Arran: Wasp

Wasp takes place on a council estate in London. It is a well made and gritty social realist short film. The camera work is especially typical of social realism using a shaky hand held camera. There is no use of lighting or non diagetic sound. The only music is from the jukebox in the pub and the sound effects are genuine.
Costume hair and makeup are very typical of a working class area of London. Short skirts tracksuits and a ford escort belonging to the main male character.

Allot of close ups were used to reveal facial expression on the characters in the film. In just twenty minutes this really helps us to develop opinions on the characters fast along with the dialogue.

The editing crosses between the children and there mother, starting together, parting and coming together again many times. This works well for a short film as there simply is not enough time for a complicated narrative or too many characters.

The themes are very hard hitting and realistic. A mother is close to loosing her 4 girls to social services because of there poor quality of life. The girls are dirty, hungry and unhealthy however are happy and love there mum as she loves them. When the mother leaves here children outside the pub all evening to enjoy her fist night out in a long time it brings out sympathy and anger in the audience. A mother should never abandon her children like that however we are sympathetic because the mother herself has been abandoned with the children, she is broke and is in desperate need of some fun.

The characters are pretty stereotypical of the area represented but with there own unique aspects too to create more interesting characters. For example David, the guy the mother meets is a typical geezer, tracksuit and accent, getting her to buy the first round of drinks. He does however show understanding and generosity when the wasp causes the children to be revealed at quite an awkward moment. Instead of being angry at the mother or abandoning them all he takes them for chips, then takes them all home to talk it over. Although angry at the mother for leaving her children and feeling sympathy for them, we also feel sympathetic for her, her situation and anger that people have to face these problems.