Operator (2015)

 

Operator is a 2015 short written and directed by Caroline Bartleet. Set in an emergency call centre, it follows the story of a 999 operator responding to a call about a fire in a woman's home. The woman calling (Gemma) has discovered a fire in her house, and to make matters worse, her son Jamie is trapped upstairs. We watch from the perspective of the operator (Laura) as she tries to deal with the frantic and terrifying situation. Eventually, both are saved from the fire and the call ends. We watch as Laura takes a breath, before she has to do it all over again with a new call.

Performance is absolutely key to this film. We never actually leave the call centre, and so the reality of the fire is entirely sold by the actors. The film utilises a lot of mid shots and close ups, and so the intricacies and subtleties of Kate Dickie's facial expressions are highlighted to a heightened degree. Kate more than rises to the challenge, truly selling us on the harrowing experience with her mix of overt calm, obviously underseeded by intense stress. Gemma's part is played by Vicky McClure - who is solely a voice actor in this film. In some ways this is easier, as you'd think oh she doesn't need to worry about her facial expressions. However, in many ways it is actually harder, as it means she has to sell the reality of the situation using only her voice, without any help from her body language or facial expressions. Vicky more than succeeds, her performance is terrifying and genuinely distressing - leaving me on the edge of my seat throughout the whole film.

The cinematography in this film is largely very simple, its main purpose being to showcase the actor's performance. The opening sequence dollies around the room of the control centre, showing us the sheer abundance of high stake situations ongoing within this small room. The dolly then lands on Laura, where it lingers. This shows us this is where the focus of the film is. From here, the film uses largely very static close ups or mid shots that slowly dolly into close ups. This simple, static cinematography is entirely meant to highlight and not distract from Kate Dickie's and Vicky McClure's performances, which again is where the tension is coming from. The lighting in this film is also very simple, trying to create a sense of verisimilitude and make us believe that this is a real story. Laura's face is lit up by 3 computer screens around her, with the rest of the surroundings slightly dimmer so we stay focused on Laura.

Sound is incredibly important to 'Operator', as without the smart use of sound this would have to be an action film to tell the same story. This is because we never see Gemma or the fire, the entire film stays within the constraints of the call centre and we only know the story through what she tells us over the phone. They apply a muffled, telephone effect to Gemma's voice to increase the realism of the film, and they use similarly muffled foley for the crackling of the fire as it continues to spread. At the end of the film, only deep, deep breaths from Laura can be heard, and the volume of these is boosted to help the audience understand the harrowing nature of what has just passed.