RESEARCH - Operator

The Operator - (2015) - Caroline Bartleet

Narrative: About a fire call centre, a 999 call operator. We sit with her while she's in a stressful phone call. She talks the woman through as she is waiting for the fire brigade to come and rescue her. It ends with a new phone call coming through and another fire issue. It has a linear narrative. The inciting action would be when we discover there is a child trapped upstairs.

Genre: Drama, action.

Representation: Shows how fantastic the fire service is. How difficult their job is. Representation of London Fire Brigade.

Audience: We are positioned with the operator. We can't see the woman in the fire. Our hearts are beating we understand how tough her job is. We don't expect it to only focus on the operator. It allows us to picture the scenes only in our heads. This is amazing because, it emphasises how she is positioned how she is coping.

Micro Elements: Pan to establish the shot. We have background noise such as keyboards and other phones ringing. Shots of behind the computer and then around the computer. Through the monitor there's a soft focus. Close up of her face, shallow focus. ALL THE FOCUS IS ON HER. Often blurs out the background. The performance of the actress is fantastic. This is a make or break for this short film she makes the film. We feel like we can relate to her. It seems so realistic. The sigh at the end is just amazing because, we feel that we sigh with her. We can relate. We respect our emergency services so much through this amazing acting.

What did I like?
I think that by far my favourite thing about this film was the acting. It drew you in and the dialogue is so straightforward but so very realistic. The panic in the other woman's voice is calmly met by this beautiful accent, relaxed pieces of advice. We only see the stress when that phone call is ended and that is such a tiny aspect when first looked at but, it is a game changer. Because, then we do see the humanistic sigh we realise she is just like us this is a job. She is fantastic.

What didn't I like? 
Honestly this was my favourite of all of the short films so I find this very difficult to fault. I mean I would've liked to have seen what was going on on the other side of the phone but, that is merely out of curiosity. I wouldn't actually want that because, it takes away from the whole film. That's the whole point of the film. I think maybe at the end it would be good if maybe we were switched to another operator? Or perhaps we could have some background context on the operator herself. For example see her getting the train, or kissing a spouse goodbye. But I contradict myself yet again because, I do quite like that we ONLY see her as the operator until that one sigh of relief at the end.

What can I take from this?
I would certainly take some of the camera angles. I also want to take the idea that less really is more. Some of the other short films try and pack too much in. A fantastic thing about the human mind is that we can think things up for ourselves. And so you don't always need to tell every single detail. From this film I've learnt that in order to make mine super realistic I too need to just imply things. Maybe only give one persons perspective - especially as this is a SHORT film. I also can see that the actor makes it so I will make sure I ask someone who I can trust is good at acting.