Short Film Anaylsis

Wasp by Andrea Arnold


Wasp by Andrea Arnold from MrGreatShortFilms on Vimeo.

Mise-en-scene
Instantly the shot shows a dirty set of stairs with children walking in their bare-feet. The clothes they are wearing are extremely washed out and some of them are dirty, this denotes that the family (with an unknown/absent father) are from a rough area due to the filthy stairs and the clothing they wear. The young baby who is being carried carelessly by his oldest sister (who still looks young) is half-naked, this also denotes that the family are not wealthy and are in a place where walking round like this is acceptable. All of the children and the mother are untidy and look as thought their appearance is not looked after, they contrast with the other children and parents as they look fairly cleaner than them with newer looking clothes, which reflects the poor circumstances that the main character lives in and the poor living environments.
Other points:

• Bag of sugar as an alternative for a meal - extremely poor, borderline poverty giving off connotations that the family are probably at the bottom of the social scale. The mouldy bread also shows this as nowadays it isn't that expensive for a loaf of bread and she cannot afford that.
• All of the empty wrappers in the cupboards and on the bench denotes that she is too lazy to tidy up - not fit for parenting, some of the rubbish could be dangerous which is not acceptable as there are 3 young children and a baby which could hurt themselves on something.
• Pub scene - she wears a red top which denotes romance which could be as she is going to see a male, but it could also symbolise danger for something that is going to happen when she is there. Even when she attempts to dress up for the occasion she still looks dishevelled. 

Cinematography

Throughout this short film it appears that a handheld camera has been used all of the time. Firstly, it is used when they are coming down the stairs almost as if that is how they're moving. The shot stars with a close up on her thighs which lets the audience see the clothes they are wearing, it then pans down to the feet, which is to show that she is bare-footed. With it starting at the bottom, it allows the audience to see what type of place that these people are living in - dirty, dark, unhomely. The use of the handheld camera could also be used to show the carelessness that these people live like. The shots, when not outside in the daylight, are always dull. Some of the shots are extreme close ups especially when her past lover is talking. It focuses on his mouth at first which gives off connotations of persuasion and mesmerisation in what he is saying, it then changes to an extreme close up of his eyes which also gives off the same idea. 

Sound
There is not much to say about the sound as it is just very basic and there are no special effects. However, there is a lot of colloquial language i.e. the use of swear words - this reflects the type of people that Arnold wants the audience to perceive them as. The mothers voice is also very rusty which makes her sound common. The children also use bad language which shows that they have had a bad upbringing.

Edits
This is a very basic short film and there has not been any edits, just simple cuts and focuses on certain things. I believe Arnold hasn't used any particular edits for example transitions due to the subject matter being a serious, stereotypical thing which needs to look realistic as oppose to there being a lot of edits to make it seem fictional. Arnold tries to make the audience feel empathetic for these children and in some ways the mother as it is something which is common in areas like this.

Overal - the main technical code is mise-en-scene as it is extremely important that the audience knows just what kind of conditions these people live in.