Operator by Caroline Barleet

This gripping short film is centered around a female phone operator for an emergency line, during its seven minute run time she takes only a single call which is from a woman trapped in her house during a fire.  Right from the start we are hooked in to this dramatic short film when a slow moving camera allows us to hear the many phone calls going on in the emergency lines office. I distinctly remember one operator talking about a break in during the opening few seconds of Operator and this outlined the severity of the work the operators were doing. The narrative and camera work of this short film is simple, much like a number of the short films we have watched in class, but the gripping dialogue along with the actress' good performance make Operator exiting. For much of this short film the main actress is shown in a series of close ups, which work well with some shots where she is framed between two monitors to focus on the expressions and emotions she has throughout her phone call. The operator does her best to remain calm but there are hints that she struggles to do so through her good performance. Finally,  i also enjoyed the ending, the narrative almost comes full circle when the operator has only a few moments to gather her thoughts before another call comes in and she answers in the same manner as she did previously, As a result, the operators are portrayed as heroes in a way, doing an important job. I enjoyed operator and i liked how it ended with a cyclical structure.