Wasp
Wasp features a single mother, played by Nathalie Press, of four children determined to pursuit a relationship with an old ex-boyfriend, played by Danny Dyer. Released in 2003 and directed by Andrea Arnold this film gained much recognition and has earned many awards.
We are introduced to the family that we follow throughout and we see this family swearing at another family. The family is made up of four young girls aged from roughly 6 months to 8 years old. The leader of the family is the single mother which the children imitate by swearing at the other family. We then follow this family as they walk away from their conflict and the mother sees her old ex-boyfriend who has come back 
into the area after leaving for a while. The single mother is highly interested in this old ex-boyfriend as they arrange to meet at a pub. Meanwhile the children are left to their own devices and have to look after each other. We then see the squalor that this family lives in as they have very little food and live in a crappy house. We then move onto the meeting with the old ex-boyfriend. As the young mother can’t leave her children and can’t bring them inside in fear of scaring away the ex-boyfriend she leaves them outside and promises to get them crisps. She then goes in and tries to impress the ex-boyfriend. Meanwhile the children try their best to entertain their selves leaving the oldest, who can’t be any older than 8, is left in charge. It starts to get late and the children become impatient. Due to hunger they find some thrown away chips and start sharing them and eating them. Then a wasp flies into the mouth of the youngest child who is 6 months. The children panic and find their mother who is now left alone with the ex-boyfriend in his car. The mother comes out to rescue the child ditching the ex-boyfriend and exposing the fact she’s a mother.
There has been a lot of effort put in place in picking authentic locations. This has paid off and adds to the realism of the film. The acting in this film is very strong and all actors perform their roles wonderfully. The plot gives you an insight into the tough decisions young single mothers have to face. I like this idea of gaining an insight into a life that you wouldn’t normally know about.
This film did wonders for the cast and the director as it gained a lot of attention. As this film was shown at many screenings with important people of the film industry in the audiences the director and actors got acknowledgment and further work. The director of this film went on to make the film “Fish Tank” which won a BAFTA award.
The Black Hole
I found this film on the YouTube channel “Shorts” which is a channel which host loads of different shot films. This film is one of “Shorts” most viewed video and for a good reason.
This short film has no dialogue which is a bold move to make; everything that happens is entirely visual. We are introduced to a man who is photocopying pieces of paper in his work office. He then damages the photocopier which strangely creates a bizarre black hole in one of the pieces of paper. The man discovers that this piece of paper allows him to go through objects by going through the black hole. 
He uses this to his advantage and attempts to steal from his company’s bank. He uses the piece of paper to unlock the door and then makes his way to the safe. As he puts his hand through the paper, he takes out handfuls of money. The man then gets greedy and decides to put his whole body into the safe. Whilst he is in the safe, the piece of magical piece of paper falls off at the other end leaving the man locked inside the safe and all the money outside of the safe.
This movie is highly interesting. The story of the short is compelling and told in a simple yet sophisticated way. The editing has been done very well with seamless transitions between scenes. The camera angles are all done perfectly and this short film used a variety of camera angles, camera sizes and camera movements. The mise-en-scene is highly authentic and there were no doubts on the settings and the roles of characters. The special effect of the black hole was the main unique point which was done effectively and looked impressive. This short film clearly had a message attached with it about what greed can do to a person. All these factors contributed towards making this film memorable and probably explain why it was viewed so much.
What I can take from this movie is the importance of having a simple yet interesting storyline. The simple storyline worked well for this movie and by gradually progressing from one situation to an increasingly more risky situation this keeps the audience compelled. The progression also created tension and anticipation to see what the climax was. This is a great way to satisfy audience’s needs and keep them entertained. I must take into consideration this factor. Another factor I will take from this film to implement into my own film is to limit the number of characters. In this film there is only one character and some extras in the background. This makes the film less confusing and easier to follow. However, this film does not explore the main character at all and instead it focuses entirely on the story and message of the short film. Depending on what type of short film I will make well influence my decision on exploring or not exploring the main character. The idea of having few main characters I will imitate.
This film was mainly distributed online on youtube and gained much attention with loads of views. It has also won many awards both online and in real life.
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