Over - Jorn Threlfall

 

Over is a short film, about the events that followed a mans death after he fell from an airplane approaching Heathrow Airport. We see the events take place in reverse order, meaning the audience is forced to slowly work out what has happened, building a sense of foreboding to the actual event which we only see in the final scene. This sense is also added to by the use of long takes, with each scene comprising of very few shots, that last a long time, meaning we are forced to wait longer to find out what has happened. The scene are sometimes broken up by close up shot of the evidence taken from the body, which allows us to gain a slow understanding of who the person was, and the situation they might have been in. For instance the photo, shows us he had a family, creating a feeling of empathy towards him, and therefore further adding to the sense of foreboding for what is to come. 

The use of sound is also important, as the continuous diegetic sound accompanying each scene creates a sense of realism, suiting the theme of this film as a true story. Furthermore, the airplane sound in the final scene, is used functionally to give us a clue to what has happened, even before it tells us before the credits. The music at the end, a sadder version of 'somewhere over the rainbow', also helps to create a sadder feel to the story. It suggests a trip that should have been happy, but instead went wrong for the man. As the credits role, it leaves us with an almost mournful feel. 

Operator - Caroline Bartleet

The Operator is a short film following an operator responding to a call from a woman experiencing a house fire. However, the viewer never sees the events of the fire and instead stays focused on the woman responding to the call, in a series of close up shots. We are left instead to imagine the events we can hear through the phone. We first hear the voice of the mother, panicked asking for help. She states that her son is upstairs and despite the operator telling her not to, we hear her run up the stairs to get to him. We watch the operator talk her through keeping smoke out the room and getting to a window, when we finally hear the sirens of fire engines and her and her sons rescue from the house. After the phone cuts off, all sound entirely cuts out, leaving a powerful impression of the work of an operator, making us empathise with what she goes through for her work. The sounds of her workplace then resumes and we see her pick up another phone call. This helps us see that, as dramatic as the events of the film were for the viewer, this woman has to keep going through it again and again.