Operator (2015)

"Gemma wakes up to find her house on fire. Trapped with her son, she dials 999. The operator who answers holds Gemma's life in his hands."

Operator is a short film directed by Caroline Bartleet about a fire emergency services operator, Laura, who gets a call from a distressed woman, Gemma, about a fire in her house. Laura tries to help Gemma and her 3 year old son manage the fire and tries to keep Gemma as calm as she can. When the fire brigade arrive, Gemma is relieved and she hangs up the call. Laura takes a deep breath, then answers another call, emphasising the taxing and repetitive nature of her work.

The film opens with a close up shot of computer screens. This feels claustrophobic and disorientating as we do not know what we are looking at and we can't see anything apart from the screens. This is done to create a sense of uncomfortability and tensity that the operators feel. Before we meet our protagonist, we get a few shots of other people working in the same place, showing the scale of the office.

One of the first shots we get of our main character is a mid shot between two screens, compressing her in the centre of the shot. This again emphasises the tense and claustrophobic nature of this job. The camera slowly zooms in and cuts to a close up when Gemma says "the fire's upstairs". This is clearly important information that catches the operator's attention.

The sound is diegetic, until the moment Gemma stops answering the operator. A gradually loud ringing tone starts playing as we hear the operator keep trying to talk to Gemma. The sound stops abruptly after Gemma says hello again and the operator takes a deep breath. This moment is a representation of the emotional toll the operator's job has on her, displaying her emotional experiences through sound. The sound then goes back to being diegetic.

When Gemma hangs up the call, the film is silent. This contrast between chaos and silence throws the spectator off, and we acknowledge the unpredictable and exhausting nature of the operator's job. She then goes to pick up another call, showing the cyclical nature of her work, and how she will probably pick up another high stake call without a break.

The editing style is very simplistic switching from one shot to another of the same scene, with cuts in between mid shots and close ups to emphasise Laura's concentration in listening to the other end of the phone. As the film only follows one conversation, the editing has to be simplistic to put the emphasis on performance and the story.

The film has verisimilitude, with everything being very realistic, including the aesthetic. The lighting comes from desk lamps and computer screens, setting the time of the scene at night as there is no natural lighting. This kind of lighting is very isolating, which is reflective of this job. The acting is very good and not overdone, which is important as the film is filled with long takes where we are purely focused on the acting.