Short Films Analyses

A short film is the idea of a 'slice of life' usually exploring different topics such as equality, gender, age, class and different eras. The 2 short films I watched were 'Wasp' by Andrea Arnold and 'Gasman' by Lynne Ramsay. I particularly enjoyed Wasp as it explored a different way of life that I have never experienced and therefore it was interesting from my perspective. The short film explored the life of a young mother with 4 young and therefore vulnerable children, it showed how she coped with obstacles in life including love and relationships whilst still having to raise her infants. Gasman was less interesting for me as Ramsay didn't use as much dialogue as wasp and therefore it was harder to follow and understand what the plot was. However she did still explore an area of life i haven't experienced and therefore it did help to create a hook for a short period of time, after this i lost interest.


How is mise-en-scene used effectively to create meaning?

'GasMan':

The way the child is on her fathers back represents the fact she is reliant on him for safety and comfort. Therefore we can we can understand the father has a large amount of responsibility which can also be shown in this shot as the child on his back is symbolic of the responsibilities he has to carry with him through his life. The scene also shows a long train track that they have just walked down allowing us to realise that he has carried his child that distance and yet doesn't show any fatigue on his face, this also helps to create meaning as it shows that he doesn't want to show to his child any sign of weakness in order to sustain a caring, fatherly and therefore not make her feel as though she has to walk. This can again link to the idea of responsibility as he feels as though it is his duty to carry his daughter when she's tired regardless of if he is or not. 

'Wasp'- Andrea Arnold:

The Mise en scene used in the short film plays a key part in creating the main metaphor for it to have an impact on the audience. For example the wasp used in two scenes can be shown as a representation of the mother in the short film. We first see it in the kitchen trying to escape out of a closed window, this gives us the impression that its not very intelligent and attempting to do something impossible. This can be related to the mother in the way that she is trying to raise 4 children on her own and with very little money which can be seen as attempting to do the impossible. However we could also interpret this as if the wasp is trying to escape and is eventually let out the window which therefore translates to the idea that the mother wants to escape this life and will do one day much like the wasp. 

Which shots did you think were effective?

'Gasman':

                    

This mid shot of the 2 characters allows the audience to see them in a wide open space. This creates the idea that they are very small in comparison to the rest of the world, creating the idea of isolation and unimportance. Also in this scene we can see an extended idea of isolation through the character of the son who appears to be around 11/12. The director cuts this character out of most shots, including this one, allowing the audience to almost forget that he is there. Due to the era this is set in, 70s, we could infer that this is because boys were brought up to be independent and therefore got less attention. This can link to the idea of isolation in this shot as it ignores the son showing that perhaps the father only thinks he needs to focus on the daughter and her well being. This explains why the daughter reacts so violently to her unknown sister later on in the short film as she has gone from having her dads attention fully directed to her, to having to share this nurture.  

This wide angled shot of the family cast in "wasp" is effective to show the background of the family. Here we can see that all ages of the family are holding their middle fingers up to the woman the mother just argued with. In the scene this is done simultaneously as the mother counted down which presents it to be a practised and re occuring thing the family do together. This is effective because it allows us the see that the mother is teaching her children that this is the way to deal with confrontation, which although adds comedy to the short film does also make the audience question whether the age of the young mother has a negative effect on her parenting style.