Soft vs Wasp comparison

Soft and wasp are both short films. Soft was written and directed by Simon Ellis about a father and his son who are terrorised by the same gang and are forced to face confrontation. Whereas Wasp was written and directed by Andrea Arnold and is about struggles a young single mum goes through with many young children. Both of these films are in the genre of Drama.

During the film soft a gang of youths are shown using a handheld camera, throughout this the camera is shaking and is slightly out of focus which shows that it is bad quality which may be portraying the quality of life that these teenagers. Where as in the same film another teenager is shown with his dad and the camera is stable and focused. This is showing the difference between the lifestyles of these two groups of people. Only the handheld camera effect is also used during the film wasp which would be used because you can tell that the main family in the film are living in poverty and do not have a very good lifestyle so by the camera being unstable it lets you know their life is also unstable.

The theme of family is the one of the main themes shown in both. In each film the theme of family is shown to be important and a necessity. Both families in each are looking out for each other and they show a close bond. Conflict is also a theme portrayed throughout both films. In soft the conflict is used to show a division in social status with the father and son being a higher class which contrasts with the status of the teenagers. However in wasp the conflict is used to show how a mother would protect her child when somebody else causes her children harm.

In the film Soft the father and son are shown to be locked away with no escape when they are trapped in their house with the teenagers hanging around outside, they feel in danger and uncomfortable during this scene. But in wasp the mother finds her freedom when she finally gets to go out with a man who she has feelings for. This is a major contrast as it shows the change in situations. At the start of soft the father and son feel they have freedom however when the teenagers are outside they feel they have lost this privilege. This is the complete opposite to Wasp because the lady gains her independence as the film develops and looses her sense of entrapment.

I enjoyed both these films because they explore similar themes that occur in everyday life. This makes it easier to sympathise with the characters and connect with both of the films as a whole.