Operator

 Operator

Cinematography: Most of this film is shot in close up, with a shallow depth of field. The camera increasingly gets closer as the phone call progresses, closing in on the operator. This builds tension without actually being where the action is and reflects the idea of the fire closing in on the people, and the pressure of running out of time. This helps the spectator empathise with the stress that both the operator, and the woman in the fire are feeling. Then, when the phone call ends the camera cuts back out of close up to show that the situation is over and we get a brief moment of rest before going back into action

Lighting: The film is shot with quite soft, low key lighting. This provides an interesting contrast to the mood being set by the phone call, and the intensity of the situation over there. This represents that the operator isn't actually in any danger and this is just her job, so isn't shaken by it.

Sound: Sound is a very important factor in this film as we don't see any of the action, instead we hear it all. This is similar to the use of sound in The Fly, where we couldn't see the bank robbery, but we could infer it. The intensity of the sound over the phone call makes the spectator imagine what's going on and this is effective in creating action and tension, without having to actually show the action. The intensity increasingly builds, until the end of the phone call when everything goes from loud and panicked to silent and calm. The use of silence combined with the cut out of close up is successful in putting the events into perspective, as we understand that this is just another day in the life for her, which is again shown when the phone starts ringing again straight away. The use of silence and then the cut to the phone ringing again also creates empathy for the operator, as we see how hard her line of work is, and how she has less than a minute to get herself together between each traumatic phonecall.