Wasp Vs Soft

Wasp Vs Soft

Genre:

Wasp:

Wasp is a drama that is based around the life of Zoe who is a single mother struggling financially as she attempts to form a relationship with an old friend.

Soft:

Soft is also a drama like wasp and it focuses on the relationship between a father and son as they both face harassment from a gang.

Themes:

Wasp:

Wasp covers many themes to do with family and money. It covers neglect as Zoe fails to watch over her kids when going out (I don’t blame her as it is clear she is struggling) and her baby ends up almost eating a wasp. It also covers themes on poverty as Zoe can barely afford clothes and even has to resort to feeding her children flour. There is also the ever-present threat of Zoe having her children taken away by social services which links in with her neglect and adds a sense of danger to the plot.

Soft:

Soft covers many themes such as male gender roles (men being seen as strong and having to stand up for themselves), gang violence and it also covers the deceit between the father and son as the father comes across as a hypocrite. The father is a hypocrite because despite giving his son a speech about standing up for yourself when he is confronted by the gang he runs away and doesn’t take his own advice.

Parenting is a big theme in both films as both parents fail to fully look after their children as Zoe neglects her children and the father in soft fails to support his son.

Cinematography:

Wasp:

The cinematography in wasp is rather interesting as the camera is often shaky and focuses on the backs of people’s heads. It is as if the camera work is deliberately amateur feeling to give it a feel as if we are watching a home video. I think the film makers want it to look like a home video because it fits more in line with the themes of the film.

Soft:

The cinematography greatly changes throughout soft as the perspective shifts between the gang and the father and son. The film starts from the perspective of the gang with a bad picture quality and a small aspect ratio that fills very little of the screen to give the effect that it has been filmed on a mobile phone. This is because the director (Sam Ellis) wants us to see the story from each perspective as this creates a greater understanding for the backstory. When the focuses on the family the aspect ratio changes to widescreen and the quality improves. This perhaps indicates the class divide as the father and son live a cleaner more privileged lifestyle than that of the gangs. Their use of changing perspective is different to wasp which chooses to focus purely through the eyes of Zoe.

Sound:

Wasp:

In wasp, there is an almost constant background noise of cars and wind. This is used to show the kind of busy urban area in which they live. There is also often the sound of Zoë’s children singing. This is deliberately seems inappropriate and is used to show the innocence of the children as they continue to be happy as they don’t understand the struggles that their mother is going through.

Soft:

In soft a lot of the sound effects have a raised volume compared to the dialogue. Especially with sounds such as the boiling kettle which almost drown out the dialogue. This has the effect of showing how affected the dad has been after being attacked by the gang.

Mise-en-scene:

Wasp shows us lots of signs of poverty such as unclean living areas and the small change in Zoë’s purse. Whereas in Soft we see the relatively calm middle-class life led by the father and son. It is clear that the conflict is out of the ordinary for them whereas wasp begins with a fight this shows the contrast in the lives of these people.

Performance:

Wasp has a much more emotional performance. In wasp it is all about Zoe and how her emotions lead her astray whereas in soft it is the complete the father struggles to show his emotion and hides his fear as well as struggles to emotionally connect with his son.

Editing:

Soft is edited with no special effects and instead focuses on the story. They cleverly switch between the perspectives of the gang and the family forcing you to see certain events through certain characters eyes. Wasp does use a CGI for the wasp that goes into the baby’s mouth. Other than that wasp uses camera techniques to give the feeling like you are spying on these people’s lives.