The Fly (2015)

The Fly (dir. by Olly Williams) is a massively funny short that follows the story of a getaway driver waiting on his assailants to finish a bank robbery. While he's waiting, he gets increasingly more irritated by a fly in his car that just won't die. As it goes on, he devolves into an irrational and erratic madman, driven crazy by this small flying insect. Eventually, he draws his shotgun and begins frantically shooting at the car, at which point his assailants walk out of the bank, covered in blood and befuddled at what has unfolded while they were inside. The film ends with our main character coming back to his senses and realising what a mess he's made as police sirens blare in the background.

Sound design is very important to 'The Fly' because the film has little to no dialogue. The film begins with a black screen, and a sound bridge is used with guns cocking and a man saying 'right boys, 3 minutes, Go, Go Go'. This instantly sets the scene of the film, placing us in a high threat, tense and time pressured environment. However, here the film subverts our expectations as we realise it is focusing on the getaway driver of this heist, instead of the heist itself. Then immediately begins the buzzing of the fly. The frequencies and increased volume of this buzzing cuts through our brains, giving me a whole new sense of compassion for our main character, as it really gives us an idea of how annoying it can be. Throughout the film there are cuts to the door of the bank, where inside we can hear muffled screams and shouting. As the film goes on the sounds become more intense, and this is paralleled to the situation within the car, where the man is becoming increasingly frustrated and angry with the whole ordeal. There is a moment where the driver is trying to kill the fly and in doing so is setting off the horn continuously. Eventually he hits it so hard it breaks and causes the airbag to deploy. The sound of the horn is now constant and the foley designer increases the level of the sound, making it very jarring to the ears. 

Cinematography and editing in this film are key to our understanding of the protagonists mental state. The film begins with very static and steady shots of the car and its surroundings. The editing mirrors this calm feeling with a slow pace of cuts. As the film goes in, more off kilter shots such as dutch angles and shaky handheld shots are used, and the editing becomes much faster paced. This kineticism gives the a feeling of real chaos - reflecting our character's feelings. Shots of the fly in this film are all in close up, and this gives the appearance of it being much larger than it is. This reflects the situation, where something small and minor is being blown up into a much larger problem than it actually is. Editing is also used to create comedy in 'The Fly'. There are shots from within the car where the protagonist is going berserk and it all feels very intense. This is juxtaposed with exterior shots of the car where we see how calm the surroundings are and it makes the whole situation feel quite absurd, and in turn funny.