Telling Lies vs. Soft

Hannah Gowdy

Telling lies vs. Soft

Simon Ellis

Telling lies and Soft are both short films directed by Simon Ellis, Telling lies was filmed in 2000 and Soft 2006 both were film in England.

Although both Telling lies and Soft have a theme of relationships- telling lies being more obvious- Telling lies is looking at the relationships of the protagonist (Phillip) has with his Mum, Ex-Girlfriend, Friend and an older woman he has had a short affair with. On the screen as the characters talk is what they really mean behind their lies so we find out that Phillip’s friend has slept with his ex and is planning to do so again and we find out that Phillip has been cheating on an older and richer woman who wants nothing more than a one off. The use of the words on screen gives a dynamic to each person’s relationship to each other with the size of their writing, how it is typed and so forth.

Soft looks at the fragile relationship of the father and son in the story but it also looks at the theme of fear and confrontation as the father encounters a group of youths that terrorise both him and his son as the audience watches the film it is obvious that the father has problems with confrontation. Soft is set in a middle class street giving the film an edgy and raw feel as what people do in fear.

Both short films have a tense atmosphere and feel about them as they play on the audiences emotions and senses- having very little non diegetic music so the audience is on an edge.