Little White Lies Review - Holly Stone

Review Final Draft

"Cyberbullying; the dominant enemy of todays young society, and a dangerous activity to which threatens the securities of those facing it head on. The newly discovered short film 'Who Are Ya?' suggests many ideas to which of these are conveyed through emotion but also incredibly powerful while maintaining realism. The story to which is based on a young girl whose love and passion for sports places her in the spotlight for the bullies at her sixth form, facing homophobic bullying to which is based on stereotypes surrounding what is the social norms for a girls’ hobbies. The newly discovered actress, Laura Brownlie, plays the role of the lead character, Emma, who receives persistent texts which contain many threats and abuse, leading to her being bullied for her supposed sexual orientation.

With the innovative use of post-production editing, the texts to which Emma receives appear subtly, however the impact on Emma’s life remains dramatic. The text messages she receives appears within a similar format to the award winning TV series, Sherlock Holmes. Holmes building suspense with the anonymous texts to which appear throughout scenes. The innovative ideas used within ‘Sherlock’ and ‘Who Are Ya?’ whereby both are demonstrating the powers of the cyber era,  could this art of ‘Narrative Deduction’ effectively become new age of development in TV and film across homes and cinemas?

 Alongside the many insults and abuse Emma receives throughout this short film, the twist within who her true identity is regarding her sexuality, to which the answers are discovered right under our noses as she begins communicating with an individual simply named 'Jesse Taylor'. The name choice, both masculine and feminine, leaves the audience guessing who this other individual is. The film suggests that Emma seems to be very interested in the mysterious ‘Jesse’, and later she arranges to meet this mystifying character.

 The marvelous twists within this short film certainly leave the audience guessing and leaves us with the thoughts of realization that although based in a fictional world, cyberbullying and homosexual bullying do in fact take place on a daily basis; maybe the cleverly used semantic codes "Who Are Ya" builds upon can open the eyes of those around who may a victim or witness of one of the two horrific downfalls in our society."


Below is the headlining image:

** The final draft will include an explanation into why we chose to use the following image.