'Operator' analysis

'Operator' analysis

'Operator' is a 2015 short film directed by Caroline Bartleet. The short film is a drama and it is approximately six minutes long. 'Operator' follows a simple three act structure, the inciting incident for this short film is the call the operator receieves from the woman trapped in a house on fire with her infant son, the rising action occurs as the woman on the phone becomes more frantic as the house begins to collapse and the climax comes as the firetrucks arrive to help the woman and the call ends. This three act structure could of and usually would of been filmed from the perspective of the woman in the house however the filmmakers decided to focus on the operator.

The narrative of 'Operator' is conveyed through the dialogue and the sounds of the phone call. Events on the other side of the call are not shown, the viewer is expected to imagine what is going on so the diegetic sounds becomes important for allowing the viewer to construct an image in their head of the events. There is no non-diegetic sound in the short film so the viewers attention is focused on the diegetic dialogue and sound that narrates the story going on.

 A lot of meaning in 'Operator' is conveyed through the performance of the operator, played by Kate Dickie. To capture the performance of the operator in full, the film utilises a series of close up shots ranging from medium close ups to extreme close ups focused on the operator as she takes the call, this allows the viewer to perceive the operator's reaction to the events and empathise with her which the viewer likely wouldn't do if only the events on the other side of the call were depicted. The operators dialogue sounds cold by itself and without the nuance of Dickie's performance the viewer may mistakenly of assumed the operator to be a callous character.

The point of view portrayed by the film is completely that of the operator, her side of the story is the only one shown visually and everything is experienced from her position. In most feauture length films, short films and television programs the role and point of view of an emergency call operator is usually ignored however this short film focuses on these roles and their emotional toll. In the opening panning shots the faces of several other operators are shown to give an idea of how many people work this job on a daily basis. 'Operator' tries to make the viewer more aware and conscious of the role of emergency call operators and give them the credit they deserve, the film more than succeeds with this aim by effectively using narrative conventions and techniques.  

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