after a long silence to build up tension.

Over (2015):

Over is based on a true story of a man who fell from a plane in London, after hiding in the landing gear for over 4000 miles, desperate to start a new life. The interesting aspect of Over, is its method of story telling, it was told in reverse chronological order, slowly releasing more bits of information as you go further back throughout the day. This clever short film forces the audience to make multiple changing guesses as it goes on. However, the punch line of this film is perhaps the cleverest part about it, we know there is a death from the beginning, and as we are shown a scene of a car being removed, the audience make assumptions on that, 'perhaps it was a car accident', this assumption is reinforced further as we are shown a scene of a body lying in the road, with various pedestrians walking by oblivious. After finally getting to the final scene, we see the body is no longer in the road, but we know it is to come, we patiently wait for a jump-scare of a car zooming past, or someone running into the road. But instead, greeted by an body slamming to the ground from the air.

Echo (2011):

Echo's bleak story of a girl repeating over and over the same call of the news that her dad's been in a motorcycle accident is an emotional journey, taking you from to sympathy to confusion and to sympathy again. At first we are introduced to this character, connecting with her as the audience too finds out the news, staying with her completely just until she asks the taxi-driver to pull over. This switches the tone again, confusing the audience in a perfect way, we start to conclude that she is in-fact a scammer, and has cheated, us, the audience too, breaking the often traditional hierarchy of knowledge, in which the audience knows all. This mood is carried until the little brother lets us know that the father did in fact die, and we begin to regain sympathy for this slightly twisted character. However, it is not until the last time we here her answer this phone, the 'echo' and it suggests the fact that maybe this isn't meant to be a scam, or a trick, maybe this is her only way of coping, or not, by coming back to that same spot every day and experiencing it again and again. With the bleak colour-grading only adding to the gloomy tone.

Operator (2015):


This intense short film using sound in a brilliant way to induce stress, anxiety and relief, also bringing to light the extremely high pressure jobs that often are overlooked. We are introduced to a call of a desperate mother on the phone ringing desperate for help, with a child caught in a fire. The contrast between the calm, soothing, voice of the operator and the nerves of the mother creates an odd contradiction that puts the audience on-edge. However, we are with the operator for this, having only visuals of her, with the camera moving smoothly and calmly, weaving in and out of the computers, and around her chair. Not only, does the method of the fire being without visuals work for the film, it is also a brilliant way to take the audience through that experience without the extreme budget it would take to recreate all that. The final punchline off the film however, is what really shows the toiling experience for these operators, as the emotional journey with that call is cut-off anti-climaticly, it moves straight onto the next.


The Arrival (2016):


The Arrival is an interesting film in its use of the single continuous shot rolling for 5 minutes. The lack of transitions draws attention to the changing environment around this character, as we are shown all walks of life through the moving customers around her. 'I have lots of time left', as an elderly women walks past, a mother and daughter sit down behind her. We are brought with her through the slow zoom and through the voice over as she continues to assure herself she is making the right decision. With the expressionistic lighting as you see her finally change her mind, as the lights dim and there is only one spotlight on her face, but the flashing light from a passing train, brightening back up as her thoughts do. This short but sweet film, covers a relatively taboo issue, in a light-hearted, original, and realistic way.

The Fly (2014):

The Fly's sole purpose seems to make the audience as uncomfortable as possible, starting with its title sequence. The clunky, strobe, title perhaps introduces this theme, in a brilliant way, not allowing the slow lowering into the theme that most films follow, as a rule of thumb. This is continued with the little habits taken by the main character, with the tapping on the wheel, and the turning of the cocktail stick in his mouth. As we begin to see this fly, accompanied by the irritating buzzing that everyone is familiar with him, we join him on his journey into obsession, reminiscent of the famous Breaking Bad episode, also titled 'The Fly'. Although the audience is made aware of the bank robbery occurring in side, even after we hear shots fired, both the audience and the driver is still completely focused not the fly, causing the audience to be drawn further into the madness.