SHORT FILM RESEARCH - ECHO
Genre: Drama
Narrative: The film starts with a young girl who receives a phone call about an accident involving her father. A passer by gives her money for a taxi and then it unfolds the phone call was fake and only a ploy to get money. We see her difficult home life where her father is absent but we don't know why. The film ends ambiguously. We see the scene fold out again and the viewer is unsure if this is a flashback to when this actually happened or just another one of her cons. Or, it is hinted that, this is happening in real life now but no one believes her, similar to the story of the boy who cried wolf.
Audience: We are positioned with the protagonist throughout the film, but she is a difficult character to relate to and sympathise for. At the start we sympathise with her as we feel her distress is real, but that is quickly proven wrong which makes the viewer distrust her. We see her pushing away her brother and mum and how she cons people, but the final scene is designed to contradict this and make her seem helpless, like the start.
Microelements:
- The colour tone of the film is bleak and grey in nature to set a sombre mood throughout and leaves the viewer feeling cold
- The complete lack of non-diegetic sound and soundtrack creates an unnerving feel to the film and increases tension perhaps more than when it is used
- Close ups on the girls face to highlight her emotions so they feel real to us. This makes it more shocking when we realise they are fake
Representation: The film shows the impact a loss of a family member can have on the functioning of a family. We see what grief does to people.It shows the generosity and trusting nature of most if the general public until they are proven otherwise.
Aspects I liked:
- The simplicity of the plot, but the effectiveness of it
- The use of silence to increase tension
- The quality of the acting for the protagonist
Aspects I disliked:
- I feel some non-diegetic sound could be used at certain moments so the pace of the film could be increased. Certain times in the film felt like they dragged on and often I felt my interest in the plot disappear
Aspects I may develop:
- Moments in my short which have no non-diegetic sound to contrast more tense moments and unnerve viewers
- The colour scheme of the film to create a mood/ style of the film
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