Textual Analysis of 'Operator' (Bartleet, 2016) - Sam McLeish

Key

Camera Terms

Sound Terms

Mise en Scene Terms

Editing Terms

Theory Terms

'Operator' is a thriller film that explores the relationship between a caller and a emergency service operator during a time of crisis and how the operator deals with death.

The sequence chooses to start with a title graphic for the film, and this is slightly effective because it allows for the audience to connote what the sequence will be about before it even begins. However, it becomes fairly obvious when the diegetic, off-screen sound-bridge of the keyboard taps via a foley and the audience can hear a female's dialogue. Due to the Hermeneutic Code of Barthes' Enigma Codes, enigma is created because the audience has no idea how this information will relate to any characters that are yet to be presented by the sequence. Therefore, before any visuals are even shown, this film fits into the typical traits of a thriller sequence because information is withheld for effect to allow for the development of exposition and narrative. 

When the sequence cuts in the visuals, the fact that the female's dialogue already suggest that they were the emergency services, the visuals now confirm this, and in doing so, the enigma codes that are already used have been somewhat displaced. However, as the camera pans and the audience listens to the dialogue, you can clearly hear how the female character on screen is talking to a fellow emergency service member, and her tone of voice is quite calm so the audience has no reason to suspect that something is wrong so far. This is useful because this juxtaposition in the narrative to the action that is about to happen allows for the audience to be more surprised when the drama unfolds, as supported by the Hermeneutic Code of Barthes' Enigma Codes.  

The enigma is further continued by the subliminal cut into the next pan, with the introduction of the male operator and the female caller. Due to the expatriation in the operator's voice and the annoyed hand gesture in his body language over the non-emergency that he's had to deal with, this film also raises the social issue of a country that waste their emergency services' time when they are supposed to be saving lives rather than acting as a glorified 'locksmith'. Due to such, this cycle of emergencies and non-emergencies acts as a rather depressing 'equilibrium' when applying Todorov's model to this linear narrative.


However, the 'disruption' element to the sequence is now applied when the audience hears a distressed woman's dialogue over the phone in comparison to relatively calmer other callers. As I mentioned above, the shock that the audience gets of the screaming woman now establishes more Hermeneutic Enigma because both the operator and the audience and the operator want to understand what is happening. Also, the sequence creates a binary opposition between the emergency and non-emergency caller, because the audience now dislikes the non-emergency caller even more for wasting their time when they could be helping the woman in the fire, as proposed to in the binary oppositions theory, as proposed to by Claude Lévi-Strauss.

The sequence now focuses on the Scottish operator and the female calling from the fire over the phone. As the camera crabs around the operator who is clearly trying to get vital information from the caller, the sequence establishes this character as the 'protagonist' of the film, when applying Propp's Character Theory, as she's trying to save the 'princesses' of the caller and her son. The next shot, being a blocking shot between the computers and her face now allow for the audience to learn more about the protagonist. The character presented as someone who is used to the situation, but clearly very kind, and this is useful when developing a character because if the audience like this character, they are more likely to emphasise with the depressing realisation at the end of the sequence. 

Next, the sequence reaches a climax of the tension that it creates when, despite the insisting from the operator, the woman decides to go through the fire to save her son and you can see the operator's reaction in her facial expression in the extreme close up of the still camera. Tension is then created because the on-screen diegetic speech from the operator becomes more urgent and rapid as you can clearly hear in the off-screen diegetic foleys the fire roaring and fire alarms. Whilst you can hear that, the ambient backing track reaches a crescendo in it's volume and it isn't until she gets to her son where it cuts suddenly to match the mood. Traits such as this clearly conform to the thriller genre because under Altman's semantic codes, even foleys that suggest danger, like the fire alarms, confirm to the audience that the character is not safe at all, contributing to the idea of the thriller genre to the audience. 

Now, the sequence becomes more emotional to the audience because the operator becomes more compassionate rather than commanding as the audience now hears the empathy in her voice as the caller worries for her son. For example, she clearly says to her "it's alright love, you're doing so well" whilst she gets her to stuff the duvet under the door, and in doing so her status as 'protagonist' is confirmed to the audience. This also develops the narrative of the story because it has now reached the point of the story that's passed the 'disruption' phase of Todorov's model and they've now reached stage four; 'attempts to repair disruption' as they try to get to a safe place.

After the protagonist reassures the caller, the audience gets to hear the sirens of the fire engines, under Altman's semantic codes, it is suggested that at a later point in the narrative the characters will be saved. This idea is then reinforced by the protagonist because she says in her dialogue "you're going to be rescued any minute". As in this sequence it doesn't turn out to be the case, this film fits well into the thriller genre because an unexpected event such as the death at the end will shock the audience and make them want extra exposition, meaning it will actively engage them for the rest of the film.

Finally, when the film reaches probably the most tense part of sequence, the audience can hear the window being broken in via the diegetic, off-screen foley, so the audience can assume that they're both saved. As the operator asks the caller if the firemen if they got her son, both the operator and the woman slow down their speech because it becomes apparent to both of them that they're now safe. However, midway through the woman is thanking the operator, the dialogue is cut off completely with nothing but the sound of the phone clicking off. The operator becomes distant in her facial expressions and does nothing but breath out, and carry on as normal. This then shocks the audience, mainly due to the Hermeneutic Code of Barthes' Enigma Codes because the sudden lack of communication isn't explained in the sequence. This then suggests to both the audience and the operator that the woman has died, potentially due to an explosion because no phone call would end so suddenly. Therefore, the short film has now started it's 'new equilibrium' of the narrative (Todorov's model), but at the same time confirms to the audience that this sequence fits under the genre of thriller because it shocks and surprises the audience, something that is typical.

Things I would steal from this sequence

• Effective use of minimal camerawork
• The use of audio to play with the semantic codes, rather than just relying on props
• The use of a title sequence from the beginning to get the audience thinking about a theme from the off.