Comparison Of 'Soft' and 'Wasp'

Soft is a short film lasting fourteen minutes and nine seconds, it is directed and written by Simon Ellis. The genre is drama with a sub-genre of social realism because the events that occur in this film could easily happen in real life. Due to the violence and swearing used throughout, I would classify Soft as a fifteen. The narrative revolves around two main characters which are the Father, Iain played by Jonny Phillips and his Son, Scott played by Matthew O’Shea. The short film Wasp is written and directed by Andrea Arnold and it is longer than Soft, with a running time of twenty four minutes. Just like Soft, the genre is drama and the frequent swearing means I would also classify Wasp as a fifteen. There are six main characters in this short film which are the Mother, Zoe played by Natalie Press; Dave, Zoe’s old crush played by Danny Dyer; Zoe’s Son, Kai played by Danny Daley and Zoe’s three daughters: Kelly, Sinead and Leanne played by Jodie Mitchell, Molly Griffiths and Kaitlyn Raynor.

Both short films address realistic issues using similar techniques but the main plots for each one are different. Soft is about a group of six teenagers that abuse and attack Iain and Scott at separate intervals and the way they retaliate and deal with the situation. The ring leader of the gang stands out because he is wearing a white tracksuit; this particular outfit is stereotypical of a lower class teenager so immediately portrays him in a negative light. Although on the outside this makes him seem violent and threatening, the colour white makes the audience think of someone who is angelic, possibly showing that when the teenager is not around his friends he is completely different and maybe he is just jealous of the lifestyle both Iain and Scott have. Wasp on the other hand is about a single mother with four children, they are living in poverty and she is desperate for a social life and some time to herself. However, when Zoe unexpectedly sees her childhood crush, Dave, they arrange to go on a date to the pub but she irresponsibly decides to go and bring her young children along with her without telling him. The film as a whole explores the difficulties of motherhood when you are left alone with no help or support, and how living in poverty can greatly impact the upbringing of your children. Soft and Wasp share the theme of fear which runs throughout both of the films. Soft shows fear because the Father is petrified of the gang and we know this because as he is walking away from them, he has a number of flashbacks of him being attacked. However, he does not want to admit this feeling to his Son possibly because he doesn’t want to appear small in front of him and wants to set a good example by not fighting back. Nonetheless, Scott notices this so confronts his Father by asking him the question: “are you scared?” which triggers embarrassment in Iain. Fear is also shown in Wasp when Zoe sees a wasp on the window that her young Son, Kai is staring at. This wasp may have been there to represent that something bad was about to happen and it was a warning sign. However, when Zoe lets it out of the window, it suggests that just for that one night, she wanted to be free and forget about the barriers that get in the way of her having that freedom every day. Soft does show themes other than fear. Bullying is one because the group of teenagers are taking advantage of the Father and Son by abusing and being extremely rude to them; this makes victimisation a theme because Iain and Scott are left powerless when the gang surround them. At the end of the film, bravery and courage is shown from Scott when he stands up for himself and fights back with a baseball bat to which Iain is shocked by as it was unexpected from both him and the audience. The theme of desperation is shown through Zoe and her children in Wasp. When Zoe meets Dave at the pub, she leaves her children outside and when she goes out to see them, she starts dancing with them which is a very touching scene as it portrays her as helpless because she is desperate to keep her children happy, emphasising how much she truly loves them. As the evening turns to night, the children are still outside alone and a group of older teenagers walk past and accidently drop some fast food on the floor without picking it up. The eldest daughter, Kelly notices this and brings the food over to her other siblings and they eat it off the floor, this is upsetting to watch as it shows how hungry they are due to Zoe having little money, an impact of living in poverty.

The cinematography of both Soft and Wasp is used in a very similar way. When the teenagers are being shown in Soft, the camera is handheld and is of a very poor quality with loud sound. This gives the impression that one of the gang members is filming the events on their phone which creates a realistic atmosphere. However, when the Father is being shown on the screen, still shots are used and the sound is much quieter so that you can hear peaceful noises such as birds singing. I think Simon Ellis did this to show that the teenagers have little money and their standard of living is very low, whereas the Father lives a good quality life as he is wealthy. Likewise with Wasp, the camera quality is reasonably poor to represent the poverty the family are surrounded by, as well as moments in which the camera is shaky to imply that the way they live is very unsettling and Zoe rarely has time to relax. Both short films use natural lighting and background noise to give the audience the feeling that they are actually there and to put you in the shoes of the characters. Close ups are effectively used in Soft and Wasp to show the emotions each character is feeling and in Wasp, an extreme close up is used to show the wasp flying into the baby’s mouth, making the audience feel tense as they are unsure of what is going to happen next. Wide shots are used in both to show the surroundings and to let the audience know where the characters are in that moment of time. The endings of both short films are contrasting as Soft ends with the Father turning off the car alarm, picking up the baseball bat and walking inside. The atmosphere is very silent which gives you time to reflect on what has happened. Wasp ends with Dave driving Zoe and her Children home as they are singing an upbeat song, giving the impression that everything is going to turn out just fine and their life is going to improve from there onwards.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Soft and Wasp because you feel sympathy towards a lot of the characters which makes you think about people in real life who suffer from the same problems, resulting in each film being emotional and moving. Additionally, Simon Ellis and Andrea Arnold made clever use of camera work and themes in order to tell each narrative in an effective way.