Echo (2011). Directed by Lewis Arnold
Today I watched the short film, Echo, which involves a teenage girl who receives a phone call whilst walking through Nottingham from the hospital telling her that her dad has passed away from a road accident. Two strangers notice the girl, distressed, and offer her comfort and money for transport. When she arrives at home, she is emotionally distance from her mum and younger brother and reluctant to show her grief with them. The phone call is repeated another two times, both differing slightly, first realising that the repeated phone call is a con and the second time realising that this is perhaps her method of dealing with grief.
In the camerawork, there begins with a lot of long takes - especially show in the opening wide shot. This is a social realist convention and places the audience in an objective position, merely observing this first scene. This contrasts with the use of fast takes and jump cuts towards the last phone call, creating a disorientating feeling that helps the audience understand her emotional turmoil and puts the audience in a subjective view, submerging the viewer into the full experience. Furthermore, the editing is sometimes used to reflect the girl's thoughts, as shown through the slow motion shot of the boy on the bike. I think that the slow motion affect makes her relive her dad's death, with the road perhaps reminding her of how her dad died and perhaps a slight paranoia with the boy cycling. This is one of many examples of the girl's performance as she is constantly shown to be reliving her most intense moment of grief and suffering, almost finding a comfort in this or using it as a method of emotional self harm.
I believe this will influence my work as I like the idea of changing the audience's perspective throughout the film, and by placing the viewer from a more objective view to a more subjective view. This creates a film which is ambiguous and leaves the viewer open to different interpretations which I think is an interesting idea.
In the camerawork, there begins with a lot of long takes - especially show in the opening wide shot. This is a social realist convention and places the audience in an objective position, merely observing this first scene. This contrasts with the use of fast takes and jump cuts towards the last phone call, creating a disorientating feeling that helps the audience understand her emotional turmoil and puts the audience in a subjective view, submerging the viewer into the full experience. Furthermore, the editing is sometimes used to reflect the girl's thoughts, as shown through the slow motion shot of the boy on the bike. I think that the slow motion affect makes her relive her dad's death, with the road perhaps reminding her of how her dad died and perhaps a slight paranoia with the boy cycling. This is one of many examples of the girl's performance as she is constantly shown to be reliving her most intense moment of grief and suffering, almost finding a comfort in this or using it as a method of emotional self harm.
I believe this will influence my work as I like the idea of changing the audience's perspective throughout the film, and by placing the viewer from a more objective view to a more subjective view. This creates a film which is ambiguous and leaves the viewer open to different interpretations which I think is an interesting idea.
Useful comments. Is there anything you could take inspiration from in terms of narrative structure?
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