Short Film Analysis – ‘Wasp’ – ‘Soft’

Film Studies / Jamie Pitcher / 27.09.2017

The short film ‘Soft’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og1w2KrEgVg ) opens with a boy (later revealed to be called Scott) being beaten senseless by a group of youths, the entirety of this short opening scene was filmed with a low resolution camera, most likely with a mobile phone (I’ll get into more detail about its significance as this review proceeds). Shortly after this scene, the father is introduced, this character is very interesting as he somewhat embodies the concept of vulnerability after he too is attacked by the same group of youths, (again this scene is also filmed using a low resolution camera); Scott’s father later discovers Scott’s (very visible) facial injuries and continues to state (hypocritically) that as a grown man you should not back away from a fight, you should instead stand up for yourself. This quite obvious implication of what a masculine figure should be greatly contradicts how the Scott’s father reacted when he was attacked; this apparent fear immediately returns once it is revealed that the group followed Scott’s father home. Now during the following scenes around 40 to 50 percent of them are filmed using the same low resolution camera, this is likely to convey the apparent crudeness of the youths and their disjointed, near violent world view which shows contrast to the crisp, high resolution footage that is featured during scenes where the youths aren’t visible. As the teens continue to taunt and irritate Scott and his father, Scott actually shows a genuine desire to make them leave once the weakness in his father begins to show, this suggests that Scott is wounded upon seeing a man whom he deemed masculine and strong falling victim to a group of mere teens. At this the father begins to hold his son back from fighting, in a sense becoming the very fears that held both him and Scott back when they were originally attacked.

The short film ‘Wasp’, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VEwcAAJ-LE ) features an overworked mother with a family of three young girls (each varying in age) and a baby boy; almost immediately the viewer(s) begin to sympathise for the mother (although unaware of what she has experienced in her past or why she has so many children when a father figure isn’t even present). As the story develops it is clear that the mother is struggling to support her family, this is done with frequent shots of a nearly empty (, cheap) purse to emphasis the dire financial situation she is in; within key moments of the short film she is seen giving her children small portions of drink and food to share amongst them all, this suggests that the family has grown used to challenge of living on such a slim budget. The film itself gets its name from the most important scene featured relatively near to the end of the film, the baby boy is exposed to wasp that crawls inside of its mouth momentarily before leaving, however during this scene the mother becomes panicked and shows the underlying weakness within her that she has tried to conceal for both her and her family’s sakes, ultimately emphasising the stress put upon this single mother in this time of disparity. This short film, whilst relatively uneventful (excluding the one wasp scene mentioned prior,) seems to mainly focus on the standards of life some must live with and how it can have dramatic effects on their lives.

These two films, whilst completely different in terms of story, share some relatively strong connections in terms of concept; they each show the audience the difficulty of raising a family along with the physical and mental limitations that can be brought about by having one. This general theme of family struggles can be applied to many, we have to live and coexist in less desirable situations all the time and that is what both of these short films capture really well, how conflict and suppressed rage at one’s own place in the world can have an interesting effect on the dynamic of those around you.