Bonnie Gross: I really enjoyed the short “Wasp” this week. The thing that I loved the most about the film was how it took risks, such as the lewd and handheld camera shots. This made the short feel very realistic. Although the camera was shaky, it made the viewer feel like they were actually there to witness all of the events unfold. Also, this captured my attention instantly. The fact that this mother was cursing out and beating up another mother in front of her four kids was a really good way to hook a viewer. One scene in particular that I thought was very good was when they were crossing the bridge over to the bar. There is a wide shot of the family crossing the bridge over the highway with a faded out tree branch in the foreground. I thought it was a beautiful shot and really emphasized the type of environment they were crossing. The story itself was very well told too. A lot of times before there was any dialogue in the scene, there would be lots of images of either the kids faces or the atmosphere around them. Those images were very interesting because after viewing them you knew exactly what was going on and the exact mood of the scene. All of this was done without words, just images. The only thing I didn’t like was the end. I thought it didn’t really finish the story. I appreciated the song and the cool wide shots of the city, but story wise there was no real conclusion. Maybe this is for the viewer to just imagine and predict.
The short this week was very sad, yet beautiful. The plot is not thoroughly explained. The choice of content really helped to set the scene for this woman and her children. It made me feel that there was no hope for the woman. Sure, here and her children got through that night safely, but what happens now. Does Dave stay with her? Will she get out of the plight she is in? That's up to the viewer to create their own ending. (although the song at the end suggests that everything will be fine) The handheld shots made the short very personable and made the viewer feel like they were right there next to the characters as events were happening. The shots of the surroundings, like the trashed McDonald's fry cup, really gave the sense of how deep into poverty that the woman and four children were living in. I was pretty upset at the end. I really expected the children to be taken away a given a better place to live because she was doing a poor job of raising them. They deserve better than what they had. That is my opinion, others may differ from mine.
As a film making exercise, this short was pretty interesting. As a narrative, it wasn't particularly engrossing. Although this film really feels like it should evaluated in terms of its cinematography, the story it wove together still felt like it was dragging the whole thing down just a little bit. It basically added an element of linearity without really providing enough incentive to pay any real attention. It just stuck halfway between composition and narrative. However, the filming aspect was interesting. It wasn't terribly unorthodox for these types of films, but it did it's job very well, generating the appropriate feeling of desperation mixed with odd bittersweet touches. It just feels like, had the narrative been pieced together more interestingly, not necessarily more complexly, it would have pulled together much better.
This is the best short I have ever seen. What made the short so great was it played on emotion. As a female seeing a young mother struggling to balance being poor and having a social life really got to me. I see this struggle too many times. I loved the fact that this movie was so real and down to earth because many people could relate to it. I am okay with it not having a plot because real life sometimes does not have a plot, the characters were living their every day lives by every minute.
The camera work in the movie added on the emotion.The handheld camera shooting was the best way to capture every movement of this family. It caught every emotion being portrayed from madness to sadness to love. I also liked how close the camera shots and angels were with the two characters. It expressed the emotion of lust and longing for being touched and sexual interaction. I loved the way we got to see the emotions of this attraction through close ups and extreme close ups.
The acting in the movie was great because it wasn't forced. Because this story is so real, the actors did not have to act more or less of what is real. From the colors and the clothes of the character explained the position they were in and it added to the story.
The most intense scene that had me at the edge of my seat was when the wasp went inside the baby's mouth. They had an even distributions of the shots within the car and the shots outside of the car which added heightened the situation. The shots of the wasp going into the mouth were intensified with the close angles and the silence that was made from the scene because of the anticipation of seeing if the baby was going to be okay. Lighting and shadows of this scene also added to the emotion of the short.
This was the best I have seen. This really touched me.
I love the ending of this movie because the children finally get some FOOD!!!!! Also, they get a ride home, what a great guy!!! This was a great film, I swear my favorite part had to be at the beginning when they all (including the children) flipped off the lady, with their middle finger. Too funny!
“Wasp,” had great camera movement. It seemed like the director was holding the camera with her own hands. The lighting in the film was great, especially in the last scene with the wasp in the baby’s mouth. In this scene the lighting was great for night and there was just enough to show the actor’s emotional faces and also, the wasp going in the baby’s mouth (so gross – how irresponsible that mother was).
