Task 2 - Research Into Existing Products - Short Films - Andrea Arnold

Andrea Arnold 

Andrea Arnold is a British film director from Kent. She has made several feature length films and a few short films too.

Wasp

The short film that i watched as called Wasp and this short film is 26 minutes long and it is about a woman with a baby and three other children living on benefits. most of the film involves her being in a pub with a person that she hasn't seen for ages and her kids waiting outside the pub. The baby is asleep outside and a wasp fly's into his mouth. this scares the mother and she takes it out on her other kids.

There are some key themes in the film as it deals with child poverty in Britain because the children are abused and live on benefits and this shows the conditions that some people live in in Britain today. Parenting is another issue that is raised in the film as the parent of the children is very irresponsible because she drinks and swears at the children. This is something that happens in Britain and is a key issue that is in the film that shouldn't happen in real life.

The cinematography for this film is very simple but is really effective. this is because the camera never really stops moving  and this is to show realism and shows that it is made to look like real life.This camera effect is like a Fly on the wall documentary. The lighting and sets that are used sets a realistic environment which is a strength for the film in my opinion. There we multiply POV shots that were from the children's prospective and this mean that you can see what that sort of live looks like from the child's prospective and this meant that you empathise with the children because you can see what their living is like.

The editing in the short film is quite fast and this is another one of her unique styles because she has fast editing which creates effect. The fast editing has breaks with some slow shot this is to create effect as it make it seem like time has paused if it is an intense scene. This is a unique style of hers as this is not done in most films. In most films the editing is slow in the slow parts and then picks up if there is any action or something intense. This is flipped for her and this creates a really unique effect and it is what gives her an advantage because it it something that not very many people do which makes her work stand out. 

All in all i think this is a very good short film as it has a lot of unique features that make is stand out from other ones out there and there is lots to like about this film as it raises lots of ethical things that where acceptable back then but shouldn't be.