Echo

 Date: 18/6/24

Echo

Narrative > Echo follows a linear narrative structure - however, we don't have information on the background/ beginning or what happens after. The film starts and finishes the same way, with Caroline pretending to be on a phone call in which she receives tragic news. Cause and effect is followed showcased in the scene when we see Caroline's lie unfold in front of her victim, and he begins to become rather irritated by her lies - and even threatens her with police. This creates a moment for the audience to realise how unsafe and serious her actions seem to be, we hope she changes. In the beginning yes, an alignment is created through her situation of distress and worry until the truth is revealed to us. From there on, we as an audience don't like her as a character as much. The three act structure is followed, and the climax would be the moment we find out its all a lie. However, a new equilibrium doesn't appear, as it ends the same way it begins - which is her lie.

Genre > I think it falls under the Drama category. It follows the conventions of a drama too, as it builds up tension and emotion in specific scenes which then are brought back down again - through viewing of normal life again. It does follow a cause end effect structure. We see this represented in those scenes where Caroline answers the phone, she starts off with a very ordinary reaction, 'Hello, who is this?' which quickly turns into a frightening situation that nobody would want to go through. The tension rises as we see her panic and struggle to stay calm - this is completely toned down once we realise it was all a lie - that's when we are made to question the characters actions and her reasoning behind it.

Representation > I feel as though this movie communicates ideas of minor crime and petty actions by teenagers or young adults - potentially however, it could be a message of someone grieving. People grieve very differently to one another, it could be in this instance that the character of Caroline has truly lost her Father, and in reaction to this her fake calls for attention as she cries and panics helps her to grieve and understand for herself what she has lost. It may be messed up to watch and uncomfortable but it could be the interpretation that the director wanted to portray to the audience.

Micro Elements:

Performance >  Caroline is portrayed by a young actress called Lauren Carse. Carse, fully takes the role of a convincing, distressed young girl who has just found out the tragic news of her Fathers car accident. The director - Lewis Arnold - plays apart in her performance, due to Carse's young age and recent acting roles in small budget dramas and series, this could be a main reason why he chose her to play Caroline. Instead of using a famous celebrity, having an unknown young person play the role can add to the realism of her performance, we as an audience recognise her age and innocence, which further creates sympathy for Caroline as a character - specifically in the beginning when we are introduced to her. This could apply as well to the character of Caroline's younger brother (Oliver), he is portrayed by a young actor and his performance plays an interest into his older sisters struggles and actions. Oliver seems to understand Caroline but doesn't know how to help, mainly because she doesn't let him. It seems as though Oliver has overcome grief better than his older sister has.

Cinematography > The colour palette of the film consists of lots of grey and dull colours, we only ever see a pop a slight pop of colour when Caroline appears with her deep turquoise jacket. This could represent certain emotions which I will mention soon. The importance of the dull palette further influences the point of the film. Grief, death, sadness, confusion, struggle and loneliness - Caroline is suffering with these things, and the world around her keeps going as she cant move on - repetition of the phone call - Another example of confusion and feelings being expressed is through the camera shots. Multiple of them in scenes where Caroline is in town begin blurry and up close, until they slowly focus to then be cut to another shot of the same instance. The use of blurred shots could suggest how Caroline's struggles have blurred the lines in her life - the straight path is now gone, and she is stuck in a state of grief.  ---- Lastly, the end scene where we once again see Caroline take action of her own plan of fake lies for attention - The camera angles and shots are highly different to beforehand. We have a tracking shot as Caroline pretends she is getting a call, and struggles to find her phone in her handbag, as she answers the 'call' the tracking carries on, it seems handheld and less focused on being purposely set up in a perfect way. As Caroline has a conversation, she stops walking, stops moving - as if she is getting ready for the main act - so does the camera, instead we now have a slight motion from the cameraman which creates a unsteady tone and setting for the audience. There are more close ups on her facial expressions and reactions too.

Editing > The best example of editing in this short film is the end scene, There is a complete change in editing at this moment compared to the rest of the film - The shots have been slowed down, to create a more tense setting, and this adds more to the impact of the muted out sound. The slow motion concentrates on Caroline's facial expressions even more than before.

Sound >  Echo has a lot of diegetic sound, we hear the busy rushing streets of people and cars around our main character whenever she is in town - this could be to suggest how normal and everyday it is. When she's alone however, there's a focus on the silence - This is used in a clever way which interprets someone going through grief and struggling to overcome that bump in their life which has appeared. Caroline seems lonesome, she is quiet, and when we do see her in her home life she seems rather absent from her family. The end scene is the best to talk about sound and how its used and portrayed in this film, Caroline begins her roleplay and catches the attention of others like planned. However, the naturals sounds around her become almost silent to us and I believe her too - it feels as though we as an audience are witnessing a panic attack. Caroline is struggling, everything around her is too much - the worst thing is occurring, except its not. 

Mise en Scene (setting) >  Using the average and commonplace setting of a busy, local town really adds to the meaning of the film. Its such an average place and most common things go about there that seeing that one time and upsetting scene of a worried young girl who has just had a life changing call, really effect the audience and their sympathy for the character. Right from the begiinni9ng we are shoved into aligning with Caroline. However, as time goes on, we obviously realise the truth and her alignment fades away more and more. Using the bleak and natural location is a good choice for almost 'tricking' the audience. 

Influence >  This films narrative as well as context influences me on a more complex level, to find a deeper or more interesting topic to create my film about. The use of grief in this short film is so simple yet impactful, there's only minor hints towards it yet, it can be obvious to some. I think grief is a very hard subject to create realistically in film, yet, this films captures how grief is carried out in many different ways very well. We are made to not sympathise with the main character, what she's doing is bad and quite messed up. But, if you truly look further, she clearly isn't doing well and this is how she's dealing with her pain and emotions.