What I liked most about this film was the realism portrayed in by the clothes, make-up, props, and hairstyles. Also, the actors did a great job because when they cried it seemed so realistic because I could just feel their starvation. The clothes the actors wore in the film were very cheap, dirty, or the same things, which made them seem poor and living in poverty. The make-up designer did a good job because the actors all had dirty faces like they hadn’t taken a bath in days. The props added another dimension of realism because they all had cheap toys or nothing at all. The hairstyles played an important role in portraying realism in this film because every character had dirty, greasy, non-brushed hair. That looked like it had dead ends, split ends, like someone of poverty would resemble.
I thought the main actress did an excellent job in her role, I guess her British accent appealed to me.
My only concern about this film that made me feel a little uneasy was at the beginning when the baby had no clothes or diaper on his bottom half, so you could see everything. I understand the director wants to show the audience that this family is poor, but I thought maybe that was a little too much for a child; for an adult it’s different. But I guess I can understand because if you’re poor you wouldn’t have money to buy diapers.
Overall this was a good short film that kept me interested the entire time, I guess that’s why it took an Oscar home in 2003.
"Wasp" really grasped a sense of identity for me, a style. The combination of costume and set design with the hand held camera movements and lack of a soundtrack for the most part made for a really realistic film. After just the first shot, handheld, of bare feet running the audience got a sense of what kind of tone and feel the film would have.
The use of a lot of closeups in this film gave the audience very specific and minute details of the actions being done and the location and condition they were done in. The shots gave enough information for the audience to really connect with the characters and the story of a day in their life. There weren't many wide, grand shots that could convey a sense of freedom, which the characters did not have. The closeups forced the audience to focus on the small things and the emotions of their lives, the things they struggle with and do to get by. Also the lack of any type of music in the background made the sounds of each action done (such as pushing a stroller, or opening a bag of sugar) very prominent and noticeable, giving the film a continuous sound of reality. The technical aspects of the film, therefore, really contributed to the overall vibe of the film with the "day in the life of" feel.
I thought the plot line was very endearing, and I liked how it was clear how much the mother really did love her children, she was just struggling. The kids did a wonderful acting job, fantastic in fact. They really brought home the idea that this is the way their life is, but they're still kids.
I think overall, this film was very well put together and nearly every aspect of it contributed very complimentary to the final product. The only thing I was left hanging with at the end was Dave's reaction to the children. They gave the audience just enough to be satisfied but I would have liked a little more reaction from the mother as well. She spent so much of the film trying to keep them a secret that after she knew they were okay, I would have liked to see those emotions play out. Although maybe the fact that she didn't care anymore once her children were in danger is a statement of her loving character as a mother. Either way, I really enjoyed this film and the realism of it really got me interested the entire way through.
Ellen Schwartz I really enjoyed watching Wasp. I liked how it just jumped into it. The shaky hand held camera shot in the beginning was nice way to pull you in to this chaotic scene. The story really showed how this family is just barely trying to make it with what little they have. Even though it seems the mother is not really trying. How it was shot made it feel like their world is fragile and one stupid mistake caused by the mother could end it for them all. I think the story got the point across that the mother is still trying to live when she was single and on her own but is stuck with being a mother. She wants her free will but at the same time she has responsibility over her four children. Not only is she a risk in losing her children other mothers find her a risks as well. The mother is a child trying to take care of children when she should be the adult. Her eldest daughter seemed to take on the responsibility of watching and caring for her other sibling as her mother worries about her date. The ending is a sweet bitter one. The kids get fed by the mothers date but I have a feeling that's it. Like the kids are going to continue to survive on there own while their mother keeps trying to live her young fun adult life years. Or there could be the possibility that the guy sticks around and helps her out with her kids.
Wasp was a very dark film. It started off intense right off the bat with the argument between Zoe and her neighbor. I thought the handheld camera work was very distracting at the beginning of the film but it got better as the film went on and it seemed to work really well for the story. I didn't like the main character at all. Zoe is a terrible mother and the actress did a good job portraying that. I may or may not have hoped something bad would happen to her. Something about Dave made him seem very sleazy. I wasn't sure if the wasp was supposed to symbolize something. It was good to see the kids finally get some food but the whole film was so depressing that the ending still felt very ehh. Overall, it was a good short film but very very dark.
Joel Jarvis: I forgot I was even watching this short. It felt like I was actually there just following them around. The decision to just walk around with the camera and just shoot really gave this short what it needed. The chaotic vibe of the whole thing would have never gotten through if not for that. The city shots at the end brought down the chaos a bit but when the car comes around the corner and throws the trash out the window you get that felling that some things wont change.
