The Fly by Olly Williams - A Dark Comedy

The Fly by Olly Williams is a darkly comic short film focused on a getaway driver and his hugely small problem, a single fly.

The short begins on a black screen with guns cocking and a brief shout "right boys, three minutes, now go go go!" Two intense extreme close up shots are shown, one of the driver's eyes over the steering wheel, and one of the car keys in the ignition. Already, we can probably already put together that the driver is waiting for the people who just left the car to deal out whatever violence they may from the guns we heard, to then drive them away. The following shot of the car outside a building with 'bank,' engraved on the front puts the final piece in the puzzle and the audience can assume that he is a getaway driver.

Our protagonist appears to be relatively serious, as he wears a stern expression on his face, looking around cautiously. The side profile shot of his face reveals the chewing of a toothpick, followed by a mid shot framing him tapping the wheel. Both of these actions convey the idea that the protagonist is impatient, as he fidgets, waiting. However, the sound of a helicopter overhead and him looking up out of the windscreen suggests he is aware and alert, ready to deal with any witnesses. The buzzing sound of the fly enters, and an extreme close up shot reveals the fly, before he activates the windscreen wipers and grins in a smug manner, thinking he has got it. The title 'The Fly', appears in an incredibly dramatic fashion as it flashes with colour, the score an intense choral piece. This seems less suitable to a dark comedy and more so to some sort of horror, creating comedic as it directly constrasts the calm and peaceful nature of the events previously.

The dark nature of the narrative is set up from the slow zoom into the door of the bank, from which we hear muffled shouts and screams, therefore making us think the whole short will be of a fairly dark tone. The comedic nature of the moment when he slaps the front mirror and retracts his hand suddenly directly contrasts the dark tone of the screams etc. coming from within the bank.