'THE OPERATOR' SHORT FILM

NOTES AND ANALYSIS OF 6 FRAMES OF SLAP

Directed by Nick Rowland, ‘The Slap’ is a short film about a teenage boxer, Connor (Joe Cole), who secretly cross-dresses, and has difficulty keeping this secret interest from his girlfriend, Lola (Skye Lourie), best friend (Elliot Tittensor), and father, George (Stephen Bent). Connor exposes his secret to Archie when he saves him from getting beaten up, and runs out to help him in a dress and makeup. He then wears a dress, heels, and makeup to a party and at first his girlfriend and friends think he is just dressed up as a joke, however in the bathroom, Archie mistakes Connor for being gay and attempts to kiss him. Connor throws him off and they argue, grabbing Lola’s attention. Lola then finds out that Connor stole her lipstick and realises that he has cross dressed before. They argue and Connor storms out of the party and arrives at his ‘boxing training room’, where he takes his upset and anger out on an opponent in the same room, and is soon pulled away by his father.

I liked this short film, because it maintained an intense feeling throughout the whole 25 minutes, therefore I wasn’t bored or uninterested at any point in the film. I thought the director addressed an important topic and issue, because many teenagers struggle to deal with their sexual views and feelings, especially hiding them from their friends and family. Connor’s reaction at the beginning of the film to his dad coming in his room, implied his dad would be angry if he found out about Connor’s cross-dressing, so I felt tense throughout the film that his dad would find out about it. The contrast between a physical sport, boxing, and dressing in a dress and wearing makeup was also effective because it showed the two sides to Connor’s life.

I like this mid-shot because just the silhouettes of the three characters (Connor, Lola, and Archie) can be seen, highlighting the chiaroscuro, shadowy lighting. This as well as the fact that in this scene the camera moves backwards with the characters as they walk towards the camera, which increases the realism of this sequence making us as an audience feel like we are there.

This mid shot of Connor shows him boxing, his body language the same to the earlier scene, except the mise en scene is different. He is wearing a female dress, and in other shots in this sequence it becomes clear he is wearing make-up (red lipstick, heavy black eyeliner, blue eyeshadow and a silver highlight). This shot is interesting because he boxes in front of his peers and his father, however he only wears make up in private; the shot reflects on the public and private spheres and shows a contrast between what he is confident in showing, and what he isn’t confident in showing to his friends and family.

I like this close up shot of Connor, because it is the first close up of him with make-up on, looking at Archie, which may be a symbol of Connor opening up to Archie more about what he does in his room, and why. The mise en scene make-up is red lipstick, heavy black eyeliner, blue eyeshadow and a silver highlight, and blue and black dress. Connor looks melancholy, but at the same time he is realising that Archie isn’t laughing at him and wants to listen to what he has to say. We can see the details of his make-up in this close up.

This close-up of Lola brings attention to her facial expression; in this shot she looks serious/sad/thoughtful/worried. It is hard to tell which emotion she is actually feeling, and Connor feels the same because he does not know whether Lola knows/ is talking about the fact that he was brave for saving Archie from the men beating him up, or brave for running outside in a dress and make-up. The mise en scene – Lola’s hair is in a high ponytail with a black hairband. She is wearing a brown leather jacket and gold hoop earrings. This particular duologue between Lola and Connor is set in Connor’s boxing training room.