I loved how sporadically we would see shots of something random around the area. It really helped the reality of the whole thing. My favorite bit was when the kids were running outside the pub and as the camera pans back and forth to follow the focus goes in and out. It reminded me how kids can have fun whenever or wherever they are even if there is doom and gloom around.
Steven Hiott I really enjoyed this short. As others have said, the handheld camera work was a little distracting at first, but just as many annoying sounds become less noticeable overtime, I eventually became accustomed to it and it did give a new feel to the short.
The lighting seemed to help portray the actors moods, and the emotions they portrayed felt very natural and believable. I could not help but despise the mother, although I feel as though they tried to convey such a chaotic environment to show how hard it was to be responsible for children in such a place.
Overall, I genuinely enjoyed watching the short, enough to watch it over again. The plot intrigued me, and the acting was on point with the environment of the film.
I personally enjoyed the short this week, I thought it was shot in a very thorough way. The dark scenes were nicely put together with the proper amount of lighting in the set, as well as how it accommodated the actors and the tone of each scene.
The camera techniques were good overall and it took a while for me to understand the choice the decisions of shooting the handheld shots, but when things begin to fall in place everything made sense to me. The random shots of things throughout the short were nicely executed, as well as the changing of focus between characters and objects were done great as well.
Overall I really enjoyed this WASP and I was sold by the story. I will definitely be watching it again.
Rebecca Bynum: Wasp is a dark film about a single mother of four trying to survive but clearly not having the best interest of her children. The hand held camera movement really emphasizes this. She’s more interested in being a single girl at the bar with her friend David rather than being a mother. This movie really bothered me and saddens me knowing she leaves her children outside to have sex. The film is titled wasp because her children act similar to wasp in order to survive on their own. Everything about this film is dark, it’s filmed outside mainly during the night and the story line itself is dark and depressing.
Bonnie Gross: I really enjoyed the short “Wasp” this week. The thing that I loved the most about the film was how it took risks, such as the lewd and handheld camera shots. This made the short feel very realistic. Although the camera was shaky, it made the viewer feel like they were actually there to witness all of the events unfold. Also, this captured my attention instantly. The fact that this mother was cursing out and beating up another mother in front of her four kids was a really good way to hook a viewer.
ReplyDeleteOne scene in particular that I thought was very good was when they were crossing the bridge over to the bar. There is a wide shot of the family crossing the bridge over the highway with a faded out tree branch in the foreground. I thought it was a beautiful shot and really emphasized the type of environment they were crossing.
The story itself was very well told too. A lot of times before there was any dialogue in the scene, there would be lots of images of either the kids faces or the atmosphere around them. Those images were very interesting because after viewing them you knew exactly what was going on and the exact mood of the scene. All of this was done without words, just images. The only thing I didn’t like was the end. I thought it didn’t really finish the story. I appreciated the song and the cool wide shots of the city, but story wise there was no real conclusion. Maybe this is for the viewer to just imagine and predict.
Calvin Ross:
ReplyDeleteThe short this week was very sad, yet beautiful. The plot is not thoroughly explained. The choice of content really helped to set the scene for this woman and her children. It made me feel that there was no hope for the woman. Sure, here and her children got through that night safely, but what happens now. Does Dave stay with her? Will she get out of the plight she is in? That's up to the viewer to create their own ending. (although the song at the end suggests that everything will be fine)
The handheld shots made the short very personable and made the viewer feel like they were right there next to the characters as events were happening.
The shots of the surroundings, like the trashed McDonald's fry cup, really gave the sense of how deep into poverty that the woman and four children were living in.
I was pretty upset at the end. I really expected the children to be taken away a given a better place to live because she was doing a poor job of raising them. They deserve better than what they had. That is my opinion, others may differ from mine.
Mike McGee:
ReplyDeleteAs a film making exercise, this short was pretty interesting. As a narrative, it wasn't particularly engrossing. Although this film really feels like it should evaluated in terms of its cinematography, the story it wove together still felt like it was dragging the whole thing down just a little bit. It basically added an element of linearity without really providing enough incentive to pay any real attention. It just stuck halfway between composition and narrative.
However, the filming aspect was interesting. It wasn't terribly unorthodox for these types of films, but it did it's job very well, generating the appropriate feeling of desperation mixed with odd bittersweet touches. It just feels like, had the narrative been pieced together more interestingly, not necessarily more complexly, it would have pulled together much better.
