Listen To Me is a short film that I found on Youtube when I was looking for some inspiration for project film two. It was written and directed by Touacha Her and was released on Youtube on the 23rd February 2016 on the channel Woodstruck production.

The movie stars Madison Colantone as a high school girl who is deaf and a Chufue Yang as a young male character. The story is about the girl being bullied for being disabled, and therefore decides to attempt a suicide. The guy who took hints then tries to stop her just before she jumped off the school roof.

I like how the fact that it is a silent movie, with no audible dialogues. The two communicate with each other using sign language and therefore we are aided by visuals which is the subtitles. It is pretty common for me to watch movies/videos with subtitles but it might not be for many people. Thus I think it is an interesting approach of presenting dialogues purely through visuals, and even more engaging with the usage of sign language. Furthermore, dialogues are only present at the climax of the movie, with the rest of the movie garnished only with ambience noise, appropriate sfx and background music. Thus, sound is an important aspect of the film and the movie proved to present it well.

There is only one conversation in this film, and that’s all it needs. Their conversation gives us just the right amount of information without being lengthy. But more so because they deliver important message by making us do deep thinking and playing with our emotion. I especially love when the guy talks about the different colours in the sky, and explains how those “different colours” make it beautiful. Therefore, the beautifully written conversation is the highlight of the movie. I had the same concept for my film project two, so I hope to do as well.

Listen To Me delivers an important message. Bullying has been a problem for a really long time, and unfortunately still is. In the trailer for the short film, Her explained that the movie aims to continue the conversation on the effects of bullying. Another essence of the movie, he further explained, was to embrace difference and uniqueness instead of throwing them away.

In the end, Listen To Me is a beautiful movie. The silent concept, the use of sound, and most importantly the message of the movie. I also liked the use of sign language in the movie as I find it really beautiful. This film won several awards and I think it deserves it as I would easily recommend it to anyone.

Below is the movie, I hope you enjoy it!