Structure

The short film “Viral” by Donald Broida has a chronological structure. The film follows May, the main character, from the day she overdoses in a grocery store to the time when she is sober and asks for a job application in the same place where her life fell apart. 

The action is structured around May’s attempt to get her life together after she is filmed overdosing and the video is uploaded online.

The beginning of the film introduces May, her son Hayden, the store clerk, and the nameless man who captures May overdosing on camera (00:01-00:20). The scene is followed by social media clips that show the video being posted online (00:21-00:25). This means that May’s life is now really falling apart.

Although May later manages to sort part of her life out – she is 128 days sober and has moved to the hous...