Nia Barnes:
ReplyDeleteThis is the best short I have ever seen. What made the short so great was it played on emotion. As a female seeing a young mother struggling to balance being poor and having a social life really got to me. I see this struggle too many times. I loved the fact that this movie was so real and down to earth because many people could relate to it. I am okay with it not having a plot because real life sometimes does not have a plot, the characters were living their every day lives by every minute.
The camera work in the movie added on the emotion.The handheld camera shooting was the best way to capture every movement of this family. It caught every emotion being portrayed from madness to sadness to love. I also liked how close the camera shots and angels were with the two characters. It expressed the emotion of lust and longing for being touched and sexual interaction. I loved the way we got to see the emotions of this attraction through close ups and extreme close ups.
The acting in the movie was great because it wasn't forced. Because this story is so real, the actors did not have to act more or less of what is real. From the colors and the clothes of the character explained the position they were in and it added to the story.
The most intense scene that had me at the edge of my seat was when the wasp went inside the baby's mouth. They had an even distributions of the shots within the car and the shots outside of the car which added heightened the situation. The shots of the wasp going into the mouth were intensified with the close angles and the silence that was made from the scene because of the anticipation of seeing if the baby was going to be okay. Lighting and shadows of this scene also added to the emotion of the short.
This was the best I have seen. This really touched me.
I love the ending of this movie because the children finally get some FOOD!!!!! Also, they get a ride home, what a great guy!!! This was a great film, I swear my favorite part had to be at the beginning when they all (including the children) flipped off the lady, with their middle finger. Too funny!
ReplyDelete“Wasp,” had great camera movement. It seemed like the director was holding the camera with her own hands. The lighting in the film was great, especially in the last scene with the wasp in the baby’s mouth. In this scene the lighting was great for night and there was just enough to show the actor’s emotional faces and also, the wasp going in the baby’s mouth (so gross – how irresponsible that mother was).
What I liked most about this film was the realism portrayed in by the clothes, make-up, props, and hairstyles. Also, the actors did a great job because when they cried it seemed so realistic because I could just feel their starvation. The clothes the actors wore in the film were very cheap, dirty, or the same things, which made them seem poor and living in poverty. The make-up designer did a good job because the actors all had dirty faces like they hadn’t taken a bath in days. The props added another dimension of realism because they all had cheap toys or nothing at all. The hairstyles played an important role in portraying realism in this film because every character had dirty, greasy, non-brushed hair. That looked like it had dead ends, split ends, like someone of poverty would resemble.
I thought the main actress did an excellent job in her role, I guess her British accent appealed to me.
My only concern about this film that made me feel a little uneasy was at the beginning when the baby had no clothes or diaper on his bottom half, so you could see everything. I understand the director wants to show the audience that this family is poor, but I thought maybe that was a little too much for a child; for an adult it’s different. But I guess I can understand because if you’re poor you wouldn’t have money to buy diapers.
Overall this was a good short film that kept me interested the entire time, I guess that’s why it took an Oscar home in 2003.
Kaitlin Smith
DeleteLauren Musgrove:
ReplyDelete"Wasp" really grasped a sense of identity for me, a style. The combination of costume and set design with the hand held camera movements and lack of a soundtrack for the most part made for a really realistic film. After just the first shot, handheld, of bare feet running the audience got a sense of what kind of tone and feel the film would have.
The use of a lot of closeups in this film gave the audience very specific and minute details of the actions being done and the location and condition they were done in. The shots gave enough information for the audience to really connect with the characters and the story of a day in their life. There weren't many wide, grand shots that could convey a sense of freedom, which the characters did not have. The closeups forced the audience to focus on the small things and the emotions of their lives, the things they struggle with and do to get by. Also the lack of any type of music in the background made the sounds of each action done (such as pushing a stroller, or opening a bag of sugar) very prominent and noticeable, giving the film a continuous sound of reality. The technical aspects of the film, therefore, really contributed to the overall vibe of the film with the "day in the life of" feel.
I thought the plot line was very endearing, and I liked how it was clear how much the mother really did love her children, she was just struggling. The kids did a wonderful acting job, fantastic in fact. They really brought home the idea that this is the way their life is, but they're still kids.
I think overall, this film was very well put together and nearly every aspect of it contributed very complimentary to the final product. The only thing I was left hanging with at the end was Dave's reaction to the children. They gave the audience just enough to be satisfied but I would have liked a little more reaction from the mother as well. She spent so much of the film trying to keep them a secret that after she knew they were okay, I would have liked to see those emotions play out. Although maybe the fact that she didn't care anymore once her children were in danger is a statement of her loving character as a mother. Either way, I really enjoyed this film and the realism of it really got me interested the entire way through.
Ellen Schwartz
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed watching Wasp. I liked how it just jumped into it. The shaky hand held camera shot in the beginning was nice way to pull you in to this chaotic scene. The story really showed how this family is just barely trying to make it with what little they have. Even though it seems the mother is not really trying. How it was shot made it feel like their world is fragile and one stupid mistake caused by the mother could end it for them all. I think the story got the point across that the mother is still trying to live when she was single and on her own but is stuck with being a mother. She wants her free will but at the same time she has responsibility over her four children. Not only is she a risk in losing her children other mothers find her a risks as well. The mother is a child trying to take care of children when she should be the adult. Her eldest daughter seemed to take on the responsibility of watching and caring for her other sibling as her mother worries about her date. The ending is a sweet bitter one. The kids get fed by the mothers date but I have a feeling that's it. Like the kids are going to continue to survive on there own while their mother keeps trying to live her young fun adult life years. Or there could be the possibility that the guy sticks around and helps her out with her kids.
Wasp was a very dark film. It started off intense right off the bat with the argument between Zoe and her neighbor. I thought the handheld camera work was very distracting at the beginning of the film but it got better as the film went on and it seemed to work really well for the story. I didn't like the main character at all. Zoe is a terrible mother and the actress did a good job portraying that. I may or may not have hoped something bad would happen to her. Something about Dave made him seem very sleazy. I wasn't sure if the wasp was supposed to symbolize something. It was good to see the kids finally get some food but the whole film was so depressing that the ending still felt very ehh. Overall, it was a good short film but very very dark.
ReplyDeleteMatt Leddo
DeleteJoel Jarvis:
ReplyDeleteI forgot I was even watching this short. It felt like I was actually there just following them around. The decision to just walk around with the camera and just shoot really gave this short what it needed. The chaotic vibe of the whole thing would have never gotten through if not for that. The city shots at the end brought down the chaos a bit but when the car comes around the corner and throws the trash out the window you get that felling that some things wont change.
I loved how sporadically we would see shots of something random around the area. It really helped the reality of the whole thing. My favorite bit was when the kids were running outside the pub and as the camera pans back and forth to follow the focus goes in and out. It reminded me how kids can have fun whenever or wherever they are even if there is doom and gloom around.
Also, I was not sure if the title was supposed to imply WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) or just the fact a wasp crawled down a kids throat.
DeleteSteven Hiott
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this short. As others have said, the handheld camera work was a little distracting at first, but just as many annoying sounds become less noticeable overtime, I eventually became accustomed to it and it did give a new feel to the short.
The lighting seemed to help portray the actors moods, and the emotions they portrayed felt very natural and believable. I could not help but despise the mother, although I feel as though they tried to convey such a chaotic environment to show how hard it was to be responsible for children in such a place.
Overall, I genuinely enjoyed watching the short, enough to watch it over again. The plot intrigued me, and the acting was on point with the environment of the film.
Brandon Brown
ReplyDeleteI personally enjoyed the short this week, I thought it was shot in a very thorough way. The dark scenes were nicely put together with the proper amount of lighting in the set, as well as how it accommodated the actors and the tone of each scene.
The camera techniques were good overall and it took a while for me to understand the choice the decisions of shooting the handheld shots, but when things begin to fall in place everything made sense to me. The random shots of things throughout the short were nicely executed, as well as the changing of focus between characters and objects were done great as well.
Overall I really enjoyed this WASP and I was sold by the story. I will definitely be watching it again.
Rebecca Bynum: Wasp is a dark film about a single mother of four trying to survive but clearly not having the best interest of her children. The hand held camera movement really emphasizes this. She’s more interested in being a single girl at the bar with her friend David rather than being a mother. This movie really bothered me and saddens me knowing she leaves her children outside to have sex. The film is titled wasp because her children act similar to wasp in order to survive on their own. Everything about this film is dark, it’s filmed outside mainly during the night and the story line itself is dark and depressing.
ReplyDelete