“SOFT”

SHORT FIL

M

ANALYSIS

• Soft is a short film by Simon Ellis, it is a social realistic that deals with a real life issue. In the film we see what happens when a father and son are harassed by teenagers and are forced to deal with them.

• The film begins with the title of the film behind a black background and you can hear a male voice shouting. We then see a group of teenagers running down an alleyway, screaming and shouting at each other. This scene was filmed using a mobile phone, and has a pixelated image, and has the handheld camera effect so it is therefore shaking.. The group combined with the shakiness of the camera makes the film feel urgent and chaotic. As well as this is the use of the mobile phone highlights the realistic aspect of the film.

• As the group reach the end of the alleyway they join another group of teenagers who are bullying a boy in school uniform. Most of the teenagers are dressed as stereotypical chavs with a bunch of boys in black hoodies. The leader of the group, a chavvy looking boy in a white tracksuit stands out from the rest, with his tracksuit making him look stereotypical however the white colour also makes him look innocent and purity due to its connotations. The scene also uses pathetic fallacy as it looks grey and overcast highlighting the negative tone of the scene.

• The teenager in the white tracksuit repeatedly hits the boy in school uniform, and we notice that one of the hooded teenager is filming this attack on their phone, this shows that they are ‘happy slapping’; where teenagers would film themselves attacking people and then posting it on social media. This further highlights the social realistic aspect of the film as this is a real world issue. The screen then goes to black, showing a pass in time and a change of location.

1) A high-angle shot showing a quiet residential street with lots of middle-class cars is the next thing we see. You can hear sounds of birds tweeting while natural lighting makes the scene feel peaceful which is a complete contrast to the previous scene where it was overcast and loud. We then hear the sound of a car parking. An adult male then gets out of the car and enters a house.

2) As the man enters a house, we see a high-angled shot from the top of the stairs looking down at the front door. We can also hear the sound of techno music being played in a room upstairs. A pair of legs sporting jeans and trainers then walks downstairs and then running back up as we hear the sound of a key in the door and then see the man from the street entering. We assume that these two characters are father and son, as the man calls upstairs for him to move his bag; we also assume that the boy is afraid of his dad as we see only his lower half. We later find out that the boy is the schoolboy who was getting beaten up by the teenagers earlier.

• We then see the man enter the kitchen of the house. He begins to make a cup of tea but realizes that he doesn’t have any milk. He then asks his son to go and get some; however the boy simply turns his music up, ignoring him. The man then exits the house deciding to get some himself. It is at this point in the film that we see this character fully for the first time. He is dressed in a shirt and tie, suggesting that he is middle class.

• The camera then follows the man out of the house in a tracking shot, where we see him greet a neighbour and begin his journey to the shops. We can hear sounds of birds is again, making the peaceful tone of the film return. The shot then cuts to mobile phone footage of the gang of teenagers we saw at the beginning of the film standing outside a corner shop, beat-boxing into a traffic cone. We then go back to a shot of the dad, as he walks along a path with the sound of church bells in the background highlighting the peaceful tone again. The scene then cuts again to the mobile phone footage of the gang, who are now making random pedestrians jump and they are swearing  which is often associated with gang culture. This makes the film feel more realistic and highlights the social realism aspect. The fast pace of the film thanks to the quick cuts combined with the contrasting tones helps to build tension within the audience. This scene also highlights the differences between adults and teenagers. The use of these cuts suggests that the gang and the father are going to meet.

We then see the man arrive at the shop, and we see the gang of teenagers outside the shop. The teenagers then begin to harass the man, by popping a balloon in his face and laughing at his reaction. The man then sarcastically laughs back, embarrassing the leader in front of his friends. The man then enters the shop and buys a pint of milk. The shopkeeper looks worried while the teenagers bang on the window, building the tension again. The man then tries to exit the shop but the leader is standing in the man’s way. The man politely asks him to move and the teenager does, but as soon as the man gets outside the shop it cuts to the mobile phone footage with the camera zooming in on the man. The boy in the white tracksuit then confronts the man and causes him to drop his milk. As the man tries to pick up the milk, the leader kicks him to the ground and spits on him. The man does not retaliate instead he gets back up and begins to walk home. The teenager then begins to dance.

• We then follow the man home in a set of close-ups and wide shots that shows us the man’s reaction to what’s just happened and we see the gang following him from behind. The quick cuts between these shots are combined with flashbacks of the incident where we also hear the sound of a heartbeat showing the man’s anxiety over the gang. As the man enters his home, we see the gang come round the corner and stop outside the house.

• Inside the house, the son tries to approach the man about what the gang did to him whilst making a cup of tea. The camera quickly cuts to the boy’s busted lip to show its importance and that the father has the exact same injury. The man now realizes that his son was attacked by the same teenagers who harassed him. But instead of defending his son he just tells him to stand up for himself.

• The father and son then walk into the living room and they sit on the sofa. We then see the gang begin to throw stones at the window, the camera focuses on the pair showing their reaction to what the gang is doing. The father tries to ignore the gang but the son keeps insisting that his dad should do something. The boy then tries to walk to the window but the dad stops him from going outside. The boy asks his father if he’s scared and the man realizes that he’s got to face his fears and go outside. As the man begins to remove his tie and approach the front door the pace of the edits slows down, showing his hesitation and the fear he has over confronting the teenagers.

• Next the man tries to assure his son that he is not scared but the boy doesn’t believe him, pushing him aside and storming out the house to confront the gang himself. The man then follows his son out of the house, reluctantly following his advice to stand up for yourself. As the boy gets near to the group it cuts to the mobile phone, with the gang turning on the father. Suddenly we see the boy rush back into the house and come back out with a cricket bat. The boy then hits the leader with the cricket bat. As the leader falls to the ground the camera switches back to a medium shot. The boy continues to swing the bat around scaring the gang members away. Afterwards he tries to hand his dad the bat but his dad drops it. The boy then enters the house and slams the door shut while his dad is left outside ashamed of the coward he is.

• The film ends with an aerial view of the street showing the father picking the cricket bat up from the ground and entering his house. As several people begin to leave their houses the sound of traffic and dogs barking are now heard bringing the film back to normal.

• Overall, I believe that this is an effective social realistic film that shows the reality some people face when living in an area with teenagers. As well as this the film teaches us to stand up for yourself and don’t just take abuse.