The Fly Directed by Olly Williams Analysis By Connor Hilton

'The Fly' by Olly Williams Research by Connor Hilton

The films synopsis (from www.theflyshortfilm.com):

A getaway driver waiting outside a bank robbery has three nerve shredding minutes to get through before his crew returns. All he has to do is focus…

The Fly is a story of karmic revenge. A cat and mouse game where nobody is really sure who is playing the cat, and who should be attending anger management sessions.

A tough looking guy sits at the wheel of a getaway car outside the closed doors of a small town bank. He is tense, nervous, and checks the doors, checks his watch, chews his toothpick like he thinks he’s in a film. A helicopter flies overhead, a siren in the distance, he checks the surrounding area nervously. As he drums his fingers on the wheel a fly buzzes out of the sky and lands on the windshield right in front of him. He freezes and stops chewing his toothpick. Like a cat on the prowl he carefully lifts his hand and taps the windscreen wipers on. Sqwueeek… the Fly is gone. The driver grins to himself and settles back into his seat, cracking his knuckles.

From the ominous locked doors of the bank, we hear the violent bloodcurdling sounds of a bank robbery in progress. Gunshots are fired, people scream and beg for mercy. Back in the car the fly returns with a vengeance to torment the hapless driver. A comically violent and unbalanced game of cat and mouse ensues, leaving the driver a quivering blubbering nervous wreck. With the rest of the bank crews arrival imminent and the police closing in, will he keep his resolve long enough to do his job and make a clean getaway?

Concepts:

The 3 concepts that I am going to apply are:

• Representation
• Audience
• Media Language

Representation & Media Language:

• The Fly covers a group of gang members attempting a bank robbery.
• We are introduced to one of the main characters which is the driver via a close up opening shot.

• The man is tapping his finger indicating that he is waiting for something. 
• The man is also wearing a black leather jacket which is typical for this 'gang member' style.
• He is also chewing on a toothpick which is an act that is iconic in violent characters.
• There is then a mid shot showing the man in the car and a fly on the windshield after a diegetic foley of a fly.
  
   
• This is the first time we see the fly character.
• Although the fly is an insect it is the antagonist as it is stopping the main character from focusing on what they are doing.
• The man then uses the windshield wipers to get rid of the fly and all appears to be dealt with. 

• Next we get a slow dolly shot of the bank doors. 
• In the background we can hear muffled diegetic sound of the other gang members inside the bank shouting at the people inside of the bank to hand over the money.
  
• We then get a similar shot to the first shot of the fly on the windshield however, this time the fly does not appear in the shot, but we know that the fly is there because of a diegetic sound effect of a fly. 
• After this, the man searches for the fly inside of the car and begins to attempt to swat the fly around his head. 
• This continues to happen as the man gets more and more frustrated at the fly. 
• Eventually the man ends up injuring himself by hitting the toothpick so that it goes through his lip. 
• The man then proceeds to go on a shooting rampage to attempt to kill the fly, damaging the getaway vehicle heavily in the process.

• Lastly we get a long shot of the other gang members leaving the bank and seeing the aftermath and we get a diegetic sound of police sirens approaching. The driver and the gang members realize that the plan a been foiled and that they are going to get caught, all because of a fly.

• The driver represents anger as he is getting very frustrated to the point of damaging the car.
• The Fly represents an underdog type of character as it is a tiny insect figuratively standing up against a big man. 
• I feel that it is a negative representation of the gang member group because the man becomes so frustrated that he extremely damages the car and himself because of his stupidity, impatience and frustration. 

Audience:

Target Audience:

The target audience for 'The Fly' is 15 and above. I think this because the film contains violence that in not suitable for under 15's and it also includes violent comedy that will target most people above the age of 15. The audience may be predominantly male due to the amount of frustration and violence included in the film that is considered to be more male behavior, i'm  not saying say that women wont enjoy the film, just that men may find the film more relatable and relevant.

The film is considered to be 'dark comedy' because of it's violence mixed with comedy such as the scene with the toothpick through the main characters lip.

The Film: