Short Film - "Soft"

Link to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIP2bq2n648&feature=relmfu

Soft was written and directed by Simon Ellis and tells the story of an ironic struggle of a father and son when targeted by a mob of hooded youths. The story is told through use of camera and mobile video footage which helps to emphasise the impact of technology in publication of youth crime. 


The short film begins through the use of mobile phone filming, something of which was becoming a common occurrence at the time in which the film was made with incidents such as happy slapping and school yard fighting. The footage sees a group of hooded youths beating up a schoolboy whilst jeers and cheering comes from surrounding bystanders. The next scene of the short film plays great importance to the structure of the play as it features at both the start and the end of the film. Using the same scene in such a way indicates normality and suggests that nothing has changed/happened and life will restore itself and move on. The schoolboy's (who's name is Scott) father comes home from work and carries out a normal routine of making a cup of tea. Scott makes every attempt to avoid his father as he does not want him to see that he has been attacked. Scott's father shouts upstairs to see if his son will go and get him a pint of milk, to which there is no answer. He therefore decides to go and get some himself. The long shot that is used to mark Scott's fathers journey to the shop is interjected with mobile footage of the same group of youths causing a nuisance outside the local corner shop. Using a long shot to capture his walk creates tension and allows the audience to create their own renditions of what they predict will happen. The youth's continue to make a nuisance to which Scott's father reacts, resulting in the youth's attacking him. As he continues on his journey home, a long shot is used to capture his emotions but also to attract attention to the youth's that have persisted to following him home. 


Scott's father returns home to find his son in the kitchen. After a session of small talk where Scott's father had made every attempt to not gain eye contact with his son, he soon notices the wounds on Scott's face. Scott tells his Dad what happened insisting that he didn't fight back as his father had instructed him never to get into fights. Continuing into the lounge, Scott then notices the youth's standing outside his house and informs his father. Both Scott and his father look terrified as they lurch themselves to the sofa. The youth's continue to make a nuisance outside the house and Scott begins to question why his father is not doing anything about the situation, completely unaware that his father was attacked. After taunts from his son about his cowardliness, Scott's father walks outside to confront the youth's where he is once again attacked by the main offender. Scott then comes running out of the house armed with a cricket bat, eager to save his father from more injury. He swings at the youths until they have all fled, drops the bat at his fathers feet and walks back inside. The scene then returns to the high-angle long shot of the street which see's Scott's father picking up the cricket bat and walking inside. Normality is restored to the street once more as the credits begin to roll over the top. 
  

Details  (taken from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1019965/)

Country: UK
Language: English


Release Dates:
UK                    20 April 2007 
USA                  August 2007        (Palm Springs International Short Film Festival)
Greece              September 2007   (Athens Film Festival)
USA                  April 2008            (Newport Beach International Film Festival)
Austria              21 May 2008             (Vienna Independent Shorts)
Finland              20 September 2008    (Helsinki International Film Festival)
Czech Republic   13 November 2008      (Prague Short Film Festival)


Budget: £50,000 (estimated)