The Operator

The Operator is a 2016 short English independent dramatic film exploring the mind of a teenager who becomes overwhelmed by his accidental situation and emotion. The film is written by Zain Khan, and co-directed by Zain Khan and Matt Senior. It is Khan's début film.
Synopsis
Young. Vulnerable. Blood on his hands. For Cillian, the next ten minutes are perhaps his most important...
Written & Directed by Zain Khan and Matt Senior, this short piece of psychological drama is an exploration into the mind of a teenager who becomes overwhelmed by his accidental situation and emotion.
From executive producer Matt Senior , and featuring the voice talent of Heather Roberts.
Plot
The film begins with a series of shots showing a dreary day in England, overlayed by a distressing 999 call. This then cuts to a contrastingly bright flower, which is then trodden on by the character "Father", portrayed by Sam Ord-Houghton. Proceeding to the local pub, he consumes a large amount of alcohol, whilst playing snooker and gambling. Next, he stumbles home, where his son (played by Zain Khan) looks distressed by his arrival. As the father struggles up the stairs, he grabs his son, Cillian, as he looses grip and falls down to the floor. As Cillian aids his father, he is strangled, leading to Cillian unmercifully bashing his fathers skull in with a hammer.
After dragging the body into a closet, placing the hammer on the table and washing away the blood, Cillian sits at a dining table, where he calls the police. As he connects to an operator (voiced by Heather London-Roberts), he begins to heavily smoke. As the conversation goes on, Cillian cycles through a range of emotions including nerves, anger, and pity.
Following hanging up, Cillian goes to the kitchen where he downs a glass of water, throws up and slumps into a corner. He sheds a single tear, before smashing the glass into the floor as police sirens can be heard. The hammer is gone as Cillian walks out of the front door and the screen is flooded with a white light.
Cast
*Zain Khan - Cillian
*Sam Ord-Houghton - Father
*Heather London-Roberts - The Operator
Soundtrack
*Elysian Fields - Climbing my Dark Hair
*Elysian Fields - When
Production
Production lasted for five months. Khan reached out to Senior through Instagram and asked him to get involved after watching his film . Senior agreed, and became associate producer. As rehearsals went on, Senior became the script developer, executive producer, editor, coach and eventually co-director. Senior decided to join the project so that Khan's first film would be high quality. Khan always wanted a career in film, so the initial reason for creating the short was for his portfolio, however he became inspired to write the script after watching the Steven Knight film Locke.
The aim was to create a short film which explored the life and emotion of one individual for limited screen time. It would feature flashbacks & fast paced editing. The opening scene of the film was directed by Senior, with the rest of the film being co-directed. As Khan and Senior live in different cities, Senior used Skype to supervise the production. The official red band trailer was released on 22 August 2016.
Release
Since September 30, the film has been made available through Amazon Prime.
Reception
The film received very positive reviews from critics, praising Khan's acting, Senior's screenplay, and the music choice. Turps Film Reviews gave the film 8.5/10, saying "The crisp pace and invigorating narrative managed to grab my attention and retain it for the entire run."

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