Soft and Wasp comparison

Soft and Wasp comparison

Soft and Wasp were both different genre films and neither were similar. Soft was a social realism film as it was to do with what goes on some communities, but also had an underlying theme of heroism as the son who got beaten up and bullied rescued his dad from the boys who beat him up. Wasp was also a social realism film about a woman who struggles to raise her kids but is trying to do everything she can to provide for them and care for them.

Soft was based in an everyday fairly urban area. In the film, there were several props used to help build tension. For example the use of the car alarm when the bullies are on by it sitting on it, this is used to help build up suspense and tension for the audience. Also the use of the milk carton when the dad comes out of the shop and is confronted by the ringleader of the group. The dropping of the carton is used to connote the threatening nature of the boy. The director of the film uses props subtly too. At the start when the dad walks in and shouts upstairs to his son to move his cricket bats he kicks them aside and they are left there throughout the remainder of the film. Similarly, Wasp uses several props that make up the mis-en-scene too.At the very start of the film, when we see the woman walking outside to another woman's house and her baby doesn't have a nappy on, this implies that the woman is having financial difficulties as her baby doesn't have a nappy. The woman not wearing any footwear is used in the same way. Furthermore, the use of the out of date foods, the woman takes out of her cupboards when she's trying to find food for the kids shows that the woman is struggling to provide for the kids as she ends up giving the kids sugar to share. Also the use of the dropped, discarded food at the end, then the mum's man friend buying everyone food connotes that the kids were extremely hungry and desperate for proper food as the have food brought for them and picked up and ate discarded remains from a stranger.

 In both of the films, the sound is critical in helping them. In Soft, the use of the echo effect when the dad goes outside to confront the group, this is used to show that the dad is trying to focus on one thing and that is confronting the main bully and defending his son. The use of the car alarm getting louder and quicker connotes that is running out for the dads nerves and patience and he has to hurry up and do something for his son. Similarly, in Wasp, when the little girl screens at the sight of the wasp going into the babies mouth, the mum stops dancing and darts outside to see what happened. The scream is used as a wake up call for the mum so she realises the risk of what she has done. More importantly, the use of the silence when the mum's man friend goes out and follows her to her kids, and stares at them all, shows he is realising what was going on and what she was going through just so she could see him.