Wasp (2003 Short Film)

I watched a clip from a short film in my lecture today, and this short film is called Wasp. The plot is about a single mother who is struggling with her 4 children in their daily lives. She has a fight with a local and rekindles her interest in a man called Dave by visiting the pub with him.

The family in the film.

The editing of this short film stands out in various different ways.

Cutting
The cutting of Wasp is fairly fast, which goes in hand with the shaki cam used throughout the film, as this accentuates a disorganised and immediate type of mood which accentuates how out of order the famliy's life is. Cutting in this film generally does show continuity, as the story line is clearly evident when played back, but the cutting is immediate enough to not show a very smooth flow in the sequence of events; it's more rough while still showing what occurs coherently.

Sound
Sound in this film is generally quite loudly mixed, as one can hear the wind through the microphone as they also hear the characters' dialogue at an elevated volume.

Colours
The colour grading in this film is shown to be somewhat dull. This could have been done intentionally to reflect the misery that the main characters could be feeling, as well as the general mood that is received in the area that they live. The events of the film are generally not very happy, so if they were then the colours would have been more saturated to show this feeling better.

Techniques
Eye line matches and shot reverse shots are used in the scene where Dave is introduced. This is to convey the intimacy between Zoe, the mother, and Dave. This intimacy that is built creates an onscreen relationship between the two, which further draws the audience in.

David and Zoe in the pub together.

Wasp is an interesting drama piece that has a lot of typical editing conventions, following them closely to what is normally associated